Dee Rangers "Pretty Ugly Beat" 2003

Pretty Ugly Beat album for sale by Dee Rangers was released Jan 01, 2004 on the White Jazz label. Second album for the Swedish garage beat greats! Features 12 tracks of vintage 60s raw guitar romp with a lot of attitude. Recording information: Toe Rag Studios, London, England (2003) - cduniverseThis could very well be the great lost Fleshtones album except that it was recorded by four guys from the southern suburbs of Stockholm, Sweden. Compartmentalize them as you see fit - garage rock revivalists, pre-psychedelia parodists, beat merchants -but one thing's for sure - Dee Rangers, on only their second album, have managed to stake out a major piece of turf in an already crowded genre. "Pretty Ugly Beat" manages to harness the adolescent, primitive energy of the original wave of garage bands without succumbing to awestruck nostalgia. Yes, it contains plenty of fuzz guitar, Farfisa organ, and lyrics about cheating girlfriends, but Dee Rangers tromp a little harder on the gas than some of their contemporaries as they're backing out of the garage. If there's such a thing as a retro guitar god, then his name is Nicke Ohman. Ohman (Oh, man!) is all over the place, powering "Come On (I'm A P.U.B.)" into the stratosphere, hanging ten, surfin' and spyin' on the reverb-drenched "Musta Petteri," and generally filling in every available space with chunky, Wilko Johnson-like power chording. He's the straw that stirs the drink. Singer Mike Eriksson is a certified double-threat. Blessed with a beefy and primal voice, his harmonica squalk is a thing of beauty, at times recalling that of the late Yardbird Keith Relf, especially on "Get Me Out Of Here" and album-closing rave-up "I'm Lost." At the risk of lapsing into Ted Nugent-speak, drummer Uffe Pettersson and bassist Johnny Elfstrom are locked, loaded, and ready to wail. Producer Liam Watson (who has also fiddled with the knobs for The Neanderthals, The Kaisers, Dr. Explosion, The Kills, and The White Stripes) keeps things bright and lively without glossing things up too much and Parsley The Lion lays down a thick ground cover of Vox and Hammond organ. Don Craine of Downliners Sect bangs on the maracas and tambourine and sings a bit, too. "Pretty Ugly Beat" is anything but. It's packed to bursting with a volatile combination of muscle, enthusiasm, and creative thinking. There's a party going on within these grooves and you don't have to look very hard to find it. - By Clark PaullPersonnel:

Mike Eriksson (vocals, harp); Uffe Pettersson (vocals, drums, congas, tambourine); Don Craine (maracas, tambourine, background vocals). Additional personnel: Don Craine (percussion, background vocals); Parsley The Lion (organ)

trax:

01 Won't Be Back Again 02 Come On (I'm A P.U.B.) 03 Something That I Said 04 Musta Petteri 05 Got The Fever 06 Goodbye 07 Ready For Love 08 Powerslam Two 09 Get Me Out Of Here 10 Everything I've Got To Give 11 Sheik Jurass 12 I'm Lost