Honestly, I really should have reviewed this album ages ago but work and life just got in the way, but Hit After Hit, probably the seventh record created by Sonny Smith, the brains and soul behind San Franciscan garage-pop act Sonny and the Sunsets is well worth taking the time to check out...especially as we ease into summer season.
Smith, who once created 100 fictional bands, the bios and even the songs to go with them (sample name: Zig Speck and the Specktones), is a man with an ear for melody and a catchy hook, and there's plenty to be found on this record. There's a bit of Jonathan Richman in these songs, lots of Nuggets-style garage grooves, and plenty of similarities with the modern group of 60s-influenced acts such as The Fresh and Onlys, Ty Seagall and others.
Beginning with the Standelles-alike 'She Plays Yo Yo With My Mind', Hit After Hit rushes through a bunch of other smashing psych-pop tunes, 'Home and Exile' has what might be the best drums and bass intro to a song you'll hear all year before launching into deliriously infectious call and response, and 'Reflections of Youth' chugs along with VU riffs before adding a sunny chorus.
The marvellously titled 'The Bad Energy from LA Is Killing Me' drones on some seriously bad Roky Erickson vibes, and is a detuned treat, before the unbelievably funky 'Teen Age Thugs' (a name of one of Smith's fictional bands) kicks in and takes us to a sweaty club where the crowd would fug furiously to garage tunes all night long. There's plenty more to choose from before the record ends on the sweetly sad 'Pretend You Love Me'.
With the prolific nature of Sonny Smith it's quite likely he's got about four more records' worth of material to release already, but for now just savour the solid-gold pop nuggets found on this one.
Smith, who once created 100 fictional bands, the bios and even the songs to go with them (sample name: Zig Speck and the Specktones), is a man with an ear for melody and a catchy hook, and there's plenty to be found on this record. There's a bit of Jonathan Richman in these songs, lots of Nuggets-style garage grooves, and plenty of similarities with the modern group of 60s-influenced acts such as The Fresh and Onlys, Ty Seagall and others.
Beginning with the Standelles-alike 'She Plays Yo Yo With My Mind', Hit After Hit rushes through a bunch of other smashing psych-pop tunes, 'Home and Exile' has what might be the best drums and bass intro to a song you'll hear all year before launching into deliriously infectious call and response, and 'Reflections of Youth' chugs along with VU riffs before adding a sunny chorus.
The marvellously titled 'The Bad Energy from LA Is Killing Me' drones on some seriously bad Roky Erickson vibes, and is a detuned treat, before the unbelievably funky 'Teen Age Thugs' (a name of one of Smith's fictional bands) kicks in and takes us to a sweaty club where the crowd would fug furiously to garage tunes all night long. There's plenty more to choose from before the record ends on the sweetly sad 'Pretend You Love Me'.
With the prolific nature of Sonny Smith it's quite likely he's got about four more records' worth of material to release already, but for now just savour the solid-gold pop nuggets found on this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment