Sonny Vincent - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
(Acetate Records)
3 (out of 5 stars)
Reviewed: Feb. 1, 2003
Review by Tony Bonyata
What turned out to be a simple gathering of a couple of punk rock icons for vocalist / guitarist Sonny Vincent's latest album The Good, The Bad, The Ugly actually unfolded into a much grander project.
Securing the bedrock rhythm talents of bassist Captain Sensible (The Damned) and drummer Scott Asheton (Iggy & The Stooges), the one-time leader of the seminal NYC punk band The Testors originally laid down tracks in Detroit, but soon realized that he could also land a wealth of guest guitarists to add a sucker punch to these already revved-up numbers.
And a wealth of guitarists he got. Reading like a 'who's who' of punk rock deities, Vincent apparently did little to persuade the likes of Wayne Kramer (MC5), Richard Lloyd (Television), Walter Lure (The Heartbreakers), Thurston Moore and Jim O'Rourke (Sonic Youth) among many others, to join him on this album.
The results on The Good, The Bad, The Ugly are, for the most part, quintessential New York-spiked punk rock - loud, fast and rude. Even though Vincent's vocals may be crude and raspy, its his damn-the-torpedoes delivery that makes it work. And while many of the compositions throughout are built on the basic old-school punk rock structure, the band's unbridled passion saves many of these simple high-energy songs, if left in the wrong hands, from smacking of tired retro punk.
Then of course there's the guitars. And for lovers of both '70s New York and Detroit down-and-dirty punk and dangerous rock guitars then this album will be sure to please. From Richard Lloyd's slash-and-burn leads on "Down The Drain" and the sonic guitar onslaught from Moore, O'Rourke, Don Fleming and Ivan Julian on The Stooges inspired stomp of "South Beach" to the incendiary leads laid down by Dexter Holland (The Offspring) and Tony Fate (The Bellrays) on "That Sound" and Scott Morgan (Sonic Rendezvous) on "Tired Of The Telephone," it's the brilliant axework throughout that makes this effort shine.
This album is all that Vincent claims - good, bad and ugly. And fans of real punk rock wouldn't have it any other way.