The Sweet Things
Love To Leave/Cocaine Asslicker Blues
(Spaghetty Town Records)
If Johnny Thunders was swapped in place of Ronnie Wood during the Some Girls sessions, you would have a gauge on how the new 7” Love To Leave/Cocaine Asslicker Blues by The Sweet Things goes. Hailing from the East Village area of New York City, it is their debut 7″ release on Spaghetty Town Records. Not going to use the term “nostalgia driven” to summarize their thing, that defeats a purpose here. There’s a reason their throwback punk n’ roll sound is still prevalent and embraced in today’s underground circuit, the music is fucking good and people STILL want to hear it after all these years. Along with this, a small clique of labels of various sizes around the world want to continue seeing this stuff released, thank god for that!
Love to Leave occupies side A and is as gritty and sleazy sounding as the corridors and bathroom stall of your frequented dive bar. Guitarist Lorne Behrman displays some great cow punk leads and slide guitar work while the vocals of Dave Tierney and his counterpart harmonizer Liza Colby elicit a natural feel together, hopefully a future release will have a rendition of Supersucker’s “Hung-over Together” to get a complete dual effect of the two. Side B’s power pop tune doesn’t sound as hardcore as its title, Cocaine Asslicker Blues sounds more like something the quintet improvised on the spot to fill some studio time while inebriated and in a hurry, hey that’s rock n’ roll for you.
The Sweet Things are a contemporary take on a classic style that has plenty of imitators but little stand outs, this is one of the latter. Copies of the 7” are available in both limited pink color and black vinyl.
