The Fleshtones "Roman Gods" 1982

Three decades ago in Queens, New York, KEITH STRENG and Marek Pakulski found some guitars in a basement in a house they were renting. They didn’t know how to tune strings or finger a chord, but they dug the rock & roll and R&B leaping from the 1950s and 1960s—most of it drowned out by the mid-1970s pabulum on Top 40—so they picked up those guitars, found some amps, and started banging out basement noise with a local drummer. One day PETER ZAREMBA, an art student friend with a harmonica, long bangs, and a manic vision, dropped by the house, lined up at the keg, and named the band THE FLESHTONES. — Joe Bonomo, Author of "Sweat", The Story of the Fleshtones, America’s Garage Band (Continuum Books, 2007). Available at fine bookstores, Amazon.com, and continuumbooks.comIn the 1980s, of the dozens of bands who were mining the sounds of '60s garage rock for inspiration, few were smarter or wittier about it than the Fleshtones; lots of folks might have sounded more like the Knaves or the Remains or whatever band they chose to embrace as a sonic template, but Peter Zaremba, Keith Streng, and their partners in Super Rock were able to communicate heart, soul, and actual thought instead of a mere awestruck nostalgia.
The Fleshtones could also rock pretty hard, and were willing to mix up their influences a bit (not many nuevo garage bands would pick Lee Dorsey as the source of their album's sole cover tune). There's never been a real substitute for seeing the Fleshtones live (not even their live album quite fills the quota), but Roman Gods does a fine job of getting their ideas down on plastic with muscle, enthusiasm, and creative thinking, and it boasts several of their best songs, including the hard-charging "R-I-G-H-T-S," the moody "Shadow Line," the rollicking "I've Gotta Change My Life" (good advice!), and the title cut, easily the finest Kingsmen tune ever written by some guys from New York 20 years after "Louie Louie" was a hit. It's cool, it's not dumb, and it sounds great at a party -- Roman Gods is everything you've ever wanted in a garage revival album, and more! ~ Mark Deming, All Music GuideThe Fleshtones:

Peter Zaremba: Vocals / Keith Streng: guitar, vocals / Jan-Marek Pakulski: bass / Gordon Spaeth: alto sax, harmonica / Bill Milhizer: drums, vocals / John Weiss: tenor sax

traxfromwax:

1. The dreg (Fleshtone-77) 2. I've gotta change my life 3. Stop fooling around 4. Hope come back 5. The world has changed 6. R-I-G-H-T-S 7. Let's see the sun 8. Shadow line 9. Chinese kitchen 10. Ride your pony 11. Roman gods