Cynics, The - Living Is The Best Revenge - New LP

GARAGE-PUNK/FOLK-ROCK+ENERGY R&R LP!  Red vinyl. 150 Gram.

I’ve been always tried to see the Cynics live, always happy when I do, but really haven't spent a lot of time with their records. That's a shame. This one is from 2002, years into their catalog and it's just fucking great, recorded with Tim Kerr in Austin. How do you just keep writing great songs after all these years, straight from the gut, right from the heart. Mostly originals, a few covers from ‘66 - ‘67 (Elevators, Prunes, Satans), tons of moods and tempos, rocking and soulful, great as a grin from a girl on the corner, of course coming out of the 60s but never reeking of a stale museum, fresh as a breeze out the window of your old Mopar...the Kostelich/Kastelic/Kerr/Hohn/Hutchings connection, locked like a wrench on the rock and roll engine...humming like a slant six in a 1966 Barracuda...no wonder Fred Cole told me to listen to their records...I'd like to notch back the hands on the clock of time and put together a triple header with Reigning Sound, The Cynics and Dead Moon. Since that ain't gonna happen, Green Noise needs to start carrying all the Cynics' albums. It starts here. -- winch (Green Noise)

"In May 2002 THE CYNICS hooked up with ace producer/R&R spiritual counselor Tim Kerr in Austin, TX. to record their first studio album in 7 years and most likely their best one to date! Recorded at Sweat Box Studios with Mike Vasquez and Bryan Nelson engineering, the tracks were laid down in just three days and they capture the energy and intensity of the Cynics live performances. The songs cover quite a dynamic range -from howling, fuzzed-out punkers to mid-tempo melodic folk-rock nuggets to pure psych-garage mayhem. All with the ever-present Gretsch guitar sound of Gregg Kostelich and the gnarly great in-your-face vocals of Michael Kastelic. Completing the sound is Tom Hohn’s prime beat bashing and Smith Hutching’s solid bass."


“A slew of prime Cynics skree. Among my picks to click are the malevolent, “Psycho-edged ‘The Tone’ and the interstellar hard rock jam ‘Shine’ which sounds like Coltrane crossed with the old Alice Cooper Group. But there ain’t a duff track in the bunch! -FRED MILLS, MAGNET