The Chosen Few
Do The Manic!

Wanting to have fun is no small thing, I listen to a lot of music but I'm blown away when I hear this old school punk rock, forgive me if I repeat myself, but where has that old attitude gone? That dirty sound that reeked of rot, rock n roll played so badly it was fantastic?

Today every kid has a computer with the complete discography of every damn band in the world, every kid has a computer that acts as a recording studio, everyone knows everything about everything. I mean... blissful ignorance if music must succumb. Digital recordings all identical, error-free, guitar solos corrected with a mouse, "I want the drums to sound like Dream Theater, the guitar of Metallica, and the bass of Pastorius" all and immediately, resulting in total flattening, Swedish recordings that seem like the effect of cloning, plastic sound, where are the old tapes? That's why instead of listening to the band from 2008 (yes, I'm generalizing), I dive into semi-unknown groups, forgotten by the world; let me introduce you to one: the Australians Chosen Few, who recorded this album "Do the manic!" in '78.

Raw, dirty, and drunken, they play a particular punk rock, abrasive yet with a subtle line of class, arrangements dating back to the stone age revisited and made extravagant, songs composed of two riffs and a little more, charming rocking solos, string pulls and guitar whistles. A drum that lets loose, poorly recorded (you can barely hear the cymbals), a bass that doesn't overstep but performs its job correctly. Wild singing, simple but incisive vocal parts, garnished with obsessive screams that shatter into total distortion. I could never say that the Chosen Few are the best band in the world, but they know what they're doing, they captivate with short and carefree rock songs, they particularly remind me of the American Real Kids, even some Ramones. The recording includes some inaccuracies, songs change speed, small guitar errors, and various distractions, but for me, this is one of the reasons why the music is enjoyable, to hear that it's played by humans and not computerized machines.

The album flows wonderfully, containing wonderful tracks like "Mercenary of love," "Disco tek wreck" or "Jokes on us". But if you appreciate the genre it’s hard to make distinctions, all tracks are good.

Getting the album is almost impossible, I had it shipped from abroad, but with determination, it can be done. I have nothing else to add, since the band is semi-unknown and shares the name with another group, (I think reggae). Could this also be a point in favor of the album? Yes. The almost total lack of information on the Chosen Few can make listening more fascinating.