Wanna Meet the Scruffs [Import]

Scruffs, ????? | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 13, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Rev-Ola
• ASIN: B00006HCKO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,137 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Break the Ice

2. My Mind

3. You're No Fun

4. Frozen Girls

5. I've Got a Way

6. Tragedy

7. This Thursday

8. Revenge

9. She Say Yea

10. Tommy Gun

11. Sad Café

12. I'm a Failure

13. Bedtime Stories

14. She Say Yea [*]

15. Break the Ice [*]

Editorial Reviews

Seventies power pop cult heroes The Scruffs were the 'Next Big Things' that never were. Acclaimed as torch bearers in the tradition of Big Star & The Raspberries, they got the critical approval but none of the commercial breaks, which again seems to be in that hallowed tradition! In a new age, where Big Star are bigger than sliced bread, Rev-Ola presents for your pleasure The Scruffs! Their first two classic albums, Wanna Meet The Scruffs' (1977) & 'Teenage Gurls' (released in 1998 but recorded earlier), unavailable almost since their original release. 15 tracks. Cherry Red. 2002.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Among the top five pop rock records ever recorded, September 19, 2005

By 

Bachelier ""1004"" (Ile de France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wanna Meet the Scruffs (Audio CD)

In college in 1980 I owned the vinyl of this record. A self-styled connoisseur from New York (where else) of my acquaintance lived and died by the Village Voice reviews of Robert Christgau. His contempt for southerners was typical of his provincial ilk, predisposed to think anyone not from Manhattan was from nowhere.

It is difficult to over emphasize the influence of Christgau during this time, and his Consumers Guide was, along with old Cream magazines, the only publications that anyone who listened to rock and roll and went to a good college could respectably cite. In his first edition, Christgau gave only two "A" ratings for the over 1,200 records he reviewed. The memory of humiliating this pretentious ass by being able to cite Christgau's "A minus" review for "Wanna Meet the Scruffs?" comforts me to this day.

"Only a sucker for rock and roll could love this record," wrote Christgau, "and I am that sucker."

Of this album, I agree with Christgau's assessment that it is "A middle-period Beatles extrapolation in the manner of Big Star (another out-of-step Memphis power-pop group on a small, out-of-step Memphis label), it bursts with off harmonies, left hooks, and jolts of random energy." Yet I reject Christgau's difficulty reconciling himself to the adolescent dimension of the pop tunes subject matter. "The trouble is, these serve a shamelessly and perhaps permanently post-adolescent vision of life's pain, most of which would appear to involve gurls." But I of course embrace Chritgau's resolution "....To which objection the rockin' formalist in me responds, "I wanna hear 'Revenge' again.""

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lost GEM!, December 26, 2004

By 

Steve O. "S.O." - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wanna Meet the Scruffs (Audio CD)

The Scruffs....a band I may never have heard about if not for an old compilation CD that came out in 1993 on Rhino Records. It was called "Come Out And Play: American Power Pop I (1975-78)". There were many awesome bands and tunes on it....Pezband, Flamin' Groovies, Cheap Trick, Fotomaker, and The Flashcubes. But the highlight on it was a song called "My Mind" by the Scruffs. The song blew me away and still brings a smile to my face every time I hear it! One of my fave tracks of all time. It took several more years before I was able to get myself a copy of the album it came out on....Wanna Meet The Scruffs. It is one of the best power pop/rock albums of the last 30 years! I also love the song Bedtime Stories....what a classic! Get this CD now! If you love the Beatles, Big Star, The Knack, etc. you'll love it!!!!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raw, passionate, Power Pop!!!, December 1, 2004

By 

Quinn (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wanna Meet the Scruffs (Audio CD)

It's tragic that a band as good as this could languish in obscurity, but if it happened to Big Star, it could happen to anyone.

Fortunately we can enjoy them now and be thankful that their classic debut album has been reissued. If you love Power Pop, you NEED this album. The alternate version of "Break The Ice" (the last track on the album) is what rock and roll is all about.

Buy this disc, you won't regret it.