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Psycho-Sonic

Sonics - Psycho-Sonic Audio CD

A fair review of the Sonics "Psycho-Sonic" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Sonics reviews here, or go back to the Sonics tabs.

Band: Sonics
Title: Psycho-Sonic
Rating:

Release Date: 1997-03-18
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Witch 2: Do You Love Me 3: Roll Over Beethoven 4: Boss Hoss 5: Dirty Robber 6: Have Love, Will Travel 7: Psycho 8: Money (That's What I Want) 9: Walking the Dog 10: Night Time Is the Right Time 11: Strychnine 12: Good Golly Miss Molly 13: Hustler 14: Psycho [Live] 15: Cinderella 16: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark 17: Skinny Minnie 18: Let the Good Times Roll 19: Don't You Just Know It 20: Jenny, Jenny 21: He's Waitin' 22: Louie, Louie 23: Since I Fell for You 24: Hitch Hike 25: It's Alright 26: Shot Down 27: Keep a Knockin' 28: Witch [Live] 29: Witch [Version 2]

What's another 5 star rating
Ever since I first heard "Strychnine" it was a wild little romper. This is one of my favorite groups. The next song I heard from these guys was a song called "Santa Claus" scarcer than hen's teeth to find I actually heard it on Princeton University's radio station. Then every song I heard from these guys was getting more and more better. I just like the wild guitar, the blood curdling screams, and the trash can pounding drums. This is how rock and roll should sound unbridled. I like the sounds of the Pacific Northwest there were so many good songs that came out of there, and these guys did most of them. Other juicy little nuggets from the Northwest are: "Hang Up" from the Wailers, "It's Your Time" from the Weeds, "Wolf Call" I forget the name of the group who did this, and "I Need Love" from J. Michael and the Bushmen. Most if not all of these songs are hard to find, but if you can find them don't let them go. .

America's Last Great Rock 'N' Roll Band
This album, "Psycho-Sonic", features The Sonics material as recorded during the Etiquette Records years of 1964-1966. The Sonics formed in Washington State in 1959, and after transitioning band members in and out of the group for a few years, the line up eventually settled in 1963 to the group that is featured in this compilation album.
While largely a club band, The Sonics mastered a sound like no one else of the period. American Rock had taken a back seat to the British in the mid-sixties and many bands simply began to follow the British sound. Not The Sonics. They harked back a decade to Rock's early days and took the most explosive influences, like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, and used the simplicity of early Rock to produce a new, raw, ear-shattering sound that left crowds devastated and demanding more. Anything the Sonics touched was morphed into a loud, raw, energetic form of powerhouse Rock 'N' Roll; from cover songs like "Hitch Hike" and "Keep A Knockin'"; to The Sonics original tracks "Psycho", "The Witch", and "Boss Hoss". Hard-edged guitar coupled with a thundering rhythm section and a fantastic sax player were all that was needed to support a vocalist that could belt out a tune like few others, then or now. The Sonics weren't just producing music, but capturing live atomic energy in the form of a recording.
The summer of 1967 would see a new American Rock sound emerge, one that was more politically driven than anything else. The Sonics had shifted to a new lable that altered their sound and the band began going through line-up changes once more. It would be nearly a decade until the world hear anything like The Sonics again. This time, four guys from New York City calling themselves The Ramones, would be credited with capturing a similar energy and creating a sub-genre of Rock 'N' Roll now referred to as Punk.
The Sonics sound is timeless. They were the last true shot to be fired in American Rock 'N' Roll before Rock would then fragment into genres such as "progressive", "punk", and "metal". This is genuine speaker-melting American Rock 'N' Roll. A great album that any true Rocker would love and appreciate. .

all that distortion
People in seattle were really proud of The Sonics, The Wailers. I was like 12 years old when I first heard the Sonics while growing up in Seattle. Seattle was pretty much a backwater town in the early sixties. The Seattle World's Fair started to change that image.

I think what I remember most about the Sonics was all that distortion in their music. Lots of groups were experimenting with "fuzz" guitar and bass. . . The Beatles, the Stones. I wouldn't be surprised that the group "Blue Cheer" was influenced by The Sonics and The Wailers.

They've Got The Feeling, For Real

This is different. Whenever I hear about "garage rock" I brace myself: let's face it, this term has been used to describe everything from the worst sub-high school battle of the bands tripe to misguided attempts to ape other contemporary bands to God knows what. The Sonics make it so obvious that they CARE about what's being played and sung that any "faults" or "omissions" are just forgotten in the pure fun of rock and roll in the pre-critic era. Jerry's scream is so, well, visceral he loses his voice a couple of times in songs because he's trying so hard! The playing in the band is never less than servicable, often wonderful, occasionally inspirational. And the best part, the most realistic part, is that all the "you-gotta-play-'em" songs that they would have been forced to play (or not get paid. . ) at the local bar/high school auditorium/roller rink are on here too, from "Jenny, Jenny" to "Don't You Just Know It", to "Since I Fell For You", whether they knew (or sung) all of the lyrics or not. "Since", as a matter of fact, is missing a whole stanza - and it don't matter! The spirit of the age was "Do you know this song?" "Well, mostly" "Good, let's do it!"

THAT's WHAT GARAGE WAS REALLY ALL ABOUT - AMBITION HAD TO OUTSTRIP ABILITY - BUT NOT TALENT!

This is a great CD. You will not be able to avoid singing (screaming?) along with it, and laughing all the time. A gem.

WHHOOAAARRGGGGGHHHHHH !
They played the hardest rock'n'roll that could be played in 1964-65. That's how you could sum up the Sonics' sound. Their screamer, I mean singer, Jerry Roslie, is fantastic. Not the greatest voice in the world but let's say he puts his heart (and guts) in what he sings. "Do you love me" is incredible : the first five seconds are so loud you could think your stereo will explode, and what follows is something that would make a dead body dance. There's also "Keep a Knockin'", sung in G, almost as high as Little Richard, and when Jerry Roslie sings it you could believe he won't manage to reach the end of the song as he breaks his voice again and again. And what about "Psycho", a self-penned rock'n'roll number ? And "The Witch", and "He's waitin'", which are proto-hard rock numbers ? Even "Louie Louie" is turned into something threatening, raw and loud. A fantastic record. And I'm not an old nostalgic Sonics fan, I'm 22 and I discovered them through the "Nuggets" box set.

You can see a complete list of all Sonics discography, or go back to the Sonics tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.