The Nomads
Hardware

The Nomads, founded in 1981 in Sölna, a suburb of Stockholm, by Hans Östlund, Nick Vahlberg, Joakim Tärnström, and Ed Johnson—still active today—are the forerunners of the Swedish garage rock revival. However, they interpret an apocryphal, explosive, and brash version in which you can find MC5, Stooges, New York Dolls, Sonics, Roky Erikson, Gun Club, Cramps, and Bo Diddley, to name just the most obvious references.

Hardware, released in 1987 after two excellent EPs—Where The Wolf Bane Blooms (1983) and Temptation Plays Double (1984), which navigate through many covers and few original tracks— is the Swedish band's first LP, fueled by the sacred fire of youth and a love for vigorous, genuine, and raw rock 'n' roll, where the American garage punk of the '60s and '70s blends with rockabilly and hard rock, as evidenced by the six original tracks and the five covers that ignite the grooves of this vinyl.

The opening is entrusted to the incendiary "Call Off Your Dogs," written for the Nomads by none other than Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Peter Case. Wild fuzzy guitars rage over a telluric rhythm base and a legendary refrain. "Jungle Fever" by Charlie Feathers and "Swamp Gal" by Tommy Bell are amphetamine-laced and swampy voodoobilly tracks that lead us into the unhealthy territories of the Cramps, while the irresistible boogie of "Move It On Over" by Del Shannon closes the album in a frenzied whirlwind of smoking instruments.

"Surfin' In The Bars," "(I Can't Use) The Stuff I Used To Use," and "Check Your Backdoor" are, instead, the best original moments, played as if the Stooges and MC5 decided to take a vacation and leave gloomy Detroit to go surfing on some Californian beach or, better yet, on the Australian Reef, amidst distorted guitars and boundless energy.

Hardware is not a milestone, but it's a great R'n'R record where you can sense the sweat dripping and the instruments sizzling. An essential album in my collection because, with its impure garage rock mixed with '77 punk and '80s Australian power pop, it generates a thrilling concentration of vitality that can benefit the ears, liver, and spirit.

Better than Giuliani's medicinal bitters.