There are bands with a lightning start, those that make history at first glance. This can happen for several reasons: previous involvement in other groups that helped form the backbone, personal background, excellent mastery of instruments, clear ideas, the life-changing intuition and, let's add a bit of good luck which never hurts, being in the right place at the right time. It works like the "Colloquia of Eranos" where everyone brings their own talent, their own professional hallmark, and fate determines everything else.

But this is not the case of the Droogs. The Los Angeles quartet opened their shop in the early months of 1972 but it took a full twelve years, several singles, and an extended play to arrive at their first full-length album in the spring of 1984 titled "Stone Cold World" (Plug 'n Socket).

In these years of half a decade, synth-pop spreads like wildfire reaching even the penguins in Antarctica and "Stone Cold World", more suited to the group's early years, is a dandy in a tailcoat showing up at a pajama party, Mattarella at the high school prom. Okay, "The City of Angels" is a constant temptation to perdition, a deterrent to diligence, but twelve years is really too much.

But there is a reason, and it lies in the name of Dave Provost, founder of the Textones and former bassist and keyboardist of Dream Syndicate. Provost joined the group in the early '80s (with drummer Jon Gerlach replacing Kyle Raven) taking the place of Paul Motter and together with singer Ric Albin and guitarist Roger Clay, permanently stabilized the band's line-up, achieving the double, swift EP-LP blow within two years. The arrival of the former Dream Syndicate brings new wind to the sails of the band, which had been anchored for so long in the port of Los Angeles, embarking on a tour around the States and later, in 1990, throughout Europe. Their L.A., as beautiful as it is ungrateful, has given visibility and success to other contemporary bands like Long Ryders and Green On Red (the latter being imports as they hail from Tucson), systematically boycotting Albin and company's music. In an interview, guitarist Clay would let slip a bitter and very enlightening statement in this regard: "You're never a prophet in your home town". Yet they are an integral part of that garage revival happening in those years, an important tributary that enriches in quantity and quality the nascent Paisley Underground scene.

"Stone Cold World" is a labor of love, of passion, devoid of well-defined stylistic boundaries, a raw, mumbled, and chewed-up collage of garage rock, evident in the tracks "Change Is Gonna Come" and "Stone Cold World" which seems like a piece from the Stooges' repertoire. "From Another Side" and "Set My Love On You" contain organic traces of contamination from the Cramps (based in L.A. at that time), while "Mr. Right" is a clear testimony of Provost's passage through the ranks of the Dream Syndicate. The twilight "For These Remaining Days" with its neofolk tones, unusual for the Droogs' strings, and the fantastic "Only Game In Town", a noir ballad in perfect Cave style, are the most significant and exciting episodes of the album which also offers a dutiful tribute to the Sonic in the cover of "He's Waitin", recorded live in New York City.

The Droogs disbanded in 2010, fifteen years from their last album ("Atomic Garage", Lakota Records) with eight LPs produced, a string of singles, some EPs, a fantastic live performance in Europe (a land that loved them more than their native California), and a thousand dreams shattered on the Pacific coast.

Tracklist and Videos

01   Eastside (00:00)

02   Westside (00:00)

03   Change Is Gonna Come (03:37)

04   Mr. Right (04:00)

05   Set My Love On You (02:40)

06   From Another Side (03:13)

07   For These Remaining Days (02:22)

08   He's Waitin' (Live NYC) (03:41)

09   Stone Cold World (04:40)

10   Only Game In Town (04:02)

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