Here Are the Sonics

This goes pretty hard for 1965.

3.75

Surprised with this one. Was not expecting an early punk sound with hard edges

I've listened to enough 50s and 60s albums now, and this one feels like a turning point to me. There's a lot of the rockabilly sound still in here (Roll Over Beethoven, Dirty Robber, etc.). At times it sounded similar to the Jerry Lee Lewis album that I've gotten before (including a common cover). There's a few covers on here too and it's very short (29 minutes), both things typical in earlier rock albums. But I think this is when you can start to hear some of what's to come too. The rockabilly sound gives way to a bit harder of a rock sound at times, with strong guitar and drums. It's simple, but high energy, and frantic, and generally fun. There's also a lot of yelling (probably overdone a bit to be honest). Overall I didn't love the album, it was just ok to me. The sound quality is pretty rough, the yelling became a bit much, and there wasn't much that stood out as particularly groundbreaking or interesting. But I get the sense that this was a critical step to what came shortly after. I know "Have Love Will Travel" (the best song on here) was mentioned in The Velvet Underground podcast I listened to, and you can see how this bridges the gap to what's coming. Maybe The Sonics walked so others could run. Favorite song: Have Love Will Travel Other: The Witch, Psycho, Strychnine

A basic rock 'n' roll band from the 60s. Nothing really that stood out too much in this album, filled with lots of covers and a few originals dotted in. Feels like The Sonics would've been a hit really locally to where they formed. But nice to read that they are still on the gig train all these years later! Best: The Witch Worst: Walking The Dog

Which white bread Beatles wannabe is that soul voice coming out of??? Horrible production though. This sounds like it was recorded inside of a tin can.

the originals were cool the covers sucked

rock n roll baby its catchy if you want to dance and get silly otherwise this album dont give me a lot

Knew about this one a bit as I was put on to "Have Love Will Travel" by a Radio Soulwax mix nearly a decade ago. The catchiness from that track is inherent across the rest of the LP, and thankfully the short runtime means things feel fresh throughout without getting homogeneous after a while. The vocals did grate on me a bit near the end, but still enjoyed the raucous 60s' vibes on this a good deal.

Mixing rock n roll and r&b influences there are clear lines to bands of the 1970s who were listening, watching and emulating the tone and style. One of the easiest listens in a while as the runtime breezes by and the covers all feel fine in the Sonics style.

Managed to miss these guys somehow but the sound is different to what I was expecting. Quite groovy and wild. I dig it!!

WOUAAAAAOW

The energy is great, but the songs? Not that much.

Definitely a punchy sound. They got the rocking sound down. The songs are alright...

Recognised Do You Love Me (The Contours) and Have Love Will Travel. Sound was a bit too muffled/staticky.

surfs up boring

I’m fascinated that record companies were just letting all these bands put out albums covering the same rock and roll songs. I guess this would have been before we took the idea of the album seriously.

This is that band that was hired in 1965 because the one that was originally supposed to play the Friday night high school dance canceled at the last minute. Archie: Gee, guys, what are we gonna do now? Betty: This is terrible! I already bought a new dress and promised Reggie I'd let him get to second base tonight. Veronica: (rolls her eyes) Oh, Betty, we all know he's stolen second so many times that he's turning for third at the first chance he gets. Jughead: I don't know anything about baseball but I do know that Kevin's older brother has a band that might be able to fill in on short notice. Archie: Great idea! Let's all hop in the jalopy and see if they'll save the dance! Kevin's brother's band does play. The sweaty, hormonal, teens love the covers but it's the original stuff that really blows them away. Epilogue Archie and Veronica hook up after the dance. She shows him what an Alki Beach hug is. Betty and Reggie continue to date for a while before breaking up due to Reggie realizing he doesn't really like baseball, and wants to change teams. Jughead goes on to be the manager of the Dandy Warhols.

Not sure how to rate an album where many of the best tracks are covers. Either way, old-timey rock'n'roll is still some of the best dance music.

Seeing the earliest beginnings of lo-fi and grunge is super cool, but too many songs are covers to be super interesting. 3.5/5

Solid 3.5. Very fun 60s rock. Rounded down instead of up due to all the screaming.

Good runtime and enjoyable music but lacking one or two standout songs to really have an impact

Heavy pre punk music? I guess more garage rock that slaps enough to keep me interested. A lot of covers on this, hard to get an idea what this band is! It all kind of sounds the same, like one long ass song

The first song on this album was not that impressive and I thought it was going to be a lame older album. But then there’s do you love me. A good hot back from the day. But then there’s have love will travel and the blues rock crushes it. That’s one of my favorite black keys song and this original version was awesome to hear. The album was solid. A good rock album and plenty fun to listen to. 7.2/10

3.5 stars. Upbeat fast-paced rowdy early garage rock that is produced to have a live sound. Tracks are all under 3 minutes and have gain-y riffing guitars and loud yells from lead singer. Lots of covers and a few originals, the best being "The Witch" but the LP standout is their version that popularized "Have Love Will Travel."

ITS THE HILLTOP HOODS SONG!!! Genuinely a pretty good album, I acknowledge they're a definite Beatles clone and half of these songs are covers, but it's a good sound.

Grappig dat garagerock echt een term is voor een genre wat het ook omarmt. Niet bijzonder maar wel geinige covers

Such a classic 60's sound, it transportative. 12 songs in under 30 minutes is also a nice surprisingly easy listen

Green car song: had some decent covers at the start, fell off towards the end and started sounding very of the era

Attractive covers from some good rock n' roll classics. The original songs are good, like a noisy version of Beatles or Rolling Stones; that was probably the trend when the album was released. It was an interesting listening session, even though it was not remarkable.

3+/5 a great sound

I didn't know about this album and I'm glad I di now. Will listen again, would be a four if they weren't all clearly derivative of a Black music, etc.

