Here Are the Sonics

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.

Intriguing and energetic! What an exciting album. Some songs I don't love but wow this was fun 7/10

Raucous and fun, I liked this.

fine but rough and a little too frantic for me

This a great album. Full of energy and perfectly represents the garage rock movement. If you want to dance around and enjoy yourselves, just put this on!

Never listened to them before but I really enjoy this! Pretty wild that this came out in 1965. I can hear early elements of metal, punk and psych rock already seeping into this. Especially impressive coming from the dorks on the cover!

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

Surprisingly good music, rock ‘m’ roll.

Some classic nuggets on here, baby

I’m not sure how important this album can be since every cover sounds way worse than the original. Get this off the list ASAP.

Gimme that old time rock n roll

3.75

60s white boys doing black rock 2.5

4.5/5. I like garage rock. Simple, nothing crazy going on, but good.

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

This got me to listen to more than just a handful of popular songs of theirs. I can see how influential they were.

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

Short album, but it is packed with either independently awesome songs or the bases for covers

Liked the majority of the songs and remember them from growing up. Dang I’m old!!!

I enjoy the genre and the lo-fi, fuzzy production a lot. The Witch is a classic. Still, I didn't find this album especially compelling... I guess the covers were interesting. But the repetitive vocal inflections were what really turned me off!

Quite a sound, really exciting to listen to. I wish there were fewer covers on it though, that would have brought it to the next level to me. Some of these songs have been covered so many times they're really played out - like "Money" - do you really have to cover a song that the Beatles AND The Rolling Stones had already covered? Even so I admit, they did a pretty good job.

I'm a huge fan of the Nuggets boxed set, which features 3 of these songs; The Witch, Strychnine, and Psycho, so I was familiar with those tracks, but for some reason I never explored their music any further. While those previously mentioned tracks are included on the Nuggets compilation for good reason, their other originals, and even their R&B covers, are performed with a raw intensity that was noteworthy for the time. The effect is reinforced by the lower fidelity recording, but all credit is due to the performers. Undoubtedly one of the earliest examples of proto-punk, but I guess the wider world wasn't quite ready for that yet. Would have been an absolute blast to see them live around the time this was released.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *SICK GUITAR SOLO*

Garage band fun

Lots of covers, some good some meh. Really enjoyed their sound though.

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.

This album rocks - 4 stars

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

A bunch of crazy kids performing R&B covers to their wildest hearts' contents. Sure, the production sucks, but it adds to the insane rawness that these guys are doing whatever the hell they want, and they pull it off with insane enthusiasm. Even the sax tries to jump out the record, restrained only by the limitations of the medium that controls the music. In under half an hour, we get 12 short tracks, and not a single half assed effort in any of them. The intro "The Witch" already establishes this album's place on this list, as one of the best garage rock hits of the 60s that would influence the the punk movement. There are some weak picks, but nothing you can't enjoy, and they're all short enough that you could wait out for the next pick. The highlights are well-dispersed so you never go more than a couple songs without a song you either already recognize or sticks out. Favorites: The Witch, Have Love Will Travel, Psycho, Strychnine

Quick, fun, dirty collection of rock n roll covers & originals. A tentative 4, for the live, unhinged feeling throughout the album. My reservation is that most of my favourite tracks were the covers, but hey- it’s not like I have a limited amount of 4s to give out HL: Psycho, Roll Over Beethoven, Night Time…, September 21, 2022

It's gutbucket garage rock that has a lot of energy. The originals like Psycho and The Witch are great and the covers were specifically chosen as high energy numbers which would kickstart whatever house party the band was playing at. The rawness makes this more appealing for me - I'd rather listen to the Sonics cover of "Money" than the Beatles cover, which just sounds too clean and less dangerous somehow. Five stars if you think Nuggets is one of the crowning achievements of American rock. Which I do.

Protopunk eða bílskúrsrokk. Kannski merkilegt í sögulegu samhengi, en ég er þó ekki sannfærður um skýr tengsl við síðari pönk bönd. Og ekki mjög merkilegt eitt og sér. Eitt lag í einu er kannski í lagi, en þetta voru frekar langar 29 mínútur í heild sinni.

Interesting album, great album and garage rock, interesting that all the covers have better versions but this still somehow works very well as an album.

