Liquid Generation: Quarter to Zen (1984)

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Liquid Generation: Quarter to Zen (1984)

Elsewhere has frequently written unapologetically about the thrill of garageband rock'n'roll from the likes of Dead Moon, the Seeds, early Troggs, the Sonics, Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Standells and all those groups on the famous Nuggets collection (and its various spinoffs).

The joy of garageband rock'n'roll is it rarely springs surprises -- it's cheaply realised, fast pop with dirty fingernails and oceans of enthusiasm -- but its very familiarity means once you've clicked as to what's going on you can just go with it.

Liquid Generation were around briefly in Seattle in the mid Eighties and sit along the edge of garageband and furious psychedelic rock (like the Blues Magoos, Electric Prunes and others).

Their sole single was this one, a scouring piece of juvenile enthusiasm -- they were all under 21, singer Jeremy Meyer just 17 -- and took Nuggets as its reference point.

Live they apparently played their originals alongside covers of local heroes like the Wailers (not the Bob ones) and . . .

And -- after barely a year on the barricades -- they were gone pretty much just after they'd arrived.

But in 2009 they played a 25th anniversary reunion show and afterwards the inevitable happened, someone -- probably Green Monkey boss Tom Dyer -- said, "Hey, that was fun and they were pretty good so why don't we . . ."

And he did.

This 16-song collection kicks in with their title track single (the flipside appears later on) and includes their covers of the Troggs' From Home, the Easybeats' Going Out of My Mind, the Wailers' Hang Up, the Syndicate of Sounds' Little Girl, the Kinks' I Need You. . .

greenmonkeyAnd all are given their signature garageband, psyched-up punk treatment. With Meyer screaming his lungs out.

The album is out there through Green Monkey if you like the visceral sound of Quarter to Zen.

And how could you not?

It is four minutes of controlled chaos with a tune and a beat. 

For more one-offs, songs with an interesting backstory or just plain odd things see From the Vaults.

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