$100 Fine

Q (10/99, p.152) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...confirms the power of The Litter: a loud and slightly leftfield garage band....who deserved a slightly wider audience."|

Not all of the garage-punk spirit was gone from the Litter by the time of their second album, when they were moving in a more hard rock and psychedelic direction. It's not on the level of the debut, however, because the material, about half original and half covers, is often unmemorable, and boring at times. "Mindbreaker" moves along in a pretty crunching garage-pop style with guitar that would have fit in with Distortions, and "Morning Sun" is fair California-type psychedelia with those meltdown sustain guitar riffs. Trendy guitar phasing is all over "Kaleidoscope," and things take a down-turn with the blues-rock stomp "Blues One" and a nine-minute cover of "She's Not There." $100 Fine has been reissued in several guises, but the 1999 CD reissue on Arf! Arf! is the most recommended package. It adds a strange ballad outtake with J. Frank Wilson (yes, the "Last Kiss" guy) on lead vocals, and no less than 18 1965-1968 demos of songs written by one Larry Loofbourrow, author of "Morning Sun." Loofbourrow and Litter guitarist Ziggy Caplan appear on all of these selections, which sometimes feature other members of the Litter too. They're pretty routine, simplistic numbers, usually with a strong British Invasion pop/rock influence; "For All the Times I'm Happy (Version 2)" sounds like a raw, garage version of Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, as ludicrous as that seems. ~ Richie Unterberger