Tuesday 19 April 2011

Agitated Romantic


After an unexpected power pop/vintage punk epiphany earlier this year, I guess the time was right for me to encounter crack Australian power pop troupe The Scientists.  The impetus to finally seek out some of their work came upon spying that Moon Duo's* Agitated Records was reissuing "Frantic Romanitc" for Record Store Day.



From the intro's first Link Wray indebted strum and the first chant of "It was romance!" I was smitten and that was before I'd fully digested the unexpectedly cute lyrics.  Take, for example, the opening verse: 

Met her at a dance; it was romance!
Took her by the hand; it was romance!
Gave her my drink; it was romance!
Told her I loved her; it was rooomance!

Remember, these are not Talulah Gosh lyrics!  Only the most tediously macho oaf could hear them and not melt a little.  Guitar solos are usually a sore point round these parts but not this time; it's bendy enough to be interesting but never so noodly that it's unlistenable.  It didn't look like the 7" was flying off Monorail's shelves during Saturday's Record Store Day mania which is a shame but I, for one, couldn't countenance not buying it once I'd heard it.  "Frantic Romantic" marked Agitated's second brilliant Record Store Day reissue following last year's release of this bratty, wild-eyed masterpiece by The Electric Eels:


Thanks Agitated!

* - Moon Duo already demonstrated their love of The Scientists by recording a tremendous (better than the original?) cover of the pained, brooding "Set It On Fire" for the flip of last year's "Catch As A Catch Can" 7" (also Agitated).

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