Fuzz's Fourth Dream

Over the course of their 15-year career, Fuzz have staked a place as one of the prime practitioners of scuzzy, noisy, and grimy garage sounds, a brand that teeters on the line between punk and metal. Their music most often topples over onto the latter side, with signposts like Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath marking the way -- not surprising given that the members of Fuzz are some of the biggest, busiest names on the scene. Ty Segall handles the drums like a lion tamer with both sticks on fire, Charles Moothart burns through amps and fuzz pedals as lead guitarist, and bassist Chad Ubovich (who took the place of Roland Cosio) holds it together admirably. The former two sing with all the snotty drawling one would hope for. The band arent prolific in the studio, only issuing three albums before 2025s odds-and-sods collection Fuzzs Fourth Dream hit shelves. On it, fans will find a selection of early demos, single tracks, compilation appearances, and other goodies. The groups castoffs and rarities suffer no drop in quality from their official releases; this is prime headbanging music made with passion and no regard for tender mercies like good scores on future hearing tests. The songs are loud and grungy, with Segall bashing holy hell out of the drums and Moothart laying down molten slabs of riffage dashed with lightning-bolt-sharp solos. The demos that make up half the album are the most fascinating part, showing off the lo-fi origins of the band in all their ramshackle glory. One would be hard-pressed to call songs as fierce as "Red Flag" or as thunderous as "Pipe" half-baked; even in their nascent or non-finished state, Fuzz still have enough of the power and fury to inspire listeners to some serious Hulk smashing. Also of note are the tracks that see them playing with the formula a bit. The acoustic guitars, shimmering harmonies, and prog-like structure found on "I Just Want Your Everything" are a nice change of pace, while the double-time cover of the Kinks "Til The End of the Day" proves they would be a pretty exciting cover band, one who could blow the top off a staid wedding for sure. Fuzzs three proper albums are all first-class, very tightly wound rock & roll thrill rides; this is a less-focused affair, but it gives the same rip-roaring amount of pleasure. ~ Tim Sendra