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THE SONICS
Psycho-Sonic (Big Beat)
Reviewed by Alan Wright
You know, the next time someone asks me "Alan, where do you think punk rock started?" I'm going say it started in 1964 on the day the Sonics recorded their first single, "The Witch." Big Beat first issued this compilation of the Sonics' Etiquette recordings around 5 or so year ago. I never bought it because I had lots of Sonics on vinyl, and then the excellent Here Are The Ultimate Sonics collection on Etiquette, which had everything Psycho-Sonic had. In the last year or so, Big Beat found many of the original session tapes of Kearney Barton's Sonics tracks from Audio Recording. A few alternate versions and newly remixed to stereo versions crept out on the Required Etiquette compilation, but it was apparent the entire Sonics Etiquette recordings were due for an overhaul.
The Barton-recorded material was actually recorded in primitive stereo, but mixed to mono since that was the primary format - especially for singles to be played on AM Radio - at the time. I believe all previous Sonics reissues have been mastered from mixed-down mono masters. This time, they took those tapes and mixed what they could into stereo, as well as beefing up the sound on even the mono stuff. After all these years of listening to the Sonics in mono, it's a little strange to hear them in stereo, but I gotta say the sound on this is fantastic. The way the comp. bounces between mono and stereo is a little disconcerting at first (especially on headphones!), but shit, the sound here is so badass it's incredible! About half of this is in stereo for the first time, and there's subtle difference here and there. For instance, "He's Waitin'" has a dead stop ending instead of the fade we're all used to. "Psycho" now mixed into stereo retains the fade of the original, even though the version on Required Etiquette"featured a mix where the band continued on playing as Gerry Rosalie screamed until he sounded like he was gonna expire. On other songs, there's more vocal punch, guitar solos brought out more, louder bass and drums, etc. Since all of Here Are The Sonics and a few songs on their second LP, Boom, were recorded at Audio Recording all that stuff is in stereo. I guess the Wiley/Griffith Studios stuff that made up most of Boom was recorded in mono, or the original tapes haven't been found since all that stuff remains in mono, although as I said, the sound is beefed up a bit with modern mastering technology.
But, all of this sounds incredibly primal and outrageous, even by today's standards. Rarely has a band been equaled in this kind of hi-energy rock and roll. There's a reason why originals like "Boss Hoss," "Shot Down," "Strychnine," "Cinderella," and "The Hustler" are all oft-covered garage rock classics. Plus, there's no comparing the way they made other people's songs their own. Just check out the savage versions of "Louie, Louie," "Have Love, Will Travel," "Keep A Knockin'," "Jenny Jenny," "Good Golly Miss Molly," "Money," "It's Alright" and others. As with the previous issue of this (and the Etiquette version), you get an alternate version of "The Witch," and two songs from a 1972 live reunion (which, along with a version of "Lucille" made up one side of the Live For Fanz Only EP, released by Etiquette in 1986) that showed the band still had a lot of fire left in them even then. Great liner notes and interviews with even the elusive Gerry Rosalie, Rob Lind, Larry Parypa, and Kearney Barton, plus previously unpublished pics and comments by Jiny Dellacio, make for a very sweet package indeed.
© 2003 - Alan Wright