The Spectors
Beat Is Murder (Get Hip)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

---

The Spectors imploded in 1998, and you probably didn't attend the wake unless you live in or near Minnesota. It seems like nearly every big city has one great band they keep as their own secret, and The Spectors would definitely qualify as one of the most exciting local secrets of the 90s. A blend of volatile personalities and musical talent made for charged performances, both live and on record, and of course the same thing that made them great eventually spelled their doom. You'd have to blanket-label this as "rock," but it comes from the tradition of garage, attitude-wise, and the songs on this 6-year retrospective are influenced by everything from hard rock to mod to R&B to 60s pop. There's no lack of bass punch here, boy. Keith Patterson liked his volume full and his tone thick as a brick, so your speakers might fall off the shelf. That's a good thing, because it makes the music sound and feel live, an effect that is basically the holy grail in this kind of music. Garage fans will be over the moon for this CD, and sad that they never caught the live act, the reason for both emotions being that this band's sound is the size of Texas. How they ever fit it into a state the size of Minnesota is anybody's guess. Makes you wonder what might be going on in Rhode Island right now.

© 2003 - DJ Johnson