The Fuzztones
Leave Your Mind At Home

If I had to recommend to a newbie the ideal album to approach garage, it would undoubtedly be "Leave Your Mind At Home" by the Fuzztones.

Firstly, because I'm an incurable romantic, and "Leave Your Mind At Home" was the first proper garage album I bought, about 25 years ago.

On this note, I want to get something off my chest, so forgive me for the initial outburst.

The fact is that, if you, my dear Midnight Records, release an album the size of an LP, it's clear that a young and naive Pinhead will put it on the player and set it to 33 rpm. Now, anyone of you who owns «Leave Your Mind At Home» on vinyl, try listening to it at 33 rpm, and you'll understand my feelings upon the first listen... A devastating trauma that I only overcame a couple of years later, when listening to «Lysergic Emanations» made me doubt I had done something wrong: darn, that "45 rpm" printed on the vinyl means it should be played at 45 rpm!

Not to mention the humiliation due to the sarcastic comments I had to endure from my brother, who, not content with polluting my record collection with junk like ELP, never missed an opportunity to show off, saying things like "Garage is such crap! These Fuzztones! You listen to music like a damn dog"—which I didn't quite understand, but it gives you the idea.

If I hadn't had the revelation, then maybe now I would be here reviewing «Love Beach», all because of unscrupulous record companies that sell LPs meant to be played at 45 rpm.

Aside from that, the second reason my choice falls on "Leave Your Mind At Home" is because, in many ways, it's a perfect album.

Perfect starting from the comic-style artwork, created by that madman Rudi Protrudi. Front: against the background of terrified spectators, the ghostly figures of the five Fuzztones rise from the "Leave Your Mind At Home" logo like miasmas from the underworld, all topped by the ominous sign of The Fuzztones company. Back: mutant insects and all sorts of horrid creatures wander among the audience, while modern Frankensteins seize blooming young girls, whose terrible fate seems sealed. "It's a joke, naturally," warns Rudi, and yet he enjoys twisting "of course" (naturally) into "of corpse" (corpse), showing a typically British sense of humor.

Not to mention that "Leave Your Mind At Home" is a live album, recorded in the filthiest way possible, and as a real live album should be, it oozes sweat, energy that rivals a nuclear power plant, and passion, the kind that flows only from blind and unconditional love. The opening of side B is all Rudi hyping the crowd, with encouragements like «Go wild, guys, because the more YOU lose control, the more WE lose control». And indeed, that night, no one in the audience could resist the invitation to leave self-control at home: to the point that, even for those standing by the turntable, the real spectacle isn't so much the Fuzztones on stage, but the frenzied screams accompanying Rudi's grunts, the constant excitement and shivers shaking the audience, which you fully perceive because they move you as well. For my part, I only experienced a similar feeling a few years later while listening to this other disc, and if Muddy Waters can be said to have the blues, then the Fuzztones can be said to have the garage.

Last but not least, "Leave Your Mind At Home" is a perfect album in spirit, a heartfelt tribute to the obscure heroes—which can't be defined otherwise—who in the Sixties invented a genre that, fifty years later, is still capable of stirring things up. In an escalating crescendo, there come «Voices Green And Purple» by the Bees, «Blackout At Gretely» by the Gonn, «No Friend Of Mine» by the Sparkles, «We're Pretty Quick» by the Chob, «Flash On You» by Love, «The Bag I'm In» by the Fabs, and «You Burn Me Up And Down» by We The People: (almost) all tracks that in 1984 were raw diamonds that only a brave few could unearth. Well, the Fuzztones are the miners who devoted their lives to bringing those diamonds to light, and even just for this, History should give them their due credit.

I almost forgot. "Leave Your Mind At Home" is a perfect album also because when I later bought «We're Outta Place» by New York's Outta Place, even though the record was an LP size, I immediately set it to 45 rpm. And anyway, this too is a Midnight Records disc, so I guess those guys do it on purpose!

Anyway, even Dischord isn't kidding around... Seeing as each of us is doomed to repeat the same mistakes in an eternal cycle, a few months ago I bought a Minor Threat vinyl (LP size, of course) that plays at 45 rpm: the only thing I can say is that the great Minor Threat, even at 33 rpm, aren't bad at all...