TESTORS
Complete Recordings 1976-79 (Swami)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

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I recently read a review of this release, wherein the reviewer pretty much slagged this stuff off, referring to them as some sort of lower tier band trying to cash in on the current punk revival. Claiming their songs and music weren't memorable, and that they didn't have the chops of other bands from NYC; you have to wonder if they were listening to the same CD! Truth be told, I'm a big fan of Testors leader Sonny Vincent, from this band to Shotgun Rationale and the Rat Race Choir (who featured Ron and Scott Ashton, Cheetah Chrome and Captain Sensible) to his solo work and as part of Mo Tucker's band and as part of the touring Half Japanese. Some of this awesome two disc set has been previously available on now out-of-print 10" EPs on Incognito and the Rave Up LP release from a few years back. Disc one is divided into studio and live stuff, and features great lo-fi and blazing tracks like "Let's Get Zooed Out," "MK Ultra," "Hey You," "Don't Tell Me" and "Primitive." On a few of the studio tracks and all the live stuff, the band were a stripped-down trio of two guitars and drums as they had no bassist, an oddity even in the punk years of '76-77 when this stuff was recorded. About the only other band I can think of from that scene was the Dead Boys, who initially played shows sans a bassist before Jeff Magnum moved to NYC to join up with them. Coincidentally, Cheetah Chrome was a Testors fan and produced some of their studio material.

Disc two shows off the band after they'd had some line-up changes, and added a bassist. It kicks off with "Time Is Mine" and "Together," the only Testors release to come out while the band was active, showing that they were mining a more powerpop sound. The rest is more Detroit-inspired melodic punk. Actually, a lot of this stuff reminds me of Radio Birdman, partly because Sonny sounds a helluva lot like Rob Younger (and/or Deniz Tek for that matter), and also because there's a lot of blistering dual guitar work and really catchy tunes. It's like Sonny was channeling the MC5, the Stooges and Birdman thru his songs and it's no surprise that Sonny has worked with Wayne Kramer as well. There are fantastic tunes on disc two like "Primal Call," "Lust Of Love," and "Sick On Yesterday," the latter tune being previously unreleased. The remastering on this is loud and sounds excellent. I'm curious, though....did the Testors really have two different guitarists named Gene Sinigalliano and Chris Sinigalliano? Were they brothers?

© 2003 - Alan Wright