I enjoyed this but probably won't be back. The covers have been done better by many other artists and the mix is truly dreadful which detracts from the fun of listening to it. If I'd had 7 beers I probably would have enjoyed it more.

Bit naff

Puwing.

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

A loud and unpolished stepping stone in between rock n roll and punk rock. A solid foundation for what came after, but all in all a rather flat experience.

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.

Rock des années 50 un peu agaçant

Pretty meh.

Decent listen

Good music

A load of covers that aren't as good as the original? Fun but not great.

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. :)

Grungier voice than I expected from a boy band. Gritty sounding audio sometimes. Elvis influences?

I think I'm into 60s music?

musica vibrante, guitarra distorcida, vocal animado

It was pretty good

Yeah.

Liked it, a lot of covers on the album but with their twist to it.

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.

15th August 2022 Listened while working from home. Seb over in the evening, face masks and DB Cooper documentary. I did not know full on garage rock came this early. So much drive and energy and wild production for a mid 60s record, great fun.

Started strong (for a band from ‘65) with opener “The Witch”. As I listened to this I was thinking that “if the only music in my collection was circa 1965 and prior, The Sonics would be in heavy rotation”. Next track, a cover of The Contours’ “Do You Love Me”, was pretty lame; but the band rebounded with a pretty decent album! Solid throughout. Harder and edgier than most pop/rock of the day. “Strychnine” was an old favorite of mine - had it on a cassette mix-tape back in the day. I mistakenly always thought this was by “the13th floor elevators”. Cool. 3.5 and rounding up.

fine.

This is an album that has expired. I get that this is the basis of rock and roll, but it's just all bleached bones to me now to hear. My Dad would be tapping his foot!

Obviously, this band influenced the creating of the Seattle basketball. Only a year after this album was released, the Seattle Sonics were created. Coincidence? I think no. Regardless, it's hard to imagine the impact these guys had more than 50 years ago with clean cut looks and song titles like Witch, Psycho and Strychnine they probably wouldn't have appealed to the masses without some cover songs. It took me a little bit to realize the significance (basketball and whatnot) but I did enjoy this album and feeling the energy of them beating on their instruments. Will probably listen to these guys again.

Knowing nothing about The Sonics, I was immediately excited by "The Witch" and eager for what would follow. Unfortunately, what followed were two covers of classic but much less inspiring early rock'n'roll. The Sonics' original work is incredibly revealing, unveiling connections between blues, rock, and punk that are always apparent but never as explicit as on "Here Are the Sonics." The covers are a bit hit or miss, with the early appearances of "Do You Love Me" and "Roll Over Beethoven" probably hurt most by the fact that they weren't "The Witch." Later in the album, it dawned on me that I couldn't recall another singer as influenced by Little Richard, with Gerry Roslie channeling the icon and originator with shouts and hollers and yelps. And maybe a little too influenced? Nevertheless, I actually thought The Sonics somehow improved on "Good Golly, Miss Molly." But again, it's their original tracks that really stand out. "Psycho" and "Strychnine" are revelations. I'll definitely check out their follow-up, "Boom," to see if they can recapture the magic. Unfortunately, it sounds like it ends there, with the next album heading in a different direction before the original lineup broke up. But they had a pretty amazingly outsized influence on the future of multiple rock genres despite having less than 10 original songs.

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

Loud, screamy rock/punk music from the 60s..not really my cup of tea I have to be honest.. BUT.. made me realised listening to this album that I actually know a lot of their tracks simply from being used in so much other media like covers, adverts, TV + movies.."Do you Love Me".."Roll Over Beethoven", "Have Love Will Travel, "Money". Good thing, none of the tracks overstay their welcome, just all kinda merge into one sound from one track to the next!

Good versions

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

Voici ce que j'en ai déjà dit: "Ça rock solide. Plusieurs reprises, mais l'énergie qui se dégage de cet album est folle. Tu comprends avec cet album qu'on s'en va vers des bands comme les Stooges dans les années qui suivent. Une écoute vraiment agréable. Pièces préférées: Strychnine, Do You Love Me"

I’ve never heard of this band, and seeing that they were a 60s garage rock band just makes me more interested. The first track does definitely blend garage rock and 60s rock, but it’s not mixed well and is pretty simple. It doesn’t bode well for the rest of the album. And looking at the rest of the tracks, these are mostly covers. And to add insult to injury, they completely bungle Roll Over Beethoven, which hurts me even more as I’m a huge Chuck Berry fan. I honestly can’t recommend this album to anyone: it’s too disappointing. Fav Track: Have Love Will Travel 2/5

Mixing is rather awful, I don’t care for listening to albums that “maybe” created a sub genre. unless it’s an album that’s actually doesn’t want to make me poke holes in my ear drums with a pin. There cover of good golly miss Molly is considered a hate crime in 38 states

Not for me.

