Pussycat And The Dirty Johnsons - Ain’t No Pussy
First of all, let’s hear it for lead screamer Pussy Johnson’s pronounced British accent, as snotty and venomous as Rotten’s back in the spring of ‘77. Her impressive snarl and full-throated roar rule the day on this fast and furious ride of primitive, gut-bucket garage rock and boot-stomping, grrrlpowered punk. Tracks like Pretty Good For A Girl and One Of The Boys deliver a pretty effective message of rock’n’roll equality while basically smashing your skull into splinters. Surrender My Heart is the clear pick to click, a searing Kinksmeets-Stooges orgy of corrosive riffs and bump-’n’-grind voodoo rhythm, but there are plenty of highlights here, including the X Ray Spex-y poke-in-the-eye of Unserpentine, the floor-shaking, ear-shredding title track and the lean, stripped-down creepy-crawl of The Wasp. Imagine if Lux was Ivy and you’ve basically got the gist of this.
A thoroughly sweat-soaked trip to the heart of rock’n’roll. (7⁄10)
Watts - All Done With Rock n’ Roll
Stellar Stones-on-steroids four-songer from rock’s most well-dressed street survivors. From their salad days as teenage glam-slammers to their ill-fated stab at power-pop stardom in the 90s, Watts have always endured, and this tight collection of hook-heavy arena rockers finds ‘em at the height of their powers. (7⁄10)
Charm Bag - From Hell
Flash House - Brown Sauce
The cassette cover for this positively hairraising album features the bumpy head of a sasquatch, and that’s exactly the feral, wild-eyed figure I imagine when I hear this gonzo banger. It’s a howling, pulse-pounding barrage of incendiary noise that’s sorta like Motörhead, MC5 and The Hookers being eaten alive by werewolves. Tremendous. (7⁄10)
Gone Dogs - The Road Ahead