The Sonics: This Is The Sonics

First album in almost 50 years from Tacoma garage legends.

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Recorded in mono (what else?) with garage-rock guru Jim Diamond, this album will lift the spirits of those still convinced they’re 17, even if the mirror tells them otherwise.

Featuring three members of the original line-up (singer/keyboardist Jerry Roslie, guitarist Larry Parypa and saxophonist Rob Lind), it’s a down and dirty follow-up to their last album, 1966’s Boom.

Because while nothing quite matches the brutalist stomps of your youth, there’s a savage intensity at work here. Bad Betty finds Roslie – now in his 70s – screeching’n’whooping at the prospect of a night with a woman in ‘tight black leather and worn-out heels’, while covers of I Don’t Need No Doctor and Leavin’ Here sizzle like burgers on the griddle.

Best of all, however, is Save The Planet where, true to form, they lacerate hippie platitudes, Roslie howling: ‘We have to save the planet/It’s the only one with beer!’ like the ultimate bad grandpa./o:p

Paul Moody is a writer whose work has appeared in the Classic Rock, NME, Time Out, Uncut, Arena and the Guardian. He is the co-author of The Search for the Perfect Pub and The Rough Pub Guide.