My old art teacher once went on a long and passionate tirade about The Who’s “Substitute”, saying it was the best thing they ever recorded. His reason? He imagined all the dials swinging firmly into the red during the recording, from the sheer raucousness of all four members of the band. At the time, I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to discuss any other examples of this from a similar period. I’d now like to go eleven years back in time, wave “Here are the Sonics” in front of his face and shout “forget Substitute- this is what ‘in the red’ sounds like!” The sound quality on this record barely holds together, threatening to explode at any moment. The Sonics famously recorded their debut album using just a two-track recorder, capturing the entire drum set with one mic. Nearly sixty years on, it’s heralded as an early example of the low-values and high-energy synthesis that would return in punk over a decade later. Fans of the Sonics would later recognise the band’s place in music history, notably Kurt Cobain, who would call it the best drum sound he’d ever heard. Once I got used to the recording quality, which is inescapably shabby and knockabout, I was able to just concentrate on the material. And I must admit, it’s a fun ride. The eight covers are played with bulldozing confidence, and it’s enjoyable (if not essential) to hear the Sonics’ take on such classics as “Do You Love Me”, “Roll Over Beethoven”, “Money” and, of course, “Have Love Will Travel”. The latter in particular, being the most famous Sonics track, is a delight. However, the total exhilaration of the set disguises a suspicious lack of original material: “The Witch”, “Boss Hoss”, “Psycho” and “Strychnine” are the only ones here. “Psycho” is perhaps the best of these, even if it does sound like “Have Love, Will Travel #2”. I could also do without the screams at the end. “Here are the Sonics” is a fun album, but its central gimmick- rock n roll standards played to 11 by a howling garage band- would be difficult to sustain for much more than 29 minutes. I’m sure the band would have been more thrilling in a live setting. Regardless, what we do have here is a relentless pack of songs that spin those dials up and refuse to bring them down. Plain and simple, but a worthy substitute for “Substitute” indeed.

Solid 60s

- Super rough (in a good way) sound, didn't expect it from the cover art - Blends classic 60s rock sound with some noise - Favorite songs: Roll over Beethoven, Have Love will Travel

- Love the garage rock sound - Back when rock still had some roll 😎

Quite enjoyable, reminds me a bit of early Beatles

Some lovely beatles like sound, but the recording is very muddy which takes away from the enjoyment

Enjoy the upbeat vibes

Upbeat, inoffensive

Was this just a cover band?

The recording was a bit rough at times to listen to as the equipment wasn’t as advanced at the time. Some decent cover songs and their originals weren’t too bad either. I am interested in them as a band.

Could have a been a four if he toned down the WOOOAWWs a little bit and had more variance in their song writing. For an album that's so short it's kind of sad that their isn't more to differentiate their songs. But also because it's so short it doesn't wear out it's welcome. The songs are quick and frenetic. Also I remember listening to some of these songs with my dad so I gotta give them at least a 3

i liked it

A riproaring raucous cacophony of garage, R&B, and proto-punk. Would definitely get you on your feet and some great covers, especially Have Love, Will Travel. 12 songs in 30 minutes is pretty impressive too

I’m saying this about a lot of albums but it’s fine. Not really my thing

I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. Especially enjoyed the covers of Do You Love Me, Roll Over Beethoven, and Have Love Will Travel. The Night Time Is the Right Time cover was atrocious though. 3.5/5

I enjoyed this! I knew a surprising amount of these songs (Do You Love Me, Roll Over Beethoven, Money, Good Golly Miss Molly) All good, with a classic rock and roll feel. Also - this album came out in 1965?? Pretty cool - definite Marty McFly vibes.

ok

The drawback is the number of covers. The upshot is knowing how garage rock compares to those covers.

This is a good example of garage rock / proto-punk from the first half of the 60s. The Witch is as heavy as The Who's My Generation album albeit without the feedback, and My Gen was released a year later. The album has covers of two songs that  the Beatles also covered on their first album.  On one, Roll Over Beethoven, the singing follows Chuck Berry's original which is also how Harrison sang it. On the second, Money,  Lennon's singing didn't stray from the original but The Sonics' did. This is interesting and  although it didn't stray that far, I thought it worked. The Sonics also cover Walking The Dog  which also strays from the original. Their version is, however, close to The Stones cover of this song. I'm not sure who copied whom or if it was a coincidence.  The shouting seems to be overdone. I think it's better to shout on fewer songs so the shouts have an impact. By the time  we got to Strychnine I found myself thinking "Oh Lord, not another "EEOOOHHH!"

The hard-driving, raw sound, especially of their originals, is the earliest example of the “punk” spirit that I can recall, though I’m not familiar with other garage rock bands from that era. Overall the album relies too much on covers of rock n’ roll standards to get a high score from me, and the singer screams a bit too predictably.

Listened Before? N I know the "genre" of garage rock has been a thing for a long time but I didn't know it ran back into the 60's. This album is proof, though, and you can hear the sounds and structures that influenced many later artists from Thrash metal to Nirvana. It was a good listen, and pretty unique. It would have been better if there were more original songs, but I'll take it. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist:

A solid 3.5 as the music transitions from oldies to more developed rock and roll.

Rehellistä settiä kuuskytluvulta. Sillon ymmärrettiin pitää biisit lyhyinä ja ytimekkäinä, kun haluttiin antaa helppoa viihdettä. Toimi!

Poor Audio Quality. Good covers and energy

These guys r having fun

Standouts: The Witch, Do You Love Me, Roll Over Beethoven, Have Love Will Travel, Psycho, Money (That's What I Want), Nighttime Is The Right Time, Good Golly Miss Molly. 3/5

Interesting to see the beginnings of the punk sound.

