The Hellacopters - Disappointment Blues

This record of B-sides was originally released as a 10" mini-LP in 1998 and has since been reissued as a CD-EP in 2003 and judging by the prices I'm seeing for this stuff on Amazon, I'm glad I bought these EPs when they came out! This is more fantastic, early, Hellacopters' patented brand of punk'n'roll. Starting with "Long Gone Losers", you know what you're in for - Nicke's shrieking like a banshee while the band pummels and feeds-back behind him in a furious frenzy! "Oh Yeah, Alright!" is more mid-tempo, but still filled with screeches and huge power chords as Nicke sings about the Ramones (appropriately, since the chord progression and rhythm is basically stolen from them). "Heaven" is more melodic, but still maniacally fast (with each guitar taking cool solos) while their cover of Motorhead's "Speed Freak" is even noisier and crazier than the original! The title cut is reminiscent of Sonic's Rendezvous Band's "City Slang" - a song they regularly covered. Certainly not stolen from that song, but that kind of rockin' feel and a big, wailin' ending. Absolutely love the dueling guitar slides right before the main lead break! Huge, distorted guitars dominate "Ferry Tale" - the interaction damn near gives me chills cuz it's so noisily good - but it remains catchy with the great "what I can and cannot do" chorus. Probably the closest that these cats get to a standard punk rock song is "455SD", an ode to a muscle car, but they can't resist throwing in incredible guitar breaks, giving it the Hellacopters feel!

Again, you know if it's the Hellacopters, I'm gonna rave, but their early stuff is just damn phenomenal and this should be picked up if at all possible!