THE GIZMOS - LIVE IN BLOOMINGTON 1977/78 (GULCHER RECORDS)

Handsome Dick Manitoba of the Dictators once said that he was glad he wasn't a kid growing up nowadays; the drugs suck, the music sucks, etc. Well he said this back around 10 or so years ago, and the thing of it is, things haven't really gotten any better. They actually in many cases seem to have gotten worse. Maybe that's why this 2 disk set of live Gizmos almost seems to take on an almost sacred kind of luster. Call me crazy, but I think this thing is as essential to your music collection as the New York Dolls or the Seeds.

This is pure teenage rampage groovieness. Its the music of cold beer, cheeseburgers, comic books, boss tv, and the eternal quest for kicks and girls. This is right up there with the Dictators Go Girl Crazy or early Beach Boys records in it's anthemic celebration of teenage shenanigans. The first disk sounds a lot like the Velvet Underground if they were more into Coke A Cola instead of Heroin, and disk 2 reminds me of the Germs if they had more bubblegum sensibility.

Each disk gives you a different incarnation or more of the band. The list is just to long to name everybody, but you've got Ted Niemic, Ken Highland, Rich Coffee, Shadow Myers, Dale Lawrence, etc. Eddie Flowers is sick in the audience but hey he's there, and that's more than you can say about a lot of turds these days who cancel the show because of being hit by pigeon poop. (By the way, just to show how big a bunch of pussies those Kings Of Leon are, the same thing happened to Cyndi Lauper and even she kept on with the show.)

This thing is great from the word go, Mean Screen, Human Garbage Disposal, I'd Rather Live In Wilkie North (a rewrite of Muff Divin' for the radio audience),Gimme Lobotomy, To covers of Kiss, Them, 13th Floor Elevators, and more. It's all good and your gonna want to hear it if you consider yourself somebody attuned to the real energy throb that is rock n roll. And if you find yourself in the frame of mind to want to do something good for the youngsters out there, well then give them a Gizmos record. Who knows, maybe you'll change the future for the better.