Where Do We Go?

Between the obsessively retro cover art, the head-scratching liner notes, and the band's letter-perfect re-creation of mid-'60s fuzztone chaos, this album is so perfect it's hard not to imagine it's some sort of practical joke. There's no arguing that this German quintet has their Garage revival routine down pat — the Satelliters play this stuff better than practically anyone, and certainly better than most of the groups who pioneered this music back in the mid-'60s. Which is ultimately the problem with Where Do We Go?. While these guys are maddeningly perfect in re-creating these sounds, this stuff lacks the sense of fun, danger, and excitement that the Seeds, the Standells, and the Electric Prunes could conjure up simply by showing up and plugging in, and the best garage revival bands understand that is a big part of the fun. There are a handful of good songs here — "I'll Make You Sorry," "Something," and "You Cannot See" are the kings of this hill — but if you're looking for something that sounds like it was cut in by acne-ridden teenagers in 1965, the Nuggets box set would probably be a better purchase than Where Do We Go?, despite the obvious care and craft that the Satelliters put into these recordings.