Various Artists “Off The Wall Volumes One & Two”

by Beverly Paterson in Album Reviews

These albums, which are now available on compact disc, initially arrived on the shelves in the early eighties. Pressed in limited quantities via the Wreckord Wrack label, “Off The Wall Volumes One & Two” are nearly as rare and pricey as original copies of the featured singles, which were cut by sixties bands.

Although rough and ragged garage punk is the main theme here, occasional forays into psychedelic experimentation are heard as well. For instance, there’s “Put The Clock Back On The Wall” by The E-Types, which neatly mixes esoteric lyricism with radiant Searchers informed harmonies and ghostly atmospherics, while The Del-Vetts emulate The Yardbirds with perfection on “Last Time Around,” a heavyweight rocker powered by ear-damaging distortion and pummeling rhythms. Rather spacey sensations also top the murky “Don’t Miss The Turn” from The Trees.

Dipping into the Ray Charles songbook, The Undertakers cough up a fast and wild version of “Unchain My Heart,” where The Magic Plants confess they’re not the rock stars they’re made out to be on the rubbery Mick Jagger styled phrasing of “I’m A Nothing.” Busting at the gut with spit, swagger and confidence, The Little Boy Blues deliver a pair of fire-breathing nuggets in the shape of “The Great Train Robbery” and a cover of Willie Dixon’s “I’m Ready.” Driven by screaming vocals, sloppy playing and general chaos, The Cavemen’s “It’s Trash” is appropriately titled, The Grains of Sand’s “She Needs Me” effectively blends monster choruses with throbbing beats, and The Bad Seeds, who later evolved into Bubble Puppy, shake and bake with energy to spare on “All Night Long.” The Liverpool Set’s “Seventeen Tears To The End” races and reels with uninhibited action and The Fallen Angels declare their reverence for Bo Diddly on the pumping and thumping “Bad Woman.” Ray Columbus and The Art Collection’s “Kick Me” plugs in as a three chord pounder, peppered with fingernails on the chalkboard feedback, and “A Someday Fool” by M.G. and The Escorts proposes a raw and aching quality.

Packed tight with fuzz guitars, teenage heartbreak, reedy keyboards and jingly tambourines, “Off The Wall Volumes One & Two” flawlessly captures the sound and essence of honest to goodness garage rock. As these tangy tunes verify, the best music is simple, unaffected and says what it has to say in just a few minutes.