Have Love Will Travel - огонь.

Solid

I can see why this was influential in the past, but it did not age too well.

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.

WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! It was very interesting to think about how far rock has come over the years. I recognized nearly every song on the album, mostly from 80’s and 90’s movies. Unfortunately that didn’t keep each song from feeling like pretty much the same song with slight differences. Also I got really tired of all of the screaming after like two songs hahahahha.

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.

Love the Sonics. Way ahead of their time and their peers of the time.

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 was a fun listen, I enjoyed the rock & roll covers through the lens of a dirty garage filter. From the pick of the original tracks, The Witch definitely stood out. It was nice to hear a new take on the classics; however, I still enjoy the original recordings more than The Sonics's interpretation. This album coming out way before any Velvet Underground recordings puts them ahead of the curve in terms of developing this signature "dirty on purpose" sound. That opened the door for loads of great music over the years. Fave tracks: The Witch, Roll Over Beethoven, Strychnine, Good Golly Miss Molly

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.

Niektóre chwytliwe, ale muzycznie mega powtarzalne i nieinspirujące tak naprawdę (za to zainspirowane wieloma innymi, bo jak Tisek mówi - nawet ciężko zorientować się, co jest coverem, a co po prostu tak nieoryginalne)

Listen

041223 14:43 4.5

Brilliant proto-punk adding even more electricity to classic 50s rock’n’roll, but less noisy than Stooges. A bit like The Monks with added joy.

Cooler than you.

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

Spoko, pełno coverów, jedynie jakość drażni

amazing, 10/10 super catchy and impressive for its time

It was fine, just didn’t click with this 60 garage rock. I can see how’d they be influential encial

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!

I could definitely hear the punk inspiration here, along with some very heavy garage rock and hints of surf rock. I thought the production was pretty poor, even by 60s standards. Everything was way more muddled than it needed to be. I didn't hate this, but I far from loved it. The sheer number of "WHOOOOOA" and "WOOOOOW" screams on this album got really old, really fast, to the point that it probably significantly contributed to my not loving it. This album was okay, I guess, but it didn't do a whole lot for me.

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.

Great sound!!

Never heard of them before, but hailing from the 60s, they must be one of the garage rock pioneers. Visceral, exciting, and there hasn't been much change between then and now with obvious echoes of their sound in bands like The Black Keys. Ground Breaking, enduring, influential

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.

Ohhh good stuff here, definitive garage band album, fun and rowdy. Strychnine might the ultimate garage band song, it still sounds timeless. This is the band the White Stripes and the rest of the revivalists listen 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.

I liked the energy. I liked the noisy rock that would become punk. Maybe too much noise and energy for a sleepy Monday morning.

Good fun dirty rock n roll. A lot of covers, some new songs. Strychnine is a banger. Really enjoyed listening to this album I wasn’t familiar with!

Kind of loud and poorly produced covers of songs done better by other artists. I don't get it.

Refreshingly raw, Hamburg Beatles level rock and roll, everything pushed into the red. Must learn more.

For 1965 these guys rocked hard, was expecting something a bit more Beatles-esque based on the album cover. Lots of old standbys in here, recognized almost all of the songs but unsure if the Sonics are covering or if these are the originals. I suspect it's mostly covers. Overall good. It's loud, fast, upbeat and has more attitude than anything you'd find from that era.

Lead singer yells too much! Abrasive sounds.

Loved 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.

Great garage rock, progenitors of punk music. Have a great way of making all the covers their own.

Raw American 69s garage. Lottsa screaming and sax....some original songs but lots of covers of rock n roll standards..upfront and honest. What it does it does well. Can't justify a 3. It's a 4 from me.

Can’t tell an album by the cover, I suppose. I was expecting some harmonies, maybe some sweetness, but these guys sound like a completely unskilled and totally overexcited cover band from some region not known for its music or art scenes … oh, wait, that’s what they were.

