Complete Recordings

The Testors were punk rock in the truest sense. Unlike their counterparts in the late 1970s, Testors never went with a major label. The deals were there, but playing clubs and creating a ruckus were the only things on their agenda. Inside all of that mayhem, there were some great songs. Swami Records' decision to collect these lost treasures for the Complete Recordings 1976-79 release finally puts the band where they belong: out of the rock & roll gutter and into the scene of those who made punk rock what it was. The Testors' gnarly, wild material is available to the masses for the very first time and more than twenty years after their break up, although they probably never wished it that way. Alas, Swami is all class in presenting the trio's beautiful chaos of three-chord anthems. From their riotous good time performances at Max's Kansas City ("Detention") and CBGB's (the unreleased "Madras Prison") to their only proper release, the seven-inch "Together/Time Is Mine," the Testors' energy is infectious. Frontman/guitarist Sonny Vincent is an electric mad man, equally cool to Iggy Pop and Captain Sensible. These 37 tracks honestly and firmly establish the Testors' rank in music and place them among the best of the best.