RANDY
Welfare Problems (Burning Heart)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

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Sweden's Randy combine the best elements of rock and roll, punk, garage rock and new wave noise into an intoxicating blend of crazed songs. Their songs are full of politically and socially conscious lyrics, but with a seriously obtuse angle. This is easily as good as their last full-length The Human Atom Bomb, but there's more keyboards and synthesizer blips and blurts going on here. "I Hate A Man In A Uniform" combines a great rockin' beat with lyrics about police brutality. "We're All Fucked Up, More Or Less" is like the Beach Boys meets Devo. "Cheap Thrills" has fuzzed-out guitar and cool electric piano playing, plus lines like "Dry martini, James Brown, come on pretty baby get down." "Xray Eyes" is powered by a mechanical beat and uses the repeating line of "Uh oh oh uh ay, we're a happy family." Hey if you're gonna steal, steal from the best, the Ramones. This CD is so good, and so diverse. Songs like "Dirty and Cheap" give bands like the Hives a run for their money with its hyper garage rock sound. I really like this a lot!

© 2003 - Alan Wright