Taxi
Yu Tolk Tu Mach

Rome caput punk.

And there isn’t the slightest possibility that any erudite Latin scholar can dissuade me from the erroneous citation.

Because if, after «Close up» by Bingo, «Yu Tolk Tu Mach» by Taxi came, then there are no saints or soldiers who can change that: Rome caput punk.

I start with the cover, which I like to think of as a romantic homage to the Ramones captured on the back of «Road to Ruin». So when among the titles on the back (and here the thought quickly runs to the Redd Kross of «Neurotica») I spot «Glad to See Tou ...», like a poker player slowly revealing the cards hoping for an ace to complete a royal flush, I hope there’s a «... Go» following. It doesn't happen, but it hardly matters.

Then there’s the music, punk 1977, hard rock pounding and glam mixed with a significant dose of swagger; and true punk is deeply swaggering, no matter what anyone says.

Take «Load Point Fire», the rhythm section pounds shamelessly on a martial beat that is neither speed nor violence, but heaviness like Leo Tormento Pestoduro in the good old days. Firing squad.

Take «Gloves», but especially take «Hard Times», an unreleased track gifted to the band by the unknown but legendary Clive Jones as a token of appreciation for the cover of «Rabies Is a Killer» slapped on the previous «Like a Dog»: swagger at one hundred, the kind needed to hit two birds with the proverbial stone and cheekily dismiss the Knack of «My Sharona» and AC/DC of «Thunderstruck». Devastation.

The Taxi are so swaggering, they don’t fear ridicule in tackling none other than Serge Gainsbourg; and their «Qui Est In, Qui Est Out» is one of the most beautiful punked covers of the last decade. But then, come to think of it, Gainsbourg has always been punk (bohemian side), even just for the famous and overused "attitude". Genius.

And then «Yu Tolk Tu Mach» is an inexhaustible mine of killer riffs: «Dead Girl», «The Vampire», and «Out on the Street» are a shock wave that smashes and demolishes every obstacle in its path. Full-throttle air guitar.

But «Yu Tolk Tu Mach» is also, and most importantly, punk anthems to shout at the top of your lungs until your breath holds.

«She's the Killer, Yeah She's the Killer». Punk 1977.

Played as God intended.