4 out of 5

Label: Matt Sommers’ Digital Archive (digital download)

Produced by: John Buetow

What can we ask of our three chord punkers?  Energy.  You can only milk so many variations out of the usual range of riffs used, so, yes, there’s a fair amount of similarity between any given punk album, whether across an artist’s own catalogue or in comparison from group to group.  What is brought to the table when playing these kinda-sorta-samey thrashes is the energy or attitude to make it seem fresh.  And African Sleeping Sickness – ahem, A.S.S. – have the zeal to make that grade, even listening to this recording 30 effing years later, and as translated from a cassette recording.  Sure, some tracks like ‘No Eyelids,” which just hit their riff and repeat the chorus, are of that punky filler variety, along with silly, light stuff like “Winnie the Pooh,” but the loose, off-timed pummel of, say, closer “Claude Hop,” or the fast / slow shifts of “The Bucket” give us the variation we crave, and set a standard that A.S.S. keeps up for more than most of the disc.  Bumping things up further are some shoulda-been-classics like “Why Are There Parades,” which is one of those rare masterpieces that’s catchy as all get-out.