Re: Album of the day (#4239): Here Are The Sonics!!!

mianfei — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 19:13:26 GMT

Author: mianfei

Posted: 11/30/2022 00:13

One of the earliest records cited as “protopunk”.

David Keenan had this on his The Best Albums Ever...Honest back in 2003:

David Keenan wrote:

Every time I hear the word grunge, I reach for my Sonics collection. Alongside their buddies and label-mates The Wailers, The Sonics were the toughest and crudest gang of punks ever to blow out of the state of Washington. The members of The Sonics came together from a bunch of no-hope teen combos then doing the frat-party rounds, but The Sonics' sound represented a particularly mutant strain, a raging hormonal cocktail of teen dance favourites shot through with fuzz guitar, wailing saxophone and fat, caveman percussion, all topped off by the demoniacal roar of vocalist Gerry Roslie. They took their name from the sonic boom of the Boeing jets that tore apart the northwestern skies and the sound of their first full-length album — 1965's Here Are The Sonics — is every bit as earthquaking.

Alongside manhandling such keg-party staples as ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and ‘Money,’ the group laid down some of the most euphoric proto-punk sides of the 1960s. Both ‘The Witch’ and ‘Psycho’ anticipate the mainlined sound of Detroit as articulated by high-energy rockers like The Stooges and The MC5 whilst ‘Strychnine’ (later covered by The Cramps) sounds like The Velvet Underground in the way it crosses great, crashing barre chords with finger-clicking savvy and black-hole distortion.

bassist Andy Parypa deadpanned wrote:

If our records sound distorted, it's because they are. My brother [guitarist Larry] would disconnect the speakers and poke holes in them with an ice pick. That’s how we ended up sounding like a train wreck.

Around the time of the Keenan list, I recall some commentators on the webzine Jaguaro’s One Hundred Albums You Should Remove from Your Collection Immediately being very critical of The Sonics, but when I checked it was not present on the list but merely in the comments section

Album of the day (#4239): Here Are The Sonics!!!

BestEverAlbums — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 16:00:30 GMT

Author: BestEverAlbums

Posted: 07/28/2022 20:00

Today's album of the day

Here Are The Sonics!!! by The Sonics (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 1965.
Country:
Overall rank: 1,137
Average rating: 78/100 (from 264 votes).

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Tracks:
1. The Witch
2. Do You Love Me
3. Roll Over Beethoven
4. Boss Hoss
5. Dirty Robber
6. Have Love Will Travel
7. Psycho
8. Money
9. Walkin' The Dog
10. Night Time Is The Right Time
11. Strychnine
12. Good Golly Miss Molly

About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.

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Re: Album of the day (#4239): Here Are The Sonics!!!

Album of the day (#4239): Here Are The Sonics!!!