The A-side is a 1979 studio recording of this seminal Ohio punk band, though it doesn’t have the excitement of their early singles, LP, or subsequent and current releases. The flip is zippier, a live recording that rocks hard but is a true classic.
The best band on Bona Fide’s Train to Disaster album returns with their own 12″ release. “You’re So” was a distorted ’60s punk blast, but here they merge elements from ’70s and ’80s punk in an extremely effective way. The production is crude enough to highlight their garage tendencies, and the songs are both powerful and original. A sure winner.
The stick-on label says “Iggy-esque post-punk.” Forget that shit, this is full-on punk. While the vocals do remind me of IGGY, the music is raving punk stuff, not unlike early SAINTS. Excellent.
Yet another band that mines the 60s punk meets ’77 punk vein. Slow-to-mid tempo STOOGES-like rock, the only cover being The GROOVIES’ “Slow Death”
These guys are still pretty diverse in their own weird way. Part 1 of the song is an eerie psych-pop number, plodding but catchy and likable. Part 2 is off the deep end, using a drum machine which makes it eve eerier—with no vocals and added studio effects. It’s a little repetitive, but I like it. Too bad it’s so short.
This neo-psych compilation is more out in left field than the Rebel Kind collection, but what it gains in weirdness it loses in raw power. There are some ’60s punkish sides (the LEFT—who are great—YARD TRAUMA, and BILLY SYNTH); some bluesy sides (SPLIT, the DOOTZ); a poppy side (the SLICKEE BOYS); and the predominant way-out psychedelic sides (the MAD VIOLETS, BEN WAH, BEATNIK FLY, the VELVET MONKEYS, and the LAST POETS). Despite its lighter overall punch, this album has its moments.
No headbangin’ ’60s punk here, with most of this anthology concentrating on the Mersey/folk rock side of things (WHAT-NOTS, FRIEDLES, YOUNG MONKEY MEN)—but CALLIOPE and LOVED ONES do turn in an excellent rocker each. I suspect most of these bands hailed from South Jersey, hung out at “the Shore,” and would love to be BRUCE STINKBEAN.
Lately, there have been a whole string of neo-’60s releases that have successfully captured the genuine punky spirit of the times, and this new YARD TRAUMA EP is among them. Although they’ve adopted that acetate organ-based approach rather than a fuzzed-out guitar assault, they have enough raw power and snottiness to compensate. “I Got a Girl” and “Over and Over” are modern teen classics, so get down with these swingin’ cats.
