INCREDIBLE KIDDA BAND, THE:
“(Watch Out) Thief” b/w “You Belong to Me”: 45
I fuckin’ love the Incredible Kidda Band. I don’t know where the fuck they were all my life. I would have fucking shit myself if i had their records when i was fourteen. They are a perfect amalgam of punk, power pop, and rock’n’roll, blended together in a way that really only happened exactly correctly in a brief window in the mullets-and-sleeveless-black-t-shirts-are-still-cool era of 1979-80. Brain surgeons/pop geniuses they are not; spellbinding wordsmithery and jaw-dropping hooks are beyond their skill set. Yet, EVERY FUCKING SONG this band wrote was a good one. EVERY FUCKING SONG! Occupying a space which could be roughly conceptually defined as an imaginary midpoint between the Records ((straight power pop, lots of harmonies and musiciany bits)) and the Subs ((reasonably primitive—but still catchy as hell—punk-pop)) their almost thirty-song “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” double CD ((recently reissued as a double album set)) is a posthumous über-classic of the genre, whatever genre it is to which they actually belong ((hell, maybe it defines a genre? Somebody get a smart person in here to clear up these details!)). Since i have basically listened the fuck out of “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” over the course of the last few years ((which includes the two songs herein)), i find it to be a sort of odd experience to have to contemplate this record’s two songs separately from their twenty-eight brethren, as i’ve always considered them part of an integrated whole—but, if you really need commentary specific to this actual record i’m charged with reviewing, i’ll say that if i’d never heard of The Incredible Kidda Band before, and you played “Thief” for me and asked me whom i thought it was, i suppose i’d guess 999. On the flip, “You Belong To Me” is the band’s only track of which i can think that might merit notice of some kinda alleged Byrds influence. Anyway, if you’ve already got the double album, this 45 is sorta superfluous ((although the cover photo is cool)), but it ain’t at all a bad policy to buy any record you see with this band’s name on it, ever, and you’ll need these records to get into Heaven anyway, so waiting is really pointless, wouldn’t you say? BEST SONG: “(Watch Out) Thief” BEST SONG TITLE: “(Watch Out) Thief” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: Been a long time since i got a punk record with “FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY – NOT FOR RESALE” stamped on the sleeve. RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH!!! –Todd Taylor (Last Laugh)