Fun, short album by some kids inspired by blues and early rock n roll. Most songs are covers and done well. Production is good. Little originality.

For the time period a cut below the Monkees

Rock and roll. Less refined than contemporaries. But that was probably the intention.

Many songs were familiar as they were covers. Very reminiscent of that rock sound in the 60s. Rating - 3.5, only because I'm not the biggest fan of those times so personal bias.

It's technically solid, if a little one-note. It's fun, just maybe one the records on here that's weird to judge as an "album" when it was most likely firing off singles to see what sticks. Favorite tracks: "Strychnine", "The Witch"

Here Are the Sonics really defines a counter-culture to the time. They are messier than a lot of the bands of their day. Distorted guitar, loud, wild vocals, and covers of songs also covered by the Beatles, but in a looser way. I think this album serves more as a bookmark than a long-standing favorite. Derivative bands like this can still be great. I'm not sure if The Sonics are great, but I'm sure the kids went nuts for it, which was likely the goal.

I respect this for what it is, solid 60s garage rock, but it could really use a remaster.

Pretty darn good. Pixies before there were Pixies, kinda. 3 stars.

first listen rock and roll with garage energy

A lot of covers, but maybe it's hard to fault that in the 60s.

Definitely ahead of it's time and influential, but also sloppy blues garage rock, not really my style.

Lots of covers.

I don’t understand why I’ve never heard of this band before when I knew half of the songs on this album.

Hard one to judge. Best songs were covers so going to go 3 star. Had a nice time though

Too many "wahhhhhs" for me but at the same time, it really rocks. Good energy off simple chord progressions.

Little too early in its development as a genre for me, but I can see how this influenced James Murphy's earlier work 3/5

Obviously incredibly hard-hitting in 1965, and if there were one band that every rock-revival group of the start 00's were trying to channel, it was The Sonics (White Stripes, Black Keys, you name it). But almost 60 years later, it sounds VERY simple and monotonous. It's some groovy stuff, and their importance cannot be overestimated. It just doesn't rock my world.

If The Beatles had an evil twin. This is unbelievably noisy and aggressive for a 1965 release. I do like the straightforwardness and early lo-fi/garage aesthetics of a lot of the songs. I can also hear many bands, especially the grunge sound, finding some inspiration in this. I probably wouldn’t spin this record that often though.

As soon as the album started, I got the grunge/punk vibe. Hard stripped-down sound. Not sure this would be my style overall, but interesting to see how it influenced later genres/bands.

예상과 다른 목소리.

I did not quite get it. The unpolished sound is a part of it but it is quite unlistenable.

The Sonics are good. In this album have some covers, the others are original.

Can't complain, but I will say it has maybe too many covers that were done better elsewhere. But go, Tacoma, go!

I can hear that this is like a precursor to garage rock and punk, but sounds like a sketch rather than a blueprint.

Solid 60s garage rock album. Not spectaculair but just solid.

Solid and energetic rock & roll album

Respect the garage rock vibes and the energy. Many of the songs are covers, and though they're done justice, they aren't really improved upon. Skip the bonus tracks - those are awful. 3/5 gold rings 💫💫💫

Fast, hard and frenetic. Mostly rock & roll standards leavened with some originals. Revolutionary in its time, subsequently influential

classics

Fun! I like the covers more than their original songs.

Should done more of their own stuff, like the production though bit raw mama

Beatles covers

Best Song: Have Love Will Travel. Nice groove, nice solo. Perfect encapsulation of that kind of hippie-love vibe. Worst Song: Good Golly Miss Molly. Not terrible, just not one of the better renditions of this song that I've heard. Overall: High energy, low polish early rock. The songs are quick and spastic, but they don't really do much to differentiate themselves.

Klassiker unter den Tracks. Ein paar habe ich aus den TV Werbungen wiederentdeckt, in denen man CDs für Oma kaufen konnte.

I'm all about the noisy originals and weirdly-familiar covers. The effect of the juxtaposition, though, fades rather quickly. The Sonics didn't find the middle path, and I think that's what my ears needed for a righteous and not merely worthy listen.

So here is an album of mainly covers with way more screaming than originals. I did not hate this album and I prefer the originals to the covers but the album was alright.

I do love how energetic, raw, and heavy this is for it's time. Good ol' rock and roll music that brings consistent fun and energy. While I can imagine how influential this was on rock/early punk, it is not something I see myself listening to on a regular basis. The tunes are dated and it's mostly cover songs anyway.

The image is misleading The music is frenetic, with uninhibited vocals. What lets the album down is that it is nearly all covers - well done, but without original takes on the material. Fun to listen to, would be great at a sixties themed party to dance to, but not really that important - which is probably why most people won't know of them.

Great energy! And it's actually groovey The good part of punk rock, but made in a time when it wasn't about screaming slurs at your mom because you have to focus on your schoolwork. But yes it is made up of 12 identical songs. 3

Got progressively more annoying. Low 3

this was fun! I listened to it real quick while I was doing list work and working late (??)

Pretty cool sound for the time but a bit repetitive. Also would have been nice to see some more original music

sound so much like the beach boys. but i think they were there earlier. good tunes.

Just a bunch of clean-cut looking kids exploring the limits of their combined energy and influences. If their generous use of exclamation marks is any indication, they came to rock.

fine but rough and a little too frantic for me

Schreeuwerige rock & roll. Leuk, maar alleen maar covers

Early punky garage rock with very loud and production that peaks the mic, with average 60 rock tropes and some very headache inducing screaming. Comes to about average

It’s pretty ok - sounds like one continuous song though. Don’t hate the sound at all but would like a little more variety.

The originals deserve to be here. The covers, meh. This album is mostly covers. The song "Strychnine" is an obvious early punk influence.

