Scientists

An early six-track mini-album from Australia's foremost proto-grunge outfit. Kim Salmon's Scientists were certainly ahead of their time in 1979 when recording this collection, which contains their classic "Frantic Romantic" (if one can imagine the singing in an Australian accent, one can understand that this is a classic punk stuff). Though the Scientists were never so obsessed with the genre, their sound was a hybrid of the Seeds' hard psychedelia, Big Star, and the Stooges -- and this made them stand out from the rest. While the Saints would popularize this power pop sound, the Scientists' relative obscurity could be attributed to the wanton guitar fury and swampy rhythmic styling that made them a little less accessible. However, Salmon may be post-punk royalty in his home country as well as in the stable of Sub Pop, which signed the group for its back catalog in the early '90s -- and which should demonstrate to some the vitality of this antipodean group. ~ Skip Jansen, All Music Guide