The Next Big Thing

THE ROUSERS - A TREAT OF NEW BEAT (AGM CD).
Now here's a band that loomed large in my life way back in the early 80's, I must have seen 'm at least a dozen times at the time, and it's great to see their long lost debut finally appear on CD. The Rousers' tool of trade was a solid mix of punk energy and six-o tunes (call it powerpop if you like) that holds up surprisingly well. Lyrically they might be part of the long standing Dutch tradition of teenage exuberance, cheesy accents and misunderstood slang, but there's no denying the strength of the actual tunes. No less than 11 bonus cuts round up the picture with only a version of She Loves You inducing a shrug of the shoulders, but the previously unreleased take on the Roulettes' Bad Time (recently also tackled by the Boonaraas) is a nice surprise. 8 out of 10, even after all these years.