The Dogs - Fed Up!

 

Had to pick up something from these Detroit rock'n'roll legends when they came out to the Double Down this past Saturday and ironically, it's a record that my old pal Lee put out on his Dionysus Records label! This 12", white vinyl LP collects live and studio cuts from Loren, Mary and original drummer Ron Wood with plenty of Detroit High Energy and 70's punk rock mania!

"John Rock'n'Roll Sinclair" (there's a studio and a live take) could easily fit with any other riff-rockin' Detroit combo, kinda reminding me of the likes of Up! doing a wild take on "Shakin' All Over" (which they actually do cover later on this album) while singing about Sinclair and the White Panther Party, but they were kinda condemning them and saying that they were too conservative! Love their youthful optimism'n' naivete! 

The rest of the numbers follow in this mold, with plenty of riffs - simultaneous'n'harmonic - tempo changes, starts'n'stops and excellent playing throughout. There’s a variety in the pacing, some obvious MC5 steals ("Black to Comm" especially comes to mind), a bit of pure heavy rock even a hint of Who-ish pop now and again. Growing up in the 60's, of course they have a garage background and they even cover the Barbarians "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl"! The sound quality fluctuates as the sources change, but nothing is bootleg level and it's all cool, high-energy, riffin' fun that encompasses Detroit pre-punk, heavy rock and punk rock all at once.

BTW, the latest Ugly Things (#60) has part one of an extensive overview on the Dogs with incredible tales of their Detroit adventures (playing with the likes of the MC5, the Frost, Bob Seger and many more) and later in NYC as that scene was incubating and doing gigs and bonding with like-minded bands like the Dictators, as well as up'n'coming weirdos like Kiss, Suicide and Television! From there, they tried their luck in England, but came home, split up, worked on various other projects and have done reunions multiple times over the years - our last band in LA even played with them before we moved to Vegas!