“normals”
The Normals
Your Punk Heritage
Airline 61
Technology is a wonderful thing. Unless you lived somewhere near New Orleans in the late Seventies, you probably never even heard of the Normals, much less heard any of their recordings. But this was a great band, and even though they bemoan the fact that they were “never properly recorded,” this is a great record, if somewhat over-inclusive (as retrospectives often are), since most people could probably live without the couple of snippets of radio commercials for live shows “back in the day,” and a couple more sound bytes that show up here.
This 24 track CD has 20 songs, but 2 songs have both live and studio (or demo) versions. The band existed primarily between 1977-1980, releasing only one single, but recording a bunch of demos and unreleased studio tracks. True to the era, much of this would probably fall into the power pop or pop punk genres by today’s standards, with the exception of “Sex and Violence” (wonder how many songs with that title exist?). It is great stuff, even though the seven live cuts sound like they were recorded with a hall mic or a boombox rather than from the board. Great playing, hooks, and harmonies abound. Easily worth it even for just the studio/demo stuff.
Airline 61 Records, P.O. Box 1265, Metairie, LA 70004