So, a couple of the covers appeared on early Beatles albums. On here, they are actually better bursts of raw excitement. It's fast and loose and it feels like it could fall apart at any moment which makes it all dead exciting. Add to that a song as fun as Have Love will Travel, and the fact it BLAZES through 12 tracks in less than 30 minutes and you have a real treat on your hands. Loved it.

Er jo historisk sound, men synes ikkje det er noe som eg nødvendigvis ville hørt så mye på i dag. En del av sangene er litt vel mye "pop rock n' roll" og kjedelige.

Greit. Generisk. 2/5

Hadde visst hørt ein del av da før uten at eg visste da. Litt kjedelig

4/5. Great covers record, proto-punk classic. I don’t love every track, but there are many goodies

Yeah I like this… it doesn’t blow me away though. Pretty trend setting in terms of style; very ahead of its time. So it’s a generous 4*

It's still incredible to think this album was recorded in the middle of the sixties. I've read unconvinced reviewers in this group saying you don't necessarily need to go back to the hidden origins of a genre, but I strongly disagree here. The genre at stake is punk, here, of course--or should I say, rockabilly played in such a intense fashion that it barely sounds like it. And this thing is *wild*, even 57 years later. To me, it seems that Washington State, with its lumberjacks and geographically remote location on the US map, knows a thing or two about authenticity and intensity. It took almost 30 years to make it a landmark place for that sort of music, with Nirvana and the other great bands of that area. But things did start then. And it's just a riot being able to listen to it. Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 918 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 44 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 23 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 19

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!

That was delightfully primitive. C

Enjoyed the oldies from an interesting band

As old as this is, and the band looking like a basic british rock band, this was an awesome album. We got some classics with Do you Love Me and Roll Over Bethoven but a bunch of others were great like The Witch and Have Love Will Travel. These guys were a ton of fun.

Very similar to that early Beatles album we heard, in that it's a band of boys doing mostly rock and roll covers. The difference between this and that album (which came out two years prior) is that these guys have an edge, a fire to their sound that's really necessary for this style of rock and roll. The Beatles were a bit too posh for it. In other words, I like this more than that Beatles album (admittedly a very low bar). But it's still not anything challenging or impressive. Decent, but that's about it. Favorite tracks: Have Love Will Travel, Do You Love Me, Roll Over Beethoven. Album art: Band photo. Nothing else to say. Framing seems a little '80s. 2.5/5

This one is interesting, I've never listened to the sonics. This album itself is old as fuck obviously, but it also sounds young? This feels like shit that was made to be counter to a bunch of the bullshit that was coming out then. It's fucking fried, screaming, and distorted as a bitch at some points and I think it worked for me. Can't help but hear the Little Richard influence all over this one.

Old 60s bangers

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

Not really reinventing the wheel. Not a fan

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

For those who can't afford the Beatles or the Stones, or a stereo.

A find!

This has to be one of the most covered albums ever. Every song was a very recognizable super hit… just not this version.

3.5

Absolutely love this album. The thought of the MFrs doing this in 1965 brings me so much joy and has so much impact on all the music I love that came after it. 🤘

Early rock and roll containing the kernels of punk and grunge. You love to hear it! Bonus star for being less than 30 minutes long! In and out and over with!

This smashed me over the head in 2022. Imagine what effect it had in 1965. The Witch is amazing, Roslie's vocals are insane, something he carries on for the whole album. But the ultimate sound is that quivery bass. I don't know if it's backed by bass pedal, but it just sounds EVIL! Only 30 minutes. Perfect. It leaves you begging for more. Apparently the Seattle scene was full of bands like The Sonics. If I ever get a ride in the TARDIS I'm going to Seattle in the early '60s. Then I'll stay for 30 years. (I won't be going to Starbucks. That coffee is awful)

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

solid.old.tunes.

Did not dig.

These guys were more punk than most punk bands.

I’m afraid they’re just too darn loud.

Ça rock solide. Plusieurs reprises, mais l'énergie qui se dégage de cet album est folle. Tu comprends avec cet album qu'on s'en va vers des bands comme les Stooges dans les années qui suivent. Une écoute vraiment agréable. Pièces préférées: Strychnine, Do You Love Me

50s/60s rock'n roll vibe, surf-rock styled guitars. Classic tunes found in this album like "Do you love me?" and "Roll over Beethoven".