Very basic early rock but incredibly advanced stylistically, considering how aggressively raucous it was; this album predates punk rock by a decade or more. It predates even the MC5 and the Stooges. Kind of astonishing to think about. This had to have been the most dangerous rock and roll of its time, and may have even earned the most dangerous and edgy rock music of any era, considering just how far out on a ledge this had to have been. I feel bad rating it so low but i do have modern ears and it's not really my cup of tea.

Oofff. Recording quality is pretty bad. Tunes are solid though. Some nice rock and blues covers. Good stuff. Stand out tracks: Roll Over Beethoven, Good Golly Miss Molly, Have Love, Will Travel.

Some classics on here. Have love will travel being the best (check out Crazyhead’s version). A decent album with one too many woooaaaaaaooowwwws

Un es pot fer la idea que en el seu moment fos gairebé revolucionari, tenint en compte l'any que va aparèixer i el seu contexte. Però al contrari que altres discos també revolucionaris, aquest ha perdut gran part del seu encant i és més un testimoni interessant de l'època i pel sorgiment d'un génere, que pel seu propi valor artístic

Never heard of these guys before either, but I like garage rock. This is super early so I'm surprised I haven't heard them listed as inspiration for other bands. Will have to look more into their discography.

Decent listen

Quite enjoyed this, although it seems like most of the songs are covers. That's a shame really, because their original stuff has a lot more edge to it than the covers that they do (which are by and large inferior to the originals). All sounds quite raw, it's almost like a precursor to punk, and they sound much better without the very sixties backing vocals they have on most of their covers. 3/5, won't listen to the album again but will add Strychnine to a playlist.

OH, I knew them. :)

I think I'm into 60s music?

It was pretty good

I’m not sure I agree on the inclusion of this album except for as an early garage band prototype. This music is up my alley but I thought other bands have done the covers better (namely, the Beatles). The original songs were forgettable. Overall, this was okay and I didn’t mind it.

fine.

Pioneering, high energy, punk-ish rock and roll. The two track recording sounds primitive and raw. An enjoyable listen.

Lots of songs I knew here that I didn't know who the actual artist was. Not bad.

Have Love Will Travel - огонь.

Talk about whiplash. I had no idea who The Sonics were, thought I was going in blind, and ended up knowing the recorded versions here, or covers/remakes, of most of the songs on this album. There is something gritty about the rawness of the album and I enjoyed most of the songs here. While not something I'd seek out, it was still a great album, especially for something past its jubilee.

I had no idea who this was but recognized almost every song. I have even played some of these songs in different bands I’ve been in. Wild. I can see how this would have been mind blowing back in the 60’s.

This is a fun album and is surprisingly edgy sounding. First thing I thought was how I could see how this might've inspired people like Iggy and Patti Smith (on looking this up it turns out my gut feeling was accurate). The motown covers are fairly uninspired though I know it was a right of passage for most bands of this era. Super aggressive sounding production but very tight nonetheless; they were clearly a band with some serious gigging under their belts.

good album, not sure why some reviews are bad. i enjoyed this.

I thinkkk the covers are good

Very lively for its day - but I doubt I'll ever listen to it again. The early Beatles were better!

This really puts the raucous in rock & roll. A solid collection of original songs mixed in with some rock standards. The energy is fast and vicious on this album. I could definitely imagine this sound influenced a number of bands coming out of this period. I find it interesting that most albums I've seen released before the late 60s have a large number of covers included in them. I wonder what the reasoning for that was and when the shift occurred. The recording quality on this one is pretty scratchy, but I'm not sure that wasn't deliberate, as it certainly adds to the "garage" feel. Overall a fun listen, I would have like to hear some more originals, the ones included are pretty strong and it would be neat to see what else they could do. Fav Tracks: The Witch, Have Love Will Travel, Strychnine

Muitos gritos, mas é legalzinho. Melhor música: Do you love me.

'60s band, but actually having their own style? Beat me to it. Had more fun than I anticipated. Ps. 3,5/5

Połowa to covery, reszty albo nie znam, albo też covery. Brakowało oryginalności. Dałbym 3, ale jak grasz nie swoją muzykę to takie 3 na szynach.

Listen

Brut de décoffrage

ouais on va dire que ça passe

Čuveni proto garage rock album. No osim have love will travel me ništa ne impresionira. Debelo previše obrada

It was OK. I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more when it first came out than I do here in 2022. A lot of kudos for being an influential album but not much else. None of the cover versions are superior to the originals at all. A weak 3 based mostly of influencing better artists to come

it goes without saying but i'll say it anyway: the sound quality leaves something to be desired. but there's a charm to this! what the sonics lack in production, they make up for with excitement. well, a lot of excitement. it was an enjoyable listen. it was a good mix of covers and original songs. i appreciate their beginnings of punk!

Very early example of garage rock. Pretty cool. Nothing really special unless you put it in context of 1965, and then listen to bands like White Stripes and Black Keys. Basic but influential. 3 stars.

A collection of garage rock songs comprising covers of rock and roll and R&B classics and four original songs. This album was released in 1965, and it must be very influential on the genre. It is a shame that there is not more of their own material here as the original songs are great, and wouldn't sound out of place on an early 2000s garage rock revival record. Whilst the covers are enjoyable enough, and probably groundbreaking at the time, the tracks selected have been covered so many times in such a variety of styles that they, don't seem interesting. Rating: 3/5 Playlist track: Do You Love Me Date listened: 15/06/22

Agradable, buen disco

Very basic chords with mediocre melodies in my opinion

Proto-garage, almost all covers. Insanely good fun and very listenable to.

Love garage rock, love that this was so rough edged for the time. But… I think it was only an incremental progression from what Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis we’re already doing, just making it a bit “dirtier”. That said, I liked it.

