The Hellacopters

1990's Swedish garage rock to the extreme......fans of the band are gonna love this, novices take note this is
one of the greatest of garage rockers! The Hellacopters were formed in 1994 by vocalist/guitarist Nicke Anderson, guitarist Dregan, bassist Kenny Hakansson, and drummer Robert Eriksson, they would be joined later by keyboardist Anders Lindstrom (there wouldbe more lineup shifting later). Their sound was somewhat similar to The Miracle Workers or The Backyard Babies (of which Dregan was a member)...excellent retro-60's hard garage rock n roll, again, if you don't know THESE guys, DO NOT miss this!

The first (1996) release, "Supershitty to the Max", is a great one, "(Gotta Get Some Action) Now!", "Fire Fire Fire", "Random Riot".....this thing cooks like a motherfucker. "Payin' the Dues" is nearly as crushing, with another batch of raw stompers such as "Psyched Out and Furious", "Riot on the Rock", and "Hey!"....no sophomore slump here, trust me.

The first slight slump would be 1999's "Grande Rock", not nearly as raw and frantic as the first pair. It's still worth a spin, however. Similarly solid tunes are masked by slicker production/playing, "Action de Grace" and "Welcome to Hell", among others, would have been at home on "Payin' the Dues".

The "comeback", should we need to call it that, is "High Visibility".....kind of between the raw sounds of the
first albums and the slicker "classic rock" approach of "Grande Rock", it's a hell of a record, highlighted by the fab "Hopeless Case of a Kid In Denial". 2002's "By the Grace of God" is yet another solid, listenable, rocking effort, it was their most commercially successful effort, as the title single was a huge hit in Sweden and elsewhere.

"The Cream of the Crap (Volumes 1 and 2)" are damn great as well.....collections of non-LP tracks, including some absolutely smoking cover versions (Stones, Stooges, Misfits, and more), HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended.....the next "proper" releases would be the fine EP, "Strikes Like Lightning", and the so-so album (2005) "Rock n Roll Is Dead" (it's NOT a bad album, just not up to the level of their classics).

I really don't recall if I've ever heard of a project like 2008's "Head Off"....it's an album of smoking obscure cover versions (Dead Moon, Gaza Strippers, New Bomb Turks, etc), supplemented by an additional disc of the original performances.....this is a FANTASTIC idea, and they pull it off quite well (one of my contributors, I think it was Apantabapanta (MIA?!?) once created a similar effort using Bowie's "Pinups" album, with a second disc of the originals.....it was fab as well, I doubt it's still active though).

Wrapping up the career of this underappreciated (in the USA at least) band is "Cream of the Crap, Volume 3"), not quite as smoking as the first two, but pretty close, and their covers of  (they were a brilliant covers band, especially when dealing with obscure material, much as the Chesterfield Kings operated) The MC5's "The American Ruse" an Bob Seger's "Her Strut" are among their many legendary cover epics.

I'd want to hear ALL of these, seriously, if I were unfamiliar....if I were a dabbler, I really don't know what
to tell you, the first two albums for sure, "High Visibility".....but also the "Crap" collections, as well as "Head Off" to get the whole picture....one of the greatest bands of its era, and there were some DAMN FINE "garage revival" bands in the 90's-00's, many of whom didn't nearly get their due.....of these, perhaps only The Miracle Workers rival the Hellacopters greatness, and I'm not sure even they did.

If you think I am dishing out unusually high praise (for me), you are goddamn right. Listen to these NOW and tell me I'm wrong, I DARE you.

SUPER SHITTY TO THE MAX!-01 (Gotta Get Some Action) NOW!/02 24th Fell/03 Fire Fire Fire/04 Born Broke/05 Bore Me/06 Tab/07 How Could I Care/08 Didn't Stop Us/09 Random Riot/10 Fake Baby/11 Ain't No Time/12 Such a Blast/13 Spock in My Rocket

PAYIN' THE DUES- 01 You Are Nothin'/02 Like No Other Man/03 Looking at Me/04 Riot on the Rocks/05 Hey!/06 Soulseller/07 Where the Action Is/08 Twist Action/09 Colapso Nervioso/10 Psyched Out and Furious

GRANDE ROCK-01 Action De Grace/02 Alright Already Now/03 Move Right Out of Here/04 Welcome to Hell/05 The Electric index Eel/06 Paul Stanley/07 The Devil Stole the Beat From the lord/08 Dogday  Mornings/09 Venus in Force/10 5 vs 7/11 Lonely/12 Renvoyer

HIGH VISIBILTY-01 Hopeless Case of a Kid in Denial/02 Baby Borderline/03 Sometimes I Don't Know/04 Toys and Flavors/05 You're Too Good (To Me Baby)/06 Throw Away Heroes/07 No Song Unheard/08 Truckloads of Nothing/09 A Heart Without Home/10 No One's Gonna Do It For You/11 I Wanna Touch/12 Hurtin Time/13 Envious

