Garage Punk level 100%
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Pas d'emission cette semaine pour cause de Cosmic Trip festival
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The VICTIMS "sleeping dogs lie"

The distinctly Australian accent of Dave Faulkner backed by that easily identifiable jagged guitar/bass riff on 'Television Addict' opens this compilation as it did the Victims 1978 debut single. It could well be the perfect punk song but the voice and sound is so obviously not from London, Manchester, Detroit, LA, or New York. It wasn't even from Melbourne or Sydney, but Perth. Leederville, a small inner-suburb where the Victims – Faulkner, James Baker and Rudolph V (aka Dave Cardwell) – formed in 1977. While they released fewer than 10 songs in their two years together in doing so they became the greatest garage punk band Australia has produced. They went on to influence a swag of others from the Hard-Ons to You Am I and Eddy Current Suppression Ring. It's kind of stupid, but the fact that copies of the first 7” (without a sleeve!) sell for over $­­­­­200 on eBay is testament to their impact and legacy.

This album released on both vinyl and CD by Japanese label 1977 Records (Australian distributor Fuse is handling CD only) includes the single and the 1978 EP, as well as 'Bad Demo', a tape recorded in a living room around August 1977. Apparently the band hate the demo today as much as they did back then, but it isn't actually that bad. The recording is decent and it's interesting to hear songs like 'Horror Smash' and 'Out of My Head' (recorded before Television Addict) where their love of US bands such as The MC5, The Stooges and The New York Dolls was crystallising into a sound of their own.