These random 60’s albums brimful of covers are usually good so here goes… The album starts with one of it’s few originals the witch, I mean it’s a fitting opener instrumentally you can see how garage, punk and grunge groups get their influence from, for newcomers to 60’s music the best way to put it is like a seedier Beatles. Do you love me is a cover, I don’t know the original version but this is a very of it’s time early 60’s track with some good instrumentation for the time and while poppier than the first track in the grand scheme of things it’s fairly heavy. Their rendition of roll over Beethoven is okay the song works but just because roll over Beethoven is a good song and not anything else as the production on this one is so poor even for a record I was having production problems with. Boss hoss is an original an actually quite good 60’s jam with some nice sax work and decent lyrics. Dirty robber is another cover I know it’s not by him but to me it feels really Elvis-y eh it’s alright. Then is have love will travel a song that is a cover but I’am sure I recognise this version. But I also wouldn’t have said it was a 60’s song so what do I know. Great song though! Psycho is an original another great song and while it starts off side B it honestly flows really well from have love will travel which makes me think that an alternate tracklist may have made it better. Now you know what songs ware popular at the time if you’ve covered two songs that were covers on with the Beatles on the same album. I actually prefer this rendition of money ( that’s what I want) to the Beatles version and while I don’t know the original I bet it’s still better. Then is a slower cover and one I don’t know or like as much as the other covers I mean I have no issue with it it’s just not as special as the other cover’s. Now is night time is the right time another slow cover and while this doesn’t have great lyrics I think instrumentally it’s good showing some more verity in the bands sound. Now is the final original the penultimate track a great ball of energy strychnine a true hidden banger of the 60’s fusing all the sounds I would expect from that time. The album closes off with good golly miss molly a very good cover but with there being the much slower now is the night time I don’t see why it’s an album closer. Wow I really enjoyed that not a 5/5 but still really entertaining and a short burst of energy. Yeah there are duds and the sequencing can be a bit odd towards the end of each side and it’s really short so that’s why I’d give it a high 3/5!

Čudniji su nego što sam mislio, sviđa mi se to, samo eto, nije mi toliko dobro iako volim taj lo-fi štih.

05/04/2022 An early hybrid of rock, pop and punk from 1965. The garage sound quality make the whole think sound... bad. Lots of attitude in the lyrics and vocals!

Not bad but not amazing. The screaming was done too much imo for the music.

Damn this is surprisingly heavy for its age. Raw and energetic rock n' roll. Enjoyable!

Enjoyed the oldies from an interesting band

Interesting take on old rock, not not a ton different. Glad to see the branch forming

Ahhh, some good old fashioned bare bones, badass garage rock. Sonics are cool as hell, punk before punk even existed. There is an undeniable edgy energy in these songs that is thrilling to hear. The best songs are of course their originals, although "Have Love Will Travel" is one the best songs on the album. The band excels when they lean into their grittiness, which is generally more pronounced in their own songs. Some of the covers are pretty weak by comparison, which is frequently the case when covering songs that were pretty perfect to begin with. The Beatles couldn't touch Chuck Berry, so the Sonics sure aren't going to either. But on the whole, the band's energy is on fire, and they are clearly having a blast playing these songs. Great fun. Fave Songs: Have Love Will Travel, Strychnine, Psycho, The Witch, Boss Hoss

you can't tell they ain't rocking, that's for sure, 6/10

3.5

blues garage that sounds a bit wilder but pretty trad at the same time

solid.old.tunes.

Did not dig.

A good 12 bar blues is never wrong. But it gets a bit repetitive.

Wild lads for the time. Did they go for overall distortion on purpose?

I don't love lo-fi garage recordings, but this was certainly a wild sound.

Already listened to it

This album sounds like the Beach Boys meet Punk Rock. Also in true punk fashion it sounds like it was recorded on the cheapest mic they could find. For a collection of screamy covers it is not too bad of an album. I get where it was a influential sound to early Punk. "Strychnine" is my favorite track and it's an original so that's cool too.

Eenvoudige Rock 'n Roll. Geen uitblinker

Let's get this out of the way: I'm rating this 3 stars just so that we have 4 different scores because that's how you have fun with numbers. I didn't love it though. It's tough to hear something that's essentially a covers album of tunes that are so well known in their original forms. I pretty much spent the duration thinking I'd prefer to be listening to the originals. But the stuff they wrote themselves was cool! "The VVitch" feels so gross, ha. I kinda love it. Sounds like it was recorded on rusty ass tuna cans. Alex, I couldn't quite tell if you were being sarcastic (because I'm American) but The Black Keys for sure covered "Have Love Will Travel" on one of their earlier albums. Which means The White Stripes most certainly did it sometime before that.

Early garage, lo-fi style. The Beatles did the covers much better though. Have love will travel is a top tune.

2/19/2022 Today's Album: "Here Are The Sonics" by The Sonics - This is a pretty classic 60's record. You get that classic 60s band feel from groups like the Beatles, but it almost feels like its infused with a lot of different musical genres, rather than the simple love songs they were doing back then. It feels like something you would hear in an old American diner, but with enough musical flare that it feels relevant today. That being said, the sounds are just really too outdated to casually enjoy today. It has it's place in history and it's not terrible on the ears, but the basic chord structures and fairly terrible production really date this album. Score: 5/10 inoffensive Highlights: N/A?

Half these songs are covers of like 50’s rock songs

Ok

The Sonics, nooit van gehoord, maar los van het feit dat het bijna allemaal covers zijn was het best een aardig half uurtje.

Easy to make a nice album full of covers :P

aight

I liked the energy that came off this album even if most of the songs are covers. You can really hear the influence they had on the black keys on "Have love will travel". Garage rock sound.