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

Oh hell yes!

Yes yes, a million times yes.

They all start the same and then they all sound the same, boring.

Liked this a lot. High energy raw sounding. 60s garage rock, sounds California

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Do you love me, Strychine

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

I don't see the big deal about this album. It just sounds like shit.

Up my alley but too many covers.

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

Way too many WOAAAZVXBZHHHHS!!!! for my liking.

Amazing sound for the time period. Can't believe I hadn't heard of them before.

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.

Pretty cool. I would listen to it again sometime

50’s rock meets 80’s punk….strange

Overall, a great album. Would definitely listen again. Lots of classics on here but my favorite would have to be Walking the Dog. Overall just a really fun and killer sound. Classic.

Eenvoudige Rock 'n Roll. Geen uitblinker

A ton of energy here, but they do not sound better than The Contours on 'Do You Love Me' and that hobbles them right off the top. This kind of carries through. I'm bringing a lot of baggage into this, but these look like they're, maybe - maaaaaaybe - some rich kids who have some better than average talent? I don't know. I was not won over by any of these tracks.

I like it - raw and rudimentary in execution but this really blows the cobwebs away. I can understand the influence this supposedly had on punk, but what I hear most strongly coming through is the first couple of J Geils Band albums. 'Boss Hoss' especially so, but the cover of 'Money' also seems to have its reflection in the J Geils' version of 'First I Look at the Purse'. Tidied up a little and 'Have Love Will Travel' would've been a monster hit in the 00s for one of the big garage band revival acts.

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.

They are the anti-Beatles right? Get rid everything that "good and pure" or radio friendly about the Fab 4, rough it up, add some fuzz and some guttural vocals and you have The Sonics. Not detracting from either band but I am so glad The Sonics existed to lay the roots of punk and Garage rock. I love them and could listen to this album in repeat for hours (which I did).

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?

By the end of the album, I got pretty bored of the singer shout Wow every 20 seconds.

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

Meh 2

Vraiment bon

Ok

Kyllä tää varmaan 50-luvulla pisti Sukat pyörimään jaloissa. Tänä päivänä, not so much.

Lekker, prima manier om het weekend mee af te trappen.

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

Dit zou volgens de docu van Dave Grohl de oer grungeband moeten zijn geweest. Dat hoor je er wel in terug, maar vind het toch minder spannend klinken dan de jaren negentig evenknieen.

Het rockt en schuurt wel, maar zijn allemaal covers waarvan de originelen veelal beter zijn dan de uitvoering van the Sonics.

Best aardig maar schreeuwerig.

I loved this album. The cover photo betrays the solid rock contained therein. Highly recommend if you enjoy classic rock. Added, with pleasure.

5/5

Easy to make a nice album full of covers :P

aight

Mostly sub-par covers?

Þessir hljóta að hafa verið aðaltöffararnir í heimabæ sínum á sínum tíma. Mjög hresst og hrátt!

This album is chock full of late night infomercials selling a catalog of music from the 60s. It is likely that nearly every song is recognized as being a hit for its time, but the viewer has no idea of who the band is, The Sonics. If Applebee's is a known eatery in your region, you may recognize their jingle as being as a play off "Do You Love Me" or if you ever watched the movie "Beethoven" of the early 90s canine sweetheart St. Bernard, "Roll over Beethoven" features heavily. Album-wise, the recording leaves much to be desired. The quality of AM radio in a digital age is a bit difficult to sit through even at just under a half an hour of music. The drums do seem to stand out quite a bit, rock elements popularized by Elvis exist, and the high energy of gospel/soul also make appearances. The Sonics definitely seemed to have put their heart into the performances and that is something to respect. The evolution of rock from this era to present certainly makes it sensical that The Sonics were likely a part of that, especially as an American band.

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.

4.3 - garage rocking album full of raw energy that felt years ahead of its time. Loved walking the dog. Will be revisiting.

covers

More of the same american pie on cocaine crap. Lame.

Sounds like the hives in the 60s

At first listen i'm like 'what's this, loads of 60's white boys covering tracks' but oh my - the energy that goes into this. Forerunner of punk / grunge, used in a many a tv advert - very little original material - but The Witch is just disconcerting.

Sounds like proto punk, loud, aggressive and not massively complex, and not especially good either, being the forerunner of a genre does not I feel qualify as an album you MUST listen to

Classics!

