Hypstrz - Hypstrization! - Used LP

Vinyl: VG

Sleeve: G (tons of wear, marked up by KUOIBomp! 2005 reissue of 1980 release. Recorded Live At Jay's Longhorn, April 14 & 15, 1979.  500 copies pressed on blue vinyl. (Originally released as VOXX - VXS.200.003.)

Ramones were heavily influenced by the 1960s and even covered songs from that era, but of course, they deserve all the credit they eventually got because they took that past and made it their own, made their own timely and timeless sound.  The original UK punk of the 1970s was obviously heavily influenced by the 1960s, taking their cues from the Stooges back to the Sonics, but they also took that and made it their own, made their own timely timeless sound.  But who cares about a bar band from the late 70s that focused almost entirely on covers of songs from the 1960s?  If the band is called the Hypstrz, there's reason to care.  I remember finding this as a youngster, just bought it on a hunch and played it cranked until my Monkey Wards speaker blew, replaced those and played this until the record was well worn.  It's so great that Bomp! had the sense to reissue this record, garage punk from Minnesota 1979!!!  Lifted up on a monster bottom and manic drumming, this a mad machine of rhythm, live wire 1-2-3 punch of garage punk, a great big punch to the gut. -- winch.

"It's ironic that '60s revivalist bands often produce records that are as rare and difficult to find as the records from which their material is sourced. Such is the case for this Midwest band's fantastic 1980 Bomp LP, "Hypstrization!" Despite the backing from Bomp, the album went unnoticed by many ardent garage rock fans, only to attain a level of cult desirability among collectors in later years. The band themselves were an anachronism, reviving mid-60s garage rock in the teeth of late-70s punk, thrilling and confounding audiences in fraternal halls, local ballrooms and bowling alleys throughout the upper Midwest. What made it work, and what comes across so clearly on these live recordings, is that the group was fully committed to the sounds they produced, and the fuel of fellow punk bands (both local like The Suicide Commandos, and god-like, such as The Ramones) made their snarling, thrashing garage rock a lot more than a pose.

"Most cover bands don't get much respect, but Minneapolis' Hypstrz were one band who turned their lack of original material into a virtue. In 1976, when punk rock was just beginning to stagger to its feet and the garage rock revival was a few years down the road, the Hypstrz were playing classic rock & roll and R&B tunes from the likes of the Chocolate Watch Band, the Small Faces, the 13th Floor Elevators, Syndicate of Sound, and Wilson Pickett and making them roar like a big block Dodge with a full tank of high test. While leaders Ernest Batson and Bill Batson occasionally wrote an original number, they seemed to work under the (not unreasonable) theory that most of the best tunes were already out there, and they played 'em without a hint of nostalgia -- the Hypstrz weren't an oldies band or Nehru- and fuzztone-obsessed garage archivists, but guys who dug great rock & roll, and were determined to keep one particular strain of it alive and kicking (with the emphasis on "kicking"). In April 1979, the Hypstrz recorded a weekend's worth of shows at the Minneapolis rock club Jay's Longhorn, and a few months later four songs from those shows appeared on a 7" EP, while another 15 tunes were released on the album Hypstrization...high-energy rock & roll, played with heart, soul, joy, and fierce attitude...anyone who digs music that's tough, passionate, and muscular will listen to this music and wish he was standing in front of the stage, beverage in hand and shaking it out...If every "bar band" were as good as the Hypstrz, maybe there wouldn't be a need for acts any bigger; at very least, it's hard to imagine most other bands delivering as much fun."  --Mark Deming (Allmusic)