Wow. I guess I didn't realize that The Sonics were behind some of the more recognizable oldies that I know. The Beatles arrived into JFK airport in 1964, and with them brought a rock-n-roll sound that would influence generations of people (not to mention musicians). I imagine The Sonics - and their up beat, in your face music - at that same point in our country's history. And I wonder if the disgust by the older generations was as palpable, or even more so, than it was with the Beatles. Their sound is so loud that it frequently distorts the recording equipment being used - just a funny to think about this at the time they were part of.

Raw and charismatic. I can see the obvious influence on punk. Important to hear but not much I'll come back to.

Well executed old-school rock and roll fun for this weekend afternoon. I liked the vocals. Not enough to really stand out, though.

Just some rambunctious rock n roll baby. The album is just so fuzzy that it became quite grating, and some parts actually made me cringe in discomfort. Not the songs’ fault, I think it just hadn’t been transferred to the digital format too well. But the tunes are there. 6/10

Pretty cool punk versions of early rock songs.

good

Mostly an album of covers but pretty solid.

have love will travel är en magisk låt. men resten är lite meh.

short and funky. some iconic songs

not bad but not my fav

I don't know if I've heard the Sonics before. After listening to the album, I'm still not sure. The songs that sounded familiar to me from this album are familiar because I've heard other bands play those songs. None of the tracks stood out as a definitive example of the Sonics. I kept thinking about the early Beatles as I listened to this album. The album was okay, but nothing stood out to me enough to inspire a second listen.

Un peu à l'image des Razbitume par rapport aux Razmoket, le groupe Sonics raconte le passage à l'âge adulte des membres de la formation Sonic Youth et énumère grossièrement une partie des tracas associés à cette période de la vie. On s'en serait bien passé.

Très peu de personnes le savent, mais les Sonics sont les ainés d'une formidable famille musicale. Laissez moi vous faire un petit recapitulatif. Les Sonics sont les premiers de la famille a avoir vu le jour. Après de nombreuses années passées à écumer les salles de concert, les Sonics se sont décidé à procréer, ce qui nous a donné l'horrible groupe de Sonic Youth. Mais l'histoire ne s'arrête pas là, puisque quelques annés plus tard, les Sonic Youth eux-memes assureront leur descendance, grâce au single Dirty South de RIN. Où celle magnifique histoire va t'elle s'arrêter, seul l'avenir nous le dira.

Very surprised by this one. Clearly “ahead of its time.” Can definitely see the roots of punk here. Would give this another listen.

The beginnings of garage rock. Heard of them but not heard the album. A lot of covers but a good rocker

Bien, bueno, un poco rollo

Enjoyed! Oldies with a rough edge. The one scream got a little redundant though.

rockabilly

Like the tunes, like the feel they bring to them, don't like that half the songs are covers.

No tocan mal. Rocksito sesentero del más puro estilo. Covers de Do you love me y Roll over Beethoven con su sonido particular ayudan a un disco muy estándar. Sobresale Have Love Will Travel. No está mal, no se me hace excelente.

the screams every now and then not good when you have a headache- might need to listen again another time

Not my cup of tea, but is groovy for its time

Cool proto-garage album. Was not expecting the horns, but they were nice. Interesting to see how punk and garage were influenced by this.

I enjoyed listening to the raw sounds of this album. It's hard for me to go above a 3 though because 2/3 of the songs are covers and its not even 30 minutes long!

Do you love this? (They can really move, ) Do you love this? (I'm in the groove.) Now do you love this? (Do you love this garage rock?)

It was a fun, one time listen.

3/5 didn't make the cut

6/10

October 25, 2021 Eh. "Strychnine" is the best song on here.

This shit ripped! What should be a pretty standard crop of early rock n' roll tracks gets an extra edge from the singer's performance and the speed/energy of the instruments. It's like a bunch of garage punks had to dress up for the function, and it feels like at any moment one of them is going to smash their guitar through an amp.

Bit shouty, but mostly enjoyable

Some classic songs but most better by other artists.

Early punk

Nice covers. Enjoyed it.

fast and punky. I liked it even if I prefer more famous versions of some of the songs.

Ok. Die schlimmsten Befürchtungen haben sich nicht bewahrheitet.

What on earth is this? It's like the California games soundtrack with some guy screaming "wwwwwaaooooohhh!!" every few seconds over the top. 3/5 cause lol.

Meh. Lots of covers. Just not really my taste. Very The Who/The Kinks esque.

Pretty good for an album of covers

This was a solid album. I liked it better than I thought I would, however I didn't enjoy all of the songs enough to put them into my library. My favourite songs were Do You Love Me, Have Love Will Travel and Night Time Is The Right Time. 3.5/5 stars.

ronck en roll baby

Raw energy bundled inside poor quality recording. Sound like the Beatles in Hamburg which creates some interesting What If? scenarios to think about. Don’t forget that the Beatles’ earliest recordings also had lots of covers with a few originals.

I enjoyed the album for its rawness. A vital piece of music and rock history. The holiday piece at the end was just goofy. Supposedly the band is still active and touring.

Fun album that exists somewhere in the space between classic 50s Rock n' Roll and early punk. Most of the songs are hard-edged covers of classic rock n' roll and the originals fit in pretty seamlessly (really liked "The Witch"). The recording quality is crap but the word that keeps coming to mind is fun. Solid 3.

6/10. Pretty enjoyable for what it is, but I am glad it was short.

Their original songs are quite good. Unfortunately there are only three of them on the album. 6/10

Lots of raw energy with descent guitar and piano work laced throughout. Protopunk vocals and garage band style with some classic rock and roll riffs. Strong cover of good golly miss Molly too close out. Dirty robber, have love will travel, money, nighttime is the right time, good golly

I didn't know bands were this sloppy and weird in 1965. Cool.

Nice!

