Vibrators, The - Under The Radar
Vibrators, The – Under The Radar CD (Captain Oi!)
‘Under The Radar’ is a brand new album from these punk veterans, and it has more fire in its belly than most would probably expect. It isn’t a rapid-fire, smash-the-state album, but it is menacing and aggressive in very satisfying ways. Other than the pleasantly obvious observation that this sounds like The Vibrators-and you know ‘em and love ‘em or, perhaps, you don’t-I can’t help but come back (again and again) to comparisons with The Velvet Underground. Vocally, sonically, lyrically, and in the generally fuzzed out, spacey atmosphere that dominates the record, particularly on tracks like ‘I Don’t Wanna Sleep Alone’ and ‘Free Spirit’. if I didn’t know better, I’d swear in places not just that Lou Reed was singing, but that he was sharing vocal duties with Alice Cooper, albeit with both adopting streetwise English accents. As a straight-up new release, I’d call this a very good record; taking into account that this is, after all, The Vibrators, who’ve been around the block more times than your granny, I’d kick that up to GREAT. The Impaler
