Vile Cherubs Lysergic Lamentations LP
VILE CHERUBS were one of the great teenage punk bands of the latter half of the ’80s, an out-of-time unit whose moment has finally come. Recorded by GRAY MATTER’s Geoff Turner in his garage (a.k.a. WGNS Studios), this LP remixes and remasters the legendary The Man Who Has No Eats Has No Sweats cassette onto its proper format. It’s frankly astonishing that a pack of high school kids could lay down these moody, intricate songs with such convincing authority and keen aesthetic sense. Hot off Revolution Summer’s aftermath, VILE CHERUBS looked through a glass darkly, and liked what they saw—Nuggets filtered through Flex Your Head. Bassist Seth Lorinczi channels John Entwhistle’s domineering style, providing big fat lines for the band to latch on to, while guitarist (and latter-day sonic restorer) Tim Green cranks the YARDBIRDS’ amps with hardcore’s take-no-prisoners attitude. Yet Lysergic Lamentations transcends being “merely” ripping punk with garage trappings—VILE CHERUBS peered hard through the 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS’ kaleidoscope, opening up their third eyes with youthful abandon and delivering a lost classic ripe for rediscovery.