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.

Their covers and original Strychnine is good. 2

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.

Don’t let the sweaters fool you, this is loud, obnoxious, and sweaty rock(early punk?). Strychnine, Have Love Will Trave are two of the standouts

The original punk sound was birthed in Seattle by The Sonics. A very important piece of Seattle's rock & roll history.

good

Not bad, but it shouldn't be on this list.

Great boppy (!!!) little bangers from start to finish.

Mostly an album of covers but pretty solid.

That's some good classic rock

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

short and funky. some iconic songs

This is the debut rock & roll album from the Sonics. Released in 1965, this album was influential to future punk rock music due to the energy of the band. It was a fun album to listen to, if only to get an idea of what rock music was like 57 years ago. I wouldn't normally listen to this album though, because rock music has evolved on from this early iteration.

Surprisingly enjoyed it a lot, fast and exciting

No idea why this is one of ’best albums ever’ - lo-fi garage rock. Fine, but all very similar.

not bad but not my fav

Garage rock

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.

Eh. Kinda basic garage surf rock. Not bad but not all that exciting, either.

Meh

glorious raw primitive garage rock - thrilling!

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.

Great garage band. Excellent cover of 'The Night Time is the Right Time'. 12 songs in 29 minutes gets bonus points...

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

Rock & roll viejuno.

Bien, bueno, un poco rollo

Pretty good. Early punk/garage rock.

this one can stay in the attic

Waren mir nicht unbekannt

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

A lot of these songs are covers, but the Sonics were very influential to garage and punk rock.

rockabilly

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

I had to read some reviews to understand why this album might be included in a list of 1001 historically important albums. It seems that this is debatably a precursor to punk, a proposition that nonetheless seems to be disputed. Without this historical association I struggle to find any reason to elevate this album above the rest of the beatlesesque sounds of the mid 60s. If anything the shitty audio quality (which normally doesn't at all affect my judgement of an album) renders this album not only uninspiring, but almost unlistenable. 2/10

Noise that all sounded the same. At least it was a short album.

4 for originality. Nice use of distortion to give them an early punk sound. You can definitely hear their embracing of the early 60's songwriting, but very forward-thinking production, and attitude, that would spawn The Stooges and The Hives.

Classic rock and roll with lots of energy, but apparently recorded using tin cans and strings, or maybe they just used the original masters as Frisbees. This is, without question, the worst-quality recording I've had on this list so far.

Como una cubetada de agua fresca, lo que pudiera ser una banda más que estaba tratando de imitar el éxito de la música de moda liderada por los Beatles termina siendo algo que, a mi parecer, es incluso mucho mejor que los discos de esos mismos Beatles en esa época. Cuando comparas este disco con esos discos iniciales de los Beatles te encuentras que aquí hay una banda con la misma tónica pero mucho más liberados, menos cuidados y más crudos. Se siente cómo aquí no hay un productor estrella que sabe guiar a los muchachos hacia el sonido de las masas y en este caso la música es la que termina ganando. Me recordó a bandas como Screaming Lord Sutch que a pesar de tocar "rocanrolitos" lo hacían con una personalidad enorme.

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.

Lo más interesante de este álbum es escuchar algo del estilo “the knak”, pero como 10 años antes de que surgiera The Knak. Otras canciones me sonaron al estilo de Lost Acapulco (surf), y veo cómo este álbum pudo ser una influencia o inspiración para otros grupos que vinieron después , pero en sí no se me hizo particularmente interesante. Los covers de Money y Popotitos no están mal, pero no tienen mucho que hacer contra las versiones en vivo de Jerry Lee.

Qué entretenido disco. Me encantó el sonido rasposo y acelerado que no se siente de 1965. Los varios covers que trae el disco son muy buenas versiones y las originales de hecho valen la pena. Curiosamente, los covers así rasposos suenan como a una de esas bandas mexicanas de los 60, rockeando no más por que sí.

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

A fun mix of blues, rock 'n roll, and punk. I really enjoyed the explosive wails of the singer.

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

Somebody told this guy that he should do the James Brown "WAAAAOOOWW!!" scream as often as possible, and he took that advice to heart. At first it was mildly annoying, but by the end of the album (which feels much, much longer than 30 minutes), I was making a mental note to avoid this band in the future at all costs. Best track: Whichever one has the lowest WAAAOOOWW to time ratio. I'm not going to listen again to figure it out

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

Roll over Beethoven is such a jam

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!

