FAST
MUSIC - The Products (Careza De Tornado)This is a surprise packet. The Products hailed from San Diego in the early '80s and come across like a cross between the Real Kids, the Buzzocks and the Vibrators.
"Fast Music" is a posthumous release from a band that scarcely made an impact outside their home town and the Baja (that's south of the Mexican border). Exisitng from 1980-81, they managed to squeeze out an E.P. before recording a full-length album, the band breaking up before it could be released. These 10 tracks are that album.
Lee Larson's vocals have a U.K. punk edge that recall Pete Shelley. His and Alex DeFelice's guitars occupy the same space as John Fellice and Billy Borgioli from the Real Kids, alternately wrapping around taught melody lines or providing a solid rhythmic springboard. This is more melodious punk-pop than outright buzzsaw attack, which makes you wonder where The Products might have ended up if they'd been around 10 years later.
The Products apparently used to pepper their sets with covers by the Clash, the Pistols and the Jam, so that probably gives a fair indication of where they're coming from. It doesn't detract from their undeniable pop inclinations, which are also just as evident from these cuts.
The songs are uniformly listenable, if occasionally a little samey, and might have benefitted from some backing vocals to colour things up. It's mainly poppy punk, with the exception of "Wild Weekend" (a Rockin' Rebels cover, not the Psychosurgeons tune) which has a playful surf feel that gathers tempo along the way.
Not earthshattering but pretty good stuff, especially for afficianados of Pommy punk.
- The Barman
1/4