I bought a Satelliters record what feels to be about ten years ago, and the only thing i really remember about it was that it looked way cooler than it sounded. Hashish, however, filed under “Psychedelic Garage Punk” as the cover requires, actually sounds about as good as it looks: I am unsure as to whether this calls for a pat on the back for the band, a kick in the pants for the graphic designer, or, as a mere example of regression to the mean, none of the above. Be that as it may, although i quite understand why many people gravitate toward That Which Is To Be Filed Under Psychedelic Garage Punk—i mean, it’s kind of a fun aesthetic, what with all the inherent promises of “BIKINI GIRLS! CHELSEA GIRLS! PSYCHEDELIC GIRLS!” and cool lettering and Riots on Sunset Strips and what-not—i’ve always thought that the universe’s existing reserves of this music were far in excess of my projected lifetime demand for it, so, like, ah, why bother? I personally can scrape by quite nicely by merely spinning a Pebbles or Nuggets type collection every so often, and therefore have no pressing need to cram my dome with covers of We the People’s “You Byrn Me Up and Down” and songs with titles like “1969—The End of Time,” but if you’re looking for this kind of thing, i think you’ve found it. BEST SONG: “Anything I Do” BEST SONG TITLE: Against my better judgement, “1969—The End of Time.” But isn’t it supposed to be “Tyme?” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Band conveniently provides French language version of “Wham Bam Thank You Mam” for those of you whose pent-up demand for Small Faces covers en Français was not slaked by Plastic Bertrand’s 1978 version of “Sha La La La Lee.”
–norb (Dionysus)