There was a time, back in my distant memory, when as a young teenager I used to disappear on my bike telling my parents “I’m just off out for a ride”, chain it to the railings of the local railway station and get the train into Birmingham. It was 1977 and I was 13.
When I got to the big and not so shiny city my first destination was the scraggy Virgin store on Bull Street, where you had to check your bags under the watchful eye of some evil looking security guards in at the entrance. I always made my way down to the singles bar to pick up something I’d heard on Peel, or maybe something I just liked the cover of. When I got back home I would sneak the latest lo-fi ‘masterpiece’ onto the record player, turning loud and lose myself in the raw magnificence of my latest purchase.
When I first listened to this three track EP I was immediately transported back to that time. I love the lo-fi production which feels very raw. I really like the singing, which has a rather plaintiff quality to it, as if the singer is living on the edge of some existential abyss. I love the mixture of bluesy guitar which, especially on ‘Cheap Allure’ is like Tony Iommi playing Queens of the Stone Age.
This is not particularly complicated music, it is rock and roll in one of its most basic forms. But it is very effective if you are just in that right mood to wig out to some quality shredded guitar, relentless chugging bass and drums having the shit hammered out of them then have a listen to the Ragged Barracudas. They might not change your life, but they may well remind you of a time when life was more simple.
You can find more Psych Insights by Simon Delic here.
