The Wylde Mammoths
Things That Matter

The things that matter are the garage and punk.

That’s not exactly what the Wylde Mammoths sing, as the good guys insist that it’s only their girls and themselves that count (and also the art of the striptease).

However, they play garage-punk and are among the first to record for Crypt; so, perhaps unconsciously, what really counts is the garage and also the punk.

The group is based in Sweden, at a time when Sweden is pretty much paradise on earth for any self-respecting garage-punkster, and from there come the Nomads and then everything is clear. There, they cut their teeth and do a bit of healthy apprenticeship, releasing their first album and then this «Things That Matter».

For convenience, yes, they can be funneled into the garage-punk revival trend, but even more so the Wylde Mammoths draw on rhythm'n'blues and the beat preached by Stones and Pretty Face in their beginnings. In short, much more akin to bands like Crawdaddys and Chesterfield Kings rather than to Gravedigger V and Fuzztones.

Also because, until then, a garage-punk band covering the Go-Betweens was unheard of.

And so in «Things That Matter», alongside the inevitable outbursts, there are ballads uncommon for the genre that brush against folk, like «Ain’t No Use», «Make Up Your Mind» and «It's The Same All Over The World», even interspersed with very melodic choruses with an unmistakably sixties flavor.

Then, actually, the outbursts are not really that furious: «Things That Matter», «Good Love», «C'mon Little Girl» and «I Cried Like Child» are more shards of rock’n’roll shot at a fast pace rather than fuzz and farfisa at full blast: listen to believe, to that «Down And Out» which stands halfway and is a little gem.

The album is very good; the cover is also very beautiful, one of those that makes you long for the golden age of vinyl.