First impressions are important and the cover art does quite a disservice to how cool, fun and smartly well thought out the songs and music are. The front photo of the lovely Tia Marosy (nicknamed " Orange Soda") is choice but the rest looks like a grade 6 art project on " the groovy 60's". Boys..... next release I want to see a better cover... if you disappoint me., I will hunt both of you down, tie you up and force you to listen to Metal Machine Music for 72 hours straight while I drink expensive wine bought with your freshly liberated credit cards.
Once I got over the cover and gave it a few listens, what's amazed me about this record is the grand power behind the pop. The pounding drums and melodic driving bass off the top of opener "Please Thrill Me" are quickly fortified with a driving tambourine and a great jangly guitar into a razor sharp harmonized chorus all in under 1:44.... Not a wasted note!
"Knockout" is the hit single of this record. The aggressive garage guitar opening really hooks you in. The solid tom-tom drum breakdown under the verses allows the earnest lyrics to cut through. The knockout girl melts our hearts " like a coconut swirl" as she's "selling microwave Smores" – Very cool imagery. Add well thought out backing vocals and a perfectly timed signature guitar break and you have pop perfection. Joey Ramone would have loved this song! Super Catchy!!!
The boys love the girls and the evidence abounds through most of the lyric content. What really makes this record work is the sounds. It's very hard to get a stripped down drum sound right without a major label budget. Raquels Boys did it with the help of producer Jeremy Morris. They then went further by dialing in the guitars perfectly on nearly every track. The single-minded vision makes me think Sean and Reg are psychic mutants or they left each others blood on the studio walls; maybe a bit of both.
Other standout tracks are "Place I Love" which has a seductive chorus, and all of the last 3 tracks. "If He Could Reach Her" is a driving number a la The Beach Boys fused with a driving 13th Floor Elevators feel. "Beautiful Arms" comes off like an REM power ballad with gentle vocals, more primitive drum pound and a chorus hook any band would sell a bit of soul for. Closing with "Please Don't Fade Away", which is sort of an odd track for the album, it could be sold to the unsuspecting as a great, lost Big Star track. Maybe Alex needs one for the upcoming "reunion" album.
If this record were to have come out in the 60's you would now be paying big dollars for an original copy. That's if you could find one at your local record convention. Check it now at a reasonable price and don't worry if you get Smore melt on the cover, it isn't gonna ruin it.
Rating: 7 out of 10
