Once upon a Razorcake podcast, i once proclaimed The Vapors to be the second-most underrated band in the world, and this is a fact. I am pleased as Wildberry Punch© to inform all and sundry that W.H. Walker successfully rip off the first-most underrated band in the world, THE MOTHERFUCKING EQUALS ((profanity mine)), and this is also a fact. For the uninitiated, the Equals were Eddy ((“
Electric Avenue”)) Grant’s late 60’s/early 70’s band; they were three black Jamaican/Guyanese guys and two white English guys, and THE WHITE ENGLISH GUYS WERE THE RHYTHM SECTION. They fucking rocked. The one good song on Sandinista! is an Equals cover ((“Police On My Back”)), there’s an Equals cover on the second Plimsouls album ((“My Life Ain’t Easy”)), the Sirens covered “Diversion” and both Gentleman Jesse & His Men and Brownsville Station covered their only US semi-hit, “I Get So Excited.” Derv Gordon had the most timber-caulkin’ Rock Throat EVER! Anyway, not that it is my job as Esteemed Rock Punjab to speculate wildly on the intent behind any given record with which i am charged with reviewing, but, shit, if “Suds!” wasn’t W.H. Walker’s attempt at trying to completely rip off “Rub A Dub Dub” by the Equals, i’ll eat my fucking copy of Unequalled Equals in the shower while rubbing my belly with linseed oil. This bit of tubby-time fun is followed by “As The Night Goes,” which sure the hell sounds like a brazen attempt to see what “I Can See But You Don’t Know” would sound like played to the tune of “My Life Ain’t Easy” to this intrepid reporter. The other five songs sound less like blatantly calculated Equals rip offs, yet somehow still manage to rock in a vaguely Equals-ish manner, regardless. Bra-fucking-vo, bra! Rubber duckies all around! BEST SONG: “Suds!” BEST SONG TITLE: “Suds!” i guess. Weird. FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: I read on line that the “W.H.” in “W.H. Walker” stands for “Welcome Home.” As a Wisconsin resident, however, i’d like to believe it stands for “We’ll Hang.” –norb (Boogie Creek)