Scientists – Absolute

This collection is a band-compiled best-of, with cuts from Australia's the Scientists dating from 1981 to 1987. While the group officially formed in 1979, they released a string of astonishing albums in the '80s displaying a style that pre-dates the Sub Pop sound of the next decade. Drawing on the Stooges, the Rolling Stones, and the Seeds, their garage-influenced post-punk sound veered toward psychedelic pop, much like fellow countrymen the Saints. Absolute collects their highlights, "Swampland," "Set It on Fire" and "Blood Red River," making for an intense pummelling within the first half of the record. What separated the Scientists from any number of post-punk bands of the time was the diversity of influences, where Cramps-style garage twang rubs up against Big Star pop hooks, often within the same song, and leader and main mouth Kim Salmon has a keen sensibility for arrangements built around a drone -- such as the sublime "We Had Love" -- so it is no doubt they had admirers in Spacemen 3 and Mudhoney. Despite varying production standards, and non-chronological sequence of songs, this collection hangs together as well as any album could, and is a great introduction to the Scientists.

 

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