A punk-before-punk band, but the label doesn't do justice.
Early Styrenes were a shambling beast, a band held together by loose tethers, all the parts rolling ahead of and all over themselves, a shaggy shambler popping with guitar squiggles, offkilter drums, squalls of horns, and jangled pianos. And it all just..works, just hangs together just tightly enough to be totally listenable. Better yet, those moments where the near-chaos comes together into catchy transcendence: a chugging refrain, a crystal-clear guitar moment, a soothing sax.
They were ahead of their time, but they were retro too, with a Small Faces melodic inventiveness, spiked by the best of the garage weirdos, like the best 60's band you've never heard of.
Real rock and roll, whatever the labels, a band going hard at a target only they can see 4.5/5
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