The Fleshtones

Beachhead

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It's hard to believe that the Fleshtones have been at it for 30 years. Beachhead sounds as youthful, snotty and out of control as anything they've ever cut, brimming over with joyous garage-band enthusiasm. They kick things off with "Bigger and Better," in which they shout: "It's nothing new, it's just bigger and better." It's a rave-up full of twangy guitar, wailing harmonica and powerhouse drumming that perfectly sums up the Fleshtones' primal philosophy. They remain unabashedly retro, plundering licks from the rock classics without apology. "Serious" sounds like a lost Kinks song as played by the Zombies, "Hit Me" has a frantic Stooges-meets-N.Y. Dolls vibe, "Do Something for Me" recalls Roky Erickson at his most psychedelic -- you get the idea. Every track sounds like a hit from some alternative garage-band universe where the cats and chicks worship at the shrine of the AM radio and never grow up. Turn it up to 11 and rock out.