Form the Habit

Zakary Thaks | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 11, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sundazed Music Inc.
• ASIN: B00005TQ7M
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,082 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Bad Girl

2. I Need You

3. Face to Face

4. Won't Come Back

5. Please

6. Mirror of Yesterday

7. Weekday Blues

8. Face to Face [#][Instrumental]

9. Can You Hear Your Daddy's Footsteps

10. Green Crystal Ties

11. My Door

12. Outprint

13. Everybody Wants to Be Somebody

14. Footsteps Jam [#]

15. Green Crystal Ties [#][Instrumental]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive collection is finally here!, May 29, 2002

By 

"tobemilo" (Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Form the Habit (Audio CD)

Here it is: the collected works of Zakary Thaks! Everything is lovingly restored, remastered and just plain awesome. From their hard rocking debut single "Bad girl" (with a great cover of the Kinks' "I need you" on the flip), to the Beatlesque "Please", the fuzzed-out frenzy of "Face to face" and the cool garage psychedelia of "Green crystal ties" - they're all winners. The musicianship is also staggering, knowing that these guys were only around 15 at the time! The booklet is also a delight, with lots of pictures and a revealing interview with one of the original members. The only thing I miss is a bit of information when the various tracks were recorded. Anyway, this CD is a great buy and is sure to please fans of 60's pop/psych/garage - time and time again.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, December 1, 2004

By 

Oliver Sheppard (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Form the Habit (Audio CD)

"Ahead of their time" is a cliche in rock music journalism. But Texas' The Zakary Thaks had their pulse on the future of rock music in a way few did in their era. As someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s on a diet of punk, thrash, and hardcore, I recently became interested in tracing back these sub-genres of rock n roll to their roots. Of course, I passed backwards through THE NEW YORK DOLLS and THE STOOGES, and came upon the amazing "Nuggets" compilation of 60's garage rock/psychedelic rock bands. It was there I discvered The Zakary Thaks, who made their appearance with "Bad Girl." Perhaps the fastest, tightest, thrashiest song I've heard from the 60s, "Bad Girl" singlehandedly lays down the blueprint for all of the fast punk that would come to predominate the hardcore punk scene of the early 80s: Consistently fast drums, tight power chord riffing, a compact solo in just the right place that leads back into main riff just in time for a barnstorming ending--it's just great stuff.

The other songs on this compilation don't disappoint, either. Though there's nothing quite as fast as "Bad Girl" [which is on here], some other songs do come close: "Can You Hear Your Daddy's Footsteps" and "Footsteps Jam," to name a few. Other songs trade in the breakneck pace of "Bad Girl" for solid, heavy groove--for example, their cover of The Kinks' "I Need You" and "Outprint." The guitars get fuzzed out in a really cool way for songs like "Face to Face."

There are a lot of bands now that are trying to do this sort of thing musically--trying to recapture the spirit of simple, balls-out, energetic rock n' roll the way garage rock bands of the 60s like The Zakary Thaks did. Few can match the intensity of originals like this, however. (The NEW BOMB TURKS and HALO OF FLIES have come incredibly close, though.)

If you're interested in hearing a band that paved the way for acts like The Stooges, The Ramones, the '77 punk movement, and US hardcore of the 80s, get this. You won't be sorry. The Zakary Thaks were one of the best rock outfits of the 1960s. They do not deserve to be as obscure as they are.

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing tops "Bad Girl" (see release dates below), February 16, 2010

By 

DMcP (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Form the Habit (Audio CD)

Somewhat disappointed to learn upon hearing this CD that nothing the band did comes close to the manic energy of "Bad Girl" (which is available on the "Nuggets Original Artyfacts" 4-CD compilation and was my introduction to The Zakary Thaks). Band-member, Chris Gerniottis, states The Zakary Thaks is best-represented on the first two singles and the B-side of the third (before management began to interfere with the direction of the band).

Discography is as follows: J-Beck #J-1006 Bad Girl b/w I Need You (1966); J-Beck #J-1009 Face to Face b/w Weekday Blues (1967); J-Beck #J-1101 Please b/w Won't Come Back (1967); J-Beck #J-1103 Mirror of Yesterday b/w Can't You Hear Your Daddy's Footsteps (1967); Thak #1001 Green Crystal Ties b/w Green Door (1968); and Cee-Bee #1005 Everybody Wants to be Somebody b/w Outprint (1969). Enjoy.