Haven't heard of these guys before. Haven't missed much because of this. I felt like they were a "wanna start a rock band cuz" kinda ensemble.

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

Good for the time but a little too lo-fi for me.

6/10

A bit dull

Its alright. Early punk.

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

Absolutely LOVED this. Total classics in there and banging riffs. Its a K Town banger for me

Thanks s was excellent fun. It was mostly covers though. But still, can't deny it.

This is a really great album of a lot of good covers. If these were all written by the band it'd be an easy 5.

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

Como los Beatles. Un 4.

Some classic songs but most better by other artists.

It was alright but considering most of the songs were covers, I feel like it's cheating.

Early punk

Nice covers. Enjoyed it.

Just good old fashioned garage rock played with all the all the rawness of a live set in the studio. The Beatles made these songs sound better yes, but I would of rather seen these guys live around the same time.

Mostly covers, sounds like it was recorded in an old oil drum. But the sheer energy and power at play here can't be denied, and the original tracks are the clear progenitors of garage punk. A blast!

I adoe garage rock, and this is a wondrous slab of it. Exactly what you want of a Saturday night. Simple, unpretentious, clearsighted, slamming rock 'n' roll.

Some classic toons

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.

More nice shots than I expected, with classics littered throughout. Definite influencers of Black keys, who covered ‘have love will travel’

pure fun!

Great 60s album loved the grittier tracks.

“!!!Here Are The Sonics!!!” by The Sonics (1965) I wonder how many people would have bought this record if they had left off the six exclamation points? This album is of interest only to those recorded music ‘genealogists’ who fondly ponder “Who influenced who?”, a topic which is overrated and of limited critical value (especially when it comes to punk). Only four of the twelve songs in this non-cohesive collection are original. The eight covers are not covers of obscure compositions (which can be artful), but are rather recycles of major hits by other artists, whose performances are far superior to The Sonics. As a matter of fact, the attempt to seriously listen to The Sonics perform The Contours’ “Do You Love Me?”, Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven”, etc. is impeded and distracted by memories of the original sounds. These covers are pop music at its worst. (“Night Time Is the Right Time” is painful. Please don’t listen to this track. You’ve been warned.) So why do we pull !!!Here Are The Sonics!!! out of the attic? I’m not sure. With primitive engineering that completely muddles the mix, and a small-room ambience that induces claustrophobia, the record was bad from the get-go. One wishes that the people who produced the first digital version would have inserted scratches and dust pops to suggest the ‘sound’ of musty ‘smell’. It is worth noting that in the original compositions “Strychnine”, “Psycho”, and “The Witch”, singer/songwriter Gerry Roslie pushes a few lyrical boundaries, but in retrospect, it’s rather inconsequential. Other groups at the time were far more revolutionary. And if I have to listen to one more screamed “Wow!” by Roslie, I swear I’ll warp this vinyl with a blow dryer and play it for my in-laws. Put this one back in the attic. 1/5

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

Pretty good for an album of covers

Almost all the songs sound the same: "Yeeoww!" + blues rock progression + "Yeeoww!" + nearly the same guitar / sax solo. Recorded too hot. Lots of covers. I don't care. This album is amazing. I bought it (actually "The Ultimate Sonics") years ago and still come back to it. Raw, youthful energy. Favorite song: Money

First Listen: I hate bands that just have a bunch of other people's hits and don't do anything original with them. This is a 1/5 for me. This might have been great back in 1965, but now, it is just a compilation of other bands' hits. Nothing to see here folks. Next.

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.

Yes... but no

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.

Meh. A bunch of covers is not my idea of a must-listen album no matter how much wailing or energy they bring. Loved the first song The Witch (an original) and it made me think how that sound has come around again in the last 10 years with some of the heavy folk rock piano bands (Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats). Didn't love their other originals (they were okay) and couldn't give a rat's ass about their covers.

I didn't expect to like this album as much as I did. Garage rock isn't usually me thing and I'm not into bands like the White Stripes all that much. This album was a great listen from start to finish though. I enjoyed their originals just as much as the cover tunes. I can totally see why this one is on the list!

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.

Weird that people were making this kind of music in Tacoma a Washington in 1965. Pretty enjoyable and the original songs were good 8/10