Not really sure how to rate this. On the one hand, it's just a bunch of covers so who cares, but on the other hand there is a raw energy here that is palpable and impressive. They put their own subtle spin on the covers but at the same time there wasn't much difference between them and every other version of the songs I've ever heard. I probably won't listen again but I didn't hate it. I bet they would have been great to see live. "Strychnine" and "Have Love Will Travel" are great songs. "The Witch" & "Boss Hoss" grow on you.

È sempre divertente ascoltare questi album. Ma anche questa volta a un certo punto ho un po' sofferto il fatto che sembrasse non finire mai e che sia diventata una sorta di punizione. Sono combattuto perché per me sarebbe un 2.5.. Ok, ho provato a dare 2 ma mi è dispiaciuto quindi vado per 3.

Great sound but it's all covers and would rather listen to the originals.

Classic and timeless

Energetic and not unusual. Surfing the wave of their music style. Didn't listen to the lyrics. Probably won't listen again.

Cool take on some classics. Very early punk?

Nice old school garagerock, but a lack of original material.

Fuld fart

In Conclusione: Ho apprezzato la vena un po' punk e ruvida nonostante l'album fosse chiaramente indirizzato ad un contesto un po' festaiolo, forse non era una cosa originale dei The Sonics ma ho trovato curioso il fatto che evidentemente questa cosa di rendere più ruvido un genere "pop" si ripropone ciclicamente nella storia della musica. In ogni caso mi ha divertito, la formula è chiaramente sempre la stessa un po' swing blues ballabile, conoscevo "Good Golly Miss Molly" e forse la mia preferita è stata "Have Love Will Travel" (ma che significa?). All'inizio ero più esaltato (verso il 4) ma poi la struttura troppo ripetitiva dei pezzi m'ha fatto scendere al 3.

Solid garage rock sound from that time.

meh it’s just not my style but i appreciate it for what it is

3 1/2 strong influence on punk and Seattle scene. The Witch is a good song.

Proper OG rock and roll, recognised some tracks, one off Earthed 2. Some beach boys vibes but better. Feel-good

Rambunctious rock from a bygone era. Good stuff🤘👌

very retro beatles vibe. very banging sound. pretty sure they whitewashed black music though.

Saved Prior: None Off Rip: The Witch, Psycho, Money Cutting Edge: Do You Love Me, Strychnine Overall Notes: One of those albums with a low profile but incredible influence. Crazy that this was released the same year My Girl by the Temptations went number 1. Proto-grunge and proto-punk for sure, super simple chords and stuff but the energy sells it.

Pure garage rock. BT: The Witch, Boss Hoss, Have Love Will Travel

Charming, staple for the time period, but faster and a lot more screaming. Kinda repetitive and the poor quality of the screams kinda hurt my ears, but it did go on to inspire later punk, so I'll give credit where credit is due.

Fun.

Fun swing album

Fun but too many covers

Fun album but can’t give it more than 3 stars for the amount of covers

Loads of covers but they made them their own and I enjoyed it. Maybe there weren't enough songs to go round in 1965? 6/10

So many covers. Good covers...but still covers.

Enjoyed the rawness.

Kolejny klasyczne rokowanie, podobny rocznik, a nawet starszy niz byrdsy, bo 65, ale klimatycznie calkiem inna bajka, nie ma tutaj za bardzo wlasnych kompozycji, a glownie interpretacje klasycznych kawalkow rokowych nawet z lat 50, a wszystko jest zagrane tak jakby byl to ich ostatni live wystep jaki maja zagrac, energia nie tylko na wokalu, ale i instumentach, polaczona z surowoscia nagrania brzmi jak dziadek punkowania, albo nawet bardziej garazowego punkowania, zwlaszcza przez ta surowosc, wiec sa to garazowe interpretacje kawalkow ktore wszyscy znali i kochali, zagrane o wiele agresywniej niz wczesniej, brzmi jak dobry przepis na debiutancki albumik bandy, chociaz preferuje ich pozniejsze plyty, to jednak here are the sonics sa obecnie najbardziej rozpoznawalnym kawalkiem vinyla bandy, ale znajda sie tam takze 4 orginalne traki, otwierajacy witch, psycho, boss hoss i strychnine, na plejke dorzuca openingowy trak, bo have love will travel juz bylo dodane wczesniej, no i w tym przypadku mozna posluchac sobie mono/stereo w zaleznosci od preferencji na spoti, sprawdzilem obie i niestety nie moge potwierdzic teori z byrdsowego albumu, bo mono brzmi w tym wypadku tragicznie, glownie przez dziwne ustawienia na glosnosci, podbicie na sluchawkach nie pomaga, bo jeszcze bardziej przez to rzucaja sie szumy, jakby nagrywane z kiepskiej jakosci vynyla i slyszac wszelakie trzaski, wiec w tym przypadku wersja stereo to musi byc jakis pozniejszy remaster, ktory jest pozbawony tych bolaczek

Psychobilly, da liegt Gewalt in der Luft voll Sex and Speed and Prügeleien. Als wäre statt Marty McFly (der ungezähmte) Biff Tannen bei Marvin Barry and the Starlighters eingestiegen und hätte die Band nach seinen Vorstellungen versklavt. Roh und ultrabrutal, solche Typen machen mir Angst mit ihrer Wildheit, kein Witz!

I know it’s a style of it’s time but half way through album the screaming seemed too much and took away from the song too much.

raw, but from seattle

These guys were before their time with this right? 1965! Sounds like they are having fun

Not bad, but ilnot much variation between songs. Definitely got a bit stuck of the screamed “waaaaaahhhhhh!”

Heerlijke oude garage rock, ook nog wat bekende nummers erbij

Good garage rock. British invasion vibes

I can hear the sixties sound in this album. Had not heard of the gerne 'Garage Rock'. Nice album with a lot of well known covers. Nice to see that all the songs are within the 3 minutes what was "a standard".

