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N.A.F.I.T.C. (ORIGINAL BOSTON PUNK 1977-1981)
(Bacchus Archives)
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Crossing girl-group pop with Ramones-y punk is a good idea today — just ask the Dents or the Charms. And it was a good idea in 1977, when the Thrills (not to be confused with the modern Thrills) were the first Boston band who thought to do it. They’re remembered mainly for "Hey! (Not Another Face in the Crowd)," perhaps the most joyful record to come out of Boston’s late-’70s punkscape. Opening with a "Hey!" chant right out of the Yardbirds’ "Over Under Sideways Down," and featuring loads of sass and even more reverb, the song made a perfect match of Barbara Kitson’s tough/sexy persona and guitarist Johnny Angel’s solid tunesmithing (Angel, who compiled the disc, later formed the Blackjacks before moving to California and starting a career as a left-wing talk-show host). So is there more great stuff like that in the archives? Yes and no. Turns out that the Thrills only recorded that one song (and its B-side, the poppier "I’ll Be the Heartbreaker") in the studio; so the rest of what’s here is one demo and a bunch of low-fi live and radio sessions plus a half-hour live/interview show from WBCN’s hipper days. The reckless spirit is there — and yeah, any chance to revisit the Rat on a hot night is welcome — but titles like "Drano Enema" and "Lonely Nun Song" make you wish the lyrics were halfway audible. They’re more polished on the BCN set, which includes the band’s second-best song, the Ronettes-gone-reggae "I Want You Back." This would have been a stronger compilation if it had progressed to the band’s second incarnation as City Thrills, when they slicked up a tad and scored another local hit with "So Sorry" (evidently not fond of that era, Angel doesn’t even mention it in the liners). Still, hearing this disc is like finding some great cassette that you forgot you recorded two decades ago.
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