The Mooney Suzuki

Electric Sweat (Gammon)
by Jon Sarre

NYC art students rockin’ out – ‘scuse me while I stifle a yawn – or so I think. Thing is, their MC5 cop-offs circa, like, Back in the USA (down to the inside pics of the band lookin’ greasy, which is actually sorta like the 5’s Back in the USA front cover, tho’ they’re lined up like the inside gatefold of Kick Out the Jams, albeit with shirts and coats on, cuz, I dunno, The Hellacopters already stole that idea first) actually goes down alright and Jim Diamond’s sweaty production beats Jon Landau’s …USA knob-twiddlin’ with a stick. Mebbe in comparison to fellow Ghetto Recorders habitants, The Go, who also like their tunes circa late ’60s Mo-City white negro division, all The Moony Suzuki‘s songs don’t sound like covers (somethin’ I find sorta annoying, like, yeah, this is catchy, where’d I hear this before? And then ya find out it just seems like ya did). The Suzuki don’t sound terribly original, but attention spans and memories bein’ what they are, like how no one can figure out who the fuggin’ Strokes are rippin’ off, ya might be able to think of these LowerEastSiders as dem aforementioned cutie boys’ tougher, less purty’n’hairier big bros. As cool as they were, ya could make a straight-faced argument that the Velvets were dilettantes, as ya can definitely paint The Strokes. Ya couldn’t say that about MC5 (‘less yer talkin’ politics, and we ain’t). Let’s see if The Moony Suzuki can walk the walk.
(111 E. 14th St. #179 New York, NY 10003)