The Prefab Messiahs – Devolver (1998)

When you think of garage rock revivalists in the 80’s, I think the first name to come up is the sensational and insane Fleshtones. But as it invariably happens, not only the most remembered lives the music.

After all, in Worcester, Massachusetts, there emerged at the beginning of the lost decade a band equally sensational and insane. And with an infinitely better name (laughs). Prefab Messiahs lasted only two years in its first act, from 81 to 83, and the tracks that make up the collection come from that period. Give backreleased in 98 and later re-released in several different formats and years.

If since then the band has been getting together – including recording and releasing new material – this compilation shows the sound anarchy that they produced for 4 decades, ranging from garage/psych revival to punk/post-punk/new wave/whatever, with electronic drums a la Trio (“Yes Yes Yes”, remember?), lysergic highs and seeds of indie rock that would flourish later. All raw and poorly recorded, fun, often nonsense and for all that, sensational.

No Bandcamp of pre-made messiahs there’s everything they’ve recorded to date, it’s worth pulling out the recent records and seeing that Xerox Feinberg, Doc Michaud and Trip Thompson haven’t lost their hand, but it’s here in the midst of the chaos of their spring that their influence on crazy people like the Oh Sees (currently Osses, but screw this, it comes to the same thing).

Listen on the stalk!