Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars

I've come to my senses since, but there was a time when I almost loathed this album because it sounded so goddamn wimpy (well, it still sounds wimpy, but at least most of the songs are really good).When the Hoodoo Gurus released Stoneage Romeos in 1985, they not only released (as far as I know - prove me wrong) the best debut album in the history of Australian rock'n'roll, but also an album that was so clever, witty, energetic and cool it made you wonder why these guys weren't HUGE all over the world. On Stoneage Romeos, the Hoodoo Gurus hit you in the face with one thrilling song after another, songs that rocked and rolled, and had magnificent sing-along melodies - they had it all. The Gurus were a garage-band with a mean power/pop streak.
On Mars Needs Guitars on the other hand, they're less unique - a power/pop unit with a vague garage-edge, but most of all a band with a college-crowd orientation. As such, the sound/production is much closer to for instance The Replacements' Tim (another album that could've done with a bit more muscle), else the jangle of American bands like R.E.M., The Bangles, or The dB's - which is fine, but it doesn't exactly live up to the title's promise. So what did I expect from a title like 'Mars Needs Guitars!'? What I immediately thought of were albums like Dinosaur Jr's You're Living All Over Me, The Wipers' Youth of America, or The Dream Syndicate's The Days of Wine and Roses - those kinds of guitar albums - with red-hot freak-outs, abrasive distortion, power chords, slashing solos, thunderous riffs and squealing feedback, all put together by axemen using barbed wire instead of traditional strings. Of course the lack of 'body' (as if someone had switched the BASS-button to 1 and the TREBLE-button to 10) was quite common in the mid-1980's; Hüsker Dü's albums at the time also had tinny drums and not enough bass, but at least they had a monstrous guitar sound or enough distortion to rock out.

Enough nagging about the production. As on Stoneage Romeos, the best songs here sound as if they're played by a band with a healthy obsession with 1960's pop, and they're more than just throwbacks. First single "Bittersweet" is introduced by some strumming before it jumps into a simple yet effective rhythm, propelled by ringing guitars and some nice melodies. It was the obvious pick for a single, although I'm still wondering why someone appears to be beating on a cardboard box towards the end of the song. There's even better material though, as the propulsive "In the Wild" gets your car moving before you've even started the engine (and check out the chorus, one that begs to be yelled along to), and "Like Wow - Wipeout" has everything to be a monster of a song live, featuring surf-styled percussion, an energetic chorus, and swell use of a third shift to repeat it. A kind of novelty song, but a good one, is "Hayride to Hell", a swift country-shuffle about driver Charlie and his misbehaving daughter. 
The remainder of the album isn't as memorable, as whilst a few heartfelt "Zanzibar"-styled songs are quite okay, they're really a bit too cutesy. "Show Some Emotion", "The Other Side of Paradise" and - especially - "Death Defying", all boast sweet melodies, harmonies, and gently swaying rhythms, but I just wish they'd crank up the volume a bit. The primitive stomp of the title track, sung by Brad Shepherd, is quite fun and would've been an appropriate album closer, but to stretch it properly beyond the 30-minute mark, they finish with the dragging "She", probably the only below-average song here, one of the very few Hoodoo Gurus cuts with a directionless - even bland - chorus.
While it's far from a bad album, it would be a travesty to claim Mars Needs Guitars! is on par with the band's classic debut. Nevertheless, the Hoodoo Gurus would keep on going (even though real success eluded them) to deliver material that fans of pure pop candy are still drooling over.

Ripped to MP3
1.       Bittersweet
2.       Poison Pen
3.       In the Wild
4.       Death Defying
5.       Like, Wow - Wipeout!
6.       Hayride to Hell
7.       Show Some Emotion
8.       The Other Side of Paradise
9.       Mars Needs Guitars!
10.   She
11.   Bring the Hoodoo Down [bonus track]
12.   Turkey Dinner [bonus track]
13.   Death Ship (Live) [bonus track]
14.   In the Wild (Live) [bonus track]
15.   Teenage Head (Live) [bonus track]