New Mexico’s SHANG-A-LANG return with ‘Collection’ which is just as the title suggests. The punk rock outfit slam through 22 songs in a completely self-produced album and recreate the vibe of the 60s garage band. For anyone looking for a comparison that everyone will have heard of, just think to those tunes you used to hear on early Tony Hawk Pro Skater games and you’re pretty much there. Whilst the recording in parts is very sketchy, the entire of ‘Collection’ is very immediate and is seemingly done in one take.
‘Must Be Damned’ conjures up images of early Tiger Army just with more screaming whilst ‘A Couple More Drinks’ sounds a lot like a Hives song. There are moments where you think they should’ve forked out a couple of extra quid on mastering the vocals as there are times where the lead vocals become quite distorted. There are feel good songs such as ‘Summertime’ and ‘Wishing Wells’ adding to the highlight that is ‘Caught In Between’. Despite there is quite a bit of filler material amongst it, songs like ‘Bottled Up’ and ‘Work Today could’ve, and probably should’ve, been omitted.
In short, if you like your 60s-esque garage punk you’ll like this.
TOM WALSH