Undoubtedly a classic. I love some of the songs on this album, but I can't fully enjoy the full embodiment of dad rock that is Guns N Roses. A bit cringey at times

Good sounding stuff, something id hear at a diner. Bunch of covers at the end were a treat

Has the 'mashed potatoes' song from Dirty Dancing - is it a cover?

pretty solid but definitely dated, sound is a little dirty

I liked it. Lots of classics on this one

Mehh man hör lite början av punk i det

Good dirty red-lined guitar rock.

Råt, rock, spade, energi, soloer, garage, 60’er

Super raw, love the sound

Garage rock, but super super early.

First half was funky and intersting, second half was ‘meh’

even though it was all kinda samey sounding and made me wish i was listening to little richard instead i still enjoyed it more than i thought.

The album is good but it gets a bit repetitive for my taste after a few songs. Overall I think it’s still worth listening to.

Mostly standard Rock and Roll sngs. Could have been any of the bands from this era.

coming back to say thank you Stu, for having the words I lacked to describe the Sonics

Garage band covers. Don't think this one belongs on the 1001 list.

es cort Please Please me 2 años después pero grabado con un ano

- I might just be a chud but the recording quality is so bad that my ears were hurting and I could barely finish it - I'm sorry I know it was intentional but I just can't.

god the random stupid screaming

I can kinda hear how they might have influenced the people who influenced the people who influenced the people who influenced the people who influenced the people who influenced the people who influenced the people who influenced the people who influenced the people who influenced maybe some of the lesser known punk bands... But mostly this was just slightly louder 60s pop stuff...

Cool riffs from time to time and some classic songs but ended up just being repetitive screaming of the word "wow" for 30 minutes

I've heard the name "The Sonics" - but only because in the song called "Losing My Edge" by LCD Soundsystem, he mentions them. It's a song that sort of makes fun of pompous people (including himself) that claim they know all the best and coolest music and knew about it before everyone else - cementing their edgy cred. So, I'm curious what this is all about. I had no idea they were from the 60s - so that's a surprise in itself. Thoughts after listening 3 times... This goes by pretty fast, as it's only 29 minutes long. I wasn't expecting so many covers. It's all pretty simple and fun with good energy. I ended up liking 3 of the originals ("The Witch", "Psycho", "Strychnine") and 2 of the covers which I haven't heard before ("Have Love Will Travel", "Walking the Dog"). I can see their influence on "garage rock" - but I could say the same thing for early Beatles and the Kinks and the Stones (and I'm sure many others) before this. They were even covering some of the same songs from the 50s as those groups did when they started. So, I'm not sure why these guys get singled out. Either way - I just got to add 5 "new to me" songs to my Spotify library and I now know what James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem is talking about. Liked songs on Spotify: 5/12 Rating: 2/5

Mehh

WOWWWWWWWWW!!!!! WAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! ROCK AND ROLLLLLLLLL!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!! (5/10, 2/5 on this scale)

Musically it was ok, but the vocals were off-putting.

A decent cover band, but not really bringing much in their own

Eh, whatever. I don't mind music like this sometimes, but other artists have done it better. Too much screaming.

The singing parts are nice, but not the shouting parts 😅

Band could've been interesting but this album had way too many covers that added nothing to original

I get why this is on the list, but not really to my taste. (Definitely grateful that is was a short album, though.) This would be more of a 2.5 stars if I could give it.

I get how this was seen as the blueprint for future developments in garage rock, but this is just not my bag at all. Sounds like absolute arse and all of the songs are variations on the same theme.

There’s a scene in Inside Llewyn Davis where the main character realizes that he just doesn’t have what it takes to make it in the music business. He’s not bad, and in some ways pretty good, but just not there. This album is like that, seems too early, too beach boys and Beatles clone, but not enough rock yet. I can’t listen to this without thinking what’s it’s stealing off and what it’s preparing to help create but isn’t quite there. The first song is good and then the rest of it is more of the same with similar lyrics.

I can appreciate the obvious influence this would have on later music but it doesn't mean I enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy the 200 "WHAAAAAAAAA" screamed into the microphone. At least this is poorly recorded. This isn't bad and it has its place in the progression of garage rock/punk but I don't think anyone that's not REALLY into those genres and wants to go for a deep dive needs to hear this before they die.

i really could not tell any difference between the songs. it was 12 bar blues all over again and neither the voice nor the words compelled me to look up the lyrics to understand the song changes.

Not exactly my jam but quite o.k. Maybe a bit old-fashioned and too many cover-versions. 2,5

2/5 average

Kreativlose White Guy Rock'n Roll Band die auf Ideen von anderen basieren Nr. 485 Ich weiß dass es als "Protopunk" Album gilt dies finde ich aber komplett insane nur weil es bissle rough Aufnahmen hat. Naja in dieser 1001 Album Liste ist zwar weder Chucky Berry noch Richard Berry noch Rufus Thomas aber wenigstens haben wir Cover Songs..

A good showing of some proper garage sound

Seems like an alright sort of cover band. Nothing really stood out for me, it was just okay.

No thanks. 1.5/5

There go the Sonics!!!!! never to grace my turntable again OK for a garage band but a host of covers drags the score right down

Honestly, this comes across more like a rough rock ’n’ roll record than a proto-punk landmark. 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘴 has that blown-out, lo-fi sound, but to me it often feels more amateurish than deliberately raw. I get why people point to it as an influence, but it tends to wear thin over a full album. There’s energy here, just not enough to make it consistently engaging.

2.25 - This is fine, but I don't get how this album is so important when it's mostly covers of well known songs.

Jedes Lied klingt gleich und auf einmal schreit jemand