CREAM OF THE CRAP VOLUME 01-Thanks For Nothing (B Side)/02 Crimson Ballroom (Gearhead
Magazine)/03 Makes It Alright (vinyl single)/04 Television Addict (Victims cover, B Side)/05 Killing Allan (limited edition single)/06 Misanthropic High (limited edition single)07 Rock Hammer (B Side)/08 1995 (limited edition single)/09 Gimme Shelter (Stones cover (B side)/10 Heart of the Matter (vinyl single)11 Tilt City (B side)/12 Down Right Blue (limited edition single)/13 I Got a Right (Stooges cover, B side)/14 Ferrytale (EP Track)/15 Freespeedin (B side)/16 I Want a Lip (April Stevens cover, limited edition single)/17 The Creeps (Social Distortion cover, B Side)/18 Lowered Pentangles (Anything at All) (split single with New Bomb Turks)

CREAM OF THE CRAP VOLUME 2-01 I Only Got the Shakes (B side)/02 A House Is Not a Motel (Love cover, split single with Powder Monkeys)/03 Geekstreak (EP track)/04 Another Place (B side)/05 Slow Down (Take a Look) (Sonic's Rendezvous Band cover)/06 Holiday Cramps (B side)/07 Lowdown (B side)/08 Be Not Content (B side)/09 16 with a Bullet/10 Times Are Low (from limited edition "Rock N Roll Jihad")/11 Low Down Shakin Chills (B side)/12 (It's Not a) Long Way Down (vinyl single)/13 Time to Fall (from the VA comp "Flattery: A Tribute to Radio Birdman")/14 What Are You (single)/15 Ain't Nothin' to Do (Dead Boys cover, B side)/16 Kick this One Slow (b side)/17 Bullet (from the VA comp "Hell on Earth: A Tribute to the Misfits")/18 A Cross for Cain (B side)/19 All American Man (From "Frank Wants You to Join the Punk Rock N Roll Horrorshow"/20 Ghoul School (b side)/21 Master Race Rock (Dictators cover, split single with Powder Monkeys)/22 Dirty Women (Black Sabbath cover, vinyl single)

BY THE GRACE OF GOD-01 By the Grace of God/02 All New Low/03 Down on Freestreet/04 Better Than You/05 Carry Me Home/06 Rainy Days Revisited/07 It's Good But It just Ain't Alright/08 UYFS/09 On Time/10 All I've Got/11 Go Easy Now/12 The Exorcist/13 Pride

STRIKES LIKE LIGHTNING (EP)-01 Turn the Wrong Key/02 Take Me On/03 A View From Nowhere/04 Blinded By the Light/05 Fiends and Frankensteins/06 On the Line

ROCK N ROLL IS DEAD-01 Before the Fall/02 Everything's on TV/03 Monkey Boy/04 No Angel to Lay Me Away/05 Bring it On Home/06 Leave it Alone/07 Murder in My Mind/08 I'm In the Band/09 Put Out the Fire/10 I Might Come to See You Tonight/11 Nothing Terribly New/12 Make it Tonight/13 Time Got No Time To Wait For me

HEAD OFF-01 Electrocute/02 Midnight Angels/03 (I'm) Watching You/04 No Salvation/05 In the Sign of the Octopus/06 Veronica Lake/07 Another Turn/08 I Just Don't Know About Girls/09 Rescue/10 Making Up For Lost Time/11 Throttle Bottle/12 Darling Darling

HEAD OFF THE ORIGINALS-01 DEMONS-Electrocute/02 THE PEEPSHOWS-Midnight Angels/03 THE HUMPERS-(I'm) Watching You/04 THE TURPENTINES-No Salvation/05 THE ROBOTS-In the Sign of the Octopus/06 NEW BOMB TURKS-Veronica Lake/07 THE MAHARAJAS-Another Turn/08 ASTEROID B-612-I Just Don't Know About Girls/09 DEAD MOON-Rescue/10 THE BELLRAYS-Making Up For Lost Time/11 GAZA STRIPPERS-Throttle Bottle/12 THE ROYAL CREAM-Darling Darling

CREAM OF THE CRAP VOLUME 3-01 01 The American Ruse (MC5 cover)/02 Long Gone Losers/03 Working For MCA/04 Have Mercy on the Children/05 Oh Yeah Alright/06 A Man and a Half/07 Heaven/08 Pack of Lies (Nomads cover)/09 Speedfreak/10 Doggone Your bad Luck Soul/11 Disappointment/12 Cold Night For Alligators (Roky Erikson cover)/13 Ferrytale/14 455 SD/15 Angel Dust (Venom cover)/16 Positively So Naive/17 Get Ready (Smokey Robinson cover)/18 Underground Confusion (Flaming Sideburns cover)/19 What's ya Do (Ramones cover)/20 Whole Lot of Shakin' In My Heart (Since I Met You) (Smokey Robinson cover)/21 Her Strut (Bob Seger cover)/22 It Might Mean Something To You/23 You Left the Water Running (Otis Redding cover)

OK, there it is, one great big spectacular package........no excuses! This is MUST HEAR, TOP SHELF, CERTIFIABLE CLASSIC ROCK N ROLL!