Customer Reviews

Neurotica

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thanks to Five Foot Two for re-issuing this!

Kinda like if John Lennon, Buck Dharma and Dee Dee Ramone were in the Byrds. The songs are so catchy it's creepy. I remember my friends in SF taking me to see them in the mid-80's. From the flyer I thought they were a Poison cover band or something. Well, they rocked! Sure was funny seeing skinheads and squatter punks going crazy over a band that looked like a "16 Magazine" cover. They were also one of the loudest, head-bangingest bands I ever saw, period.

Buy this cd you won't be sorry.

Then get all the others. You'll see. Cheers!

Neurotica IS coming down fast. The best album by one of the best bands of the LA punk/new wave/post-punk whatever period. It was the McDonald brothers (3 with no relation Roy McDonald on the drums) zenith and it made virtually every rock critic's and college/underground radio station's top 10 list for the year. This is as good as it gets, Sergeant Pepper's rock'n three clicks to fast, or the 60's Stones done double time.

This CD is full of great, fun, upbeat tunes. The sound is rock/pop played fast through psychedelic colored glasses. The mix sounds strange at first. Tommy (Ramone) produced and set the vocals deep in the mix where they're hard to follow until you read along with the lyrics sheet a time or two. The literally 'do you get the joke' lyrics are well worth the effort and the odd mix adds to the CD's replay ability. Peach Kellie Pop, the title song, and Frosted Flake loom large but there isn't a weak song in the bunch. Gandhi may be dead, but Neurotica lives on and on.

When Neurotica first came out, people really thought The Kross would be the next super group, eclipsing the Go Go's, and The Bangles (who had sprung from the same germ). But it was not to be, legal trouble with the album forced it into collector status and kept the band tied up-unable to release a follow up LP and build on Neurotica's clout. More than ten years latter it is being re-released again, buy it then see if someone can track down Roy and Robert for a reunion.

This record is Redd Kross at their artistic peak, where they had finally found their kitsch pop nitch, but hadn't quite fully outgrown their earlier teen punker pose. It is a bit of of the old thing, but more a preview of their glamerous glittery future. The bonus tracks look to be mostly from the "Tater Totz" record, which wasn;t the greatest (they were named the Tater totz for one record for some weird record industry legality problem BS). The preceding album of all covers, Teen Babes from Montesano is freakin' excellent too, and so is their big 90's grunge era breakthru "Phaseshifter." If you like melodic rock n roll music with a heavy dose of all things teenage 70's kitsch, you can't go wrong with this band on any record. I'm a big freakin' fan since about '85. The last time I ever saw them was in a bigtime concert setting, as the very first act before Meat Puppets and Stone Simple Pirates being the unremarkable headliners, and I just dont think the fratboy crowd "got" Redd Kross. A couple years previously I saw them during the early Phaseshifter period at RockCndy in Seattle in an unnannounced free show, in which Kurdt Kobain came out at the end for a couple numbers, and it was freakin' excellent. Redd Kross forever!!!

I never knew I had been waiting my whole life for an album until I heard Neurotica. From songs that make you want to jump on the bed (Peach Kelli Pop) to songs that force you to sing your awkward teenage heart out (Play My Song), Redd Kross's Neurotica serves it all up, smoking hot, bite size, ready to eat, and with all the "part of your complete breakfast" fortification you can handle. My generation is one that communicates largely via pop culture references, Redd Kross blue printed the dialogue without many of us even knowing it. The additions of boss beauties "Pink Piece of Peace" and "It's The Little Things" (w/ The Bangles' Vicki Peterson) make this re-issue of an almost never-was (thanks to the satin jacket squares at Big Time Records) entirely essential. The vinyl re-issue on Sympathy for the Record Industry contains yet another super stellar bonus cut, "All of the Things." Before you hit "Checkout," pick up Born Innocent and Phaseshifter too. It'll make you happy.

This is, simply put, the best record of the Eighties, and it remains one of my all-time favourites. If you know nothing about Redd Kross and want to find out about them, this is a great starting point. BUY THIS RECORD!!!

While searching for alternative/obscure music from the 80's, at some point I was recommended this CD as one of the best...and they sure were right, it is a enjoyable listening experience.

It sounds like something out of the early 90's, even relevant today with the demand for retro sounding bands popping up all the time.

Very rock, very poppy in places, but unlike anything on the radio at the time for sure. It's a nice piece of the puzzle if you are searching for alternative rock sounds from the 80's, or any type for that matter.

It's the only Red Kross CD I own, and for now that's good enough....a good example of slightly jangly, alternative rock done up with enough of a hard rock edge, plus pop sensiblilties stretched a bit on the wild side. For me it fits perfect for the one searching for something outside the mainstream at any point.

I have been waiting for this album to come out for close to ten years!It has such a nice blend of influences and the tunes are great.One of my favorite albums of all time.