Various Artists
Do The Pop: Australian Garage-Rock Sound 1976-87

THE REVIEW

«Hey let's rock ... c'mon» Rob Younger urges me, introducing «Like A Curse», leading a band of rock'n'roll soldiers renamed New Christs.

Dear Rob, I've been rocking, rolling, and moshing like crazy for over an hour, considering that before «Like A Curse» I was swept away by (exactly) thirty tracks of wild rock'n'roll, blues, psychedelia, punk, garage, power pop, and more. The invitation is still welcome, because the road to the destination will stretch on over nineteen more frenetic performances.

This is «Do The Pop», a stunning anthology that traces the small legend of Australian - and New Zealand - rock in 50 tracks from the late seventies to the first half of the eighties.

Those who, like me, can call themselves a splendid forty-something, will surely remember with a rush of passion the evolved punk of the Celibate Rifles, the proper God-ordained pop of the Hoodoo Gurus, the ultra-raw garage of the Lime Spiders, the musical marriage between Velvet Underground, Doors, and Television officiated by the Died Pretty, and the sounds of many other obscure heroes who, to paraphrase Hüsker Dü, truly made the eighties important years.

It is absolutely certain that, in that brief span of time, the God of rock chose to dwell in the antipodes, because there is no other way to explain the state of grace that struck the bands that were the protagonists of the so-called downunder rock'n'roll.

Not to mention the sacred monsters Radio Birdman and Saints, in the two CDs that make up «Do The Pop» perform in a breathtaking sequence Johnny Kannis and the Hitmen (a thrilling mix between Beach Boys and Flamin' Groovies, turned hard), the Fun Things (their «Savage» is worthy of standing alongside genuine milestones like «Stranded» or «New Race»), the Scientists (blues as mephitic and dark as - if not more than - that of the early Birthday Party), the Sunnyboys and the Some Loves (both authors of a sparkling power pop with beat and R&B touches), the Eastern Dark, the Hard Ons, and the Exploding White Mice (degenerate offspring of the Ramones) ...

And then there are the two tracks that close the program, the kind that alone justify a lifetime.

The first is «At First Sight» by the Stems, a creation animated by the immeasurable genius of Dom Mariani: let the first ten seconds testify with a guitar weaving a jingle-jangle arpeggio so delightful that it makes even the Byrds envious.

The second is «I Swear» by the New Christs: simply, for twenty-three years now, rock'n'roll in its definitive version.

You were right Rob, the best was yet to come.