Dawn Of The Dickies

The Dickies march boldly past the three-minute song duration mark on their second release. Tempos for the most part here are a little less frantic, allowing the inherent tunefulness of these songs to come through more clearly. A few selections, particularly those with monster movie lyrics, are set to noticeably slower music; one of these numbers, "Attack of the Mole Men," sports highly unusual chord progressions and comes as close to being a big production number as the group ever gets. Comparisons to the Ramones are more obvious here as well, particularly on the enjoyable could-have-been-an-avant-garde-Pep-Boys-commercial "Manny, Moe & Jack" and the frenetic "Im a Chollo"; the latter song eventually turns into something approximating a funhouse version of a Yardbirds rave-up. The maudlin Moody Blues tune "Nights in White Satin" gets an uproariously funny trampling here; not only is the song given at breakneck speed, but in addition, the original versions expressive flute solo is played nearly note for note on grinding guitar and is further adorned with faux heavy metal embellishments. This surprisingly strong platter is well worth hearing. ~ David Cleary