August 20, 2009

Mod-A-Day: The Things

The Paisley Underground in Los Angeles in the early 80s was the launching pad for the 80s garage revival, and for The Things (not the Irish garage band). The Things were a psychadelic explosion of soft pop sounds that were pretty far afield of other garage acts of the era like The Chesterfield Kings, The Tell-Tale Hearts, Gravedigger V and so on. Instead of pounding out punk laden, sixties R&B infused garage music, The Things played a mellower, psych heavy and melodic kind of power pop more along the lines of Arthur Lee and Love, or Plasticland, or The Lyres. They produced three excellent albums, the second of which Outside My Window is pretty much the agreed upon best of the trio. This song, "Can't Get Enough", has some sick guitar licks and the vocals are laced with just a hint of reverb making it all a bit surreal sounding.

The Things -- Can't Get Enough