Redd Kross - 'Third Eye' (Atlantic Records)

Here we have an album that came into my life, as many did through the '80s and '90s, on a TDK C90 from a friend of a friend; this one, however, was slightly different.
 
I was living in Swansea in 1991 and this was a tape that had been left at a friend of mine's by one Ian Hunter, singer of late '80s sleazy punkers Rich Rags. On side one was The Scream - 'Let It Scream' and on side two was Redd Kross - 'Third Eye'. Now, I had been after listening to both of these albums as the reviews had been good in Kerrang!, even mentioning Enuff Z'Nuff in the Redd Kross review, which was enuff (sorry) to get my interest, such was my need to soak up new music like a sponge. My friend was an AOR fan and had no interest in this tape so it found its way into my hands and became a favourite on my stereo for many years to come. So I have Ian Hunter to thank for my introduction to both albums.
 
My tape player at the time had a horrible defect - some tapes it played fine, but others it used to chew up at the beginning - and drove me absolutely crazy. I found that if I wedged a coin in the play button it seemed to solve the problem and, being a skint student at the time, it was all I had so I had to make the most of it. It ruined a lot of my tapes back then and many albums ended up with a chewed up first half of a song or so, and 'Third Eye' was one of these. I copied this album for a lot of people so there were second and third generation copies out there amongst my friends doing the rounds, and all had a chewed up version. In fact, a couple of years later when I was in a band called Emily Loved Him in Cardiff, it was one of the main albums that got put on during songwriting/getting hammered sessions, along with 'Frosting On The Beater' by The Posies, but that's another story altogether.....
 
So 'Third Eye' came into my life with a bang, different from the usual glam rock I had been listening to and as that scene began to crumble, grunge was on the rise, and even though I liked some of those bands, Redd Kross felt like a reaction to that movement, and one I wanted to be a part of. It had pop sensibilities, catchy hooks in every song, quirky lyrics and a certain oddness that drew me in. They had wacky song titles like 'Elephant Flares' and 'Bubblegum Factory' and they sounded like a '90s version of The Monkees. In fact, the whole album sounded like the soundtrack to some wild and wacky '70s cartoon show, and that appealed to me.
 
It was their major label debut following several underground albums, in fact I was suprised to find they had been around since the early '80s and were regulars on the Californian punk scene. The band consisted of a core of two members, the McDonald brothers, singer/guitarist Jeff and bassist Steve, and they had a revolving door of musicians joining them over the years. By the time they came to 'Third Eye' their sound had radically changed from their raw punk beginnings. The '60s pop influences were more pronounced, the songwriting was greatly improved and the raw punkness was out, but they still kept that certain punky edge.
 
Highlights are plentiful, it's a cornucopia of sugar-coated, 3 minute rock 'n' roll songs; just check out opener 'The Faith Healer', a beautiful, lazy and jangly pop blast. Take the sublime 'Annie's Gone' for example, its chugging opening riff leads into Jeff's crooning vocal line before the sublime chorus, all jangly and harmonious with sweet backing vocals - it's just a perfect song. Then there is the pure and simple Beatles pop of a song like 'Bubblegum Factory', more sugary than even the title suggests, all hand claps and female backing vocals courtesy of Susan Cowsill of '60s pop group The Cowsills. She also appears on 'Love is Not Love'.
 
There is truly not a bad song on here - even before replaying this to review it, I looked at the tracklisting and thought 'Zira (Call Out My Name)' was not a memorable song, I was of course wrong as the goosebumps reminded me by the time the chorus began.
 
But it's not all pop songs: 'Shonen Knife' for example, a homage to the Japanese girl three piece with the same name, is a blast of punk attitude with that indie drum beat that hinted at what was to come on the fantastic follow up album 'Phaseshifter'. Then there is the awesome '1976', a punky blast with backing vocals that were rumoured at the time to be Paul Stanley, but were actually guitarist Robert Hecker doing his best impression of the Kiss frontman.

There are also heartfelt, more chilled tunes, the acoustic-led 'I Don't Know How To Be Your Friend' or the sweet 'Where I Am Today' that still makes the hairs on my arms stand up when Jeff sings.
 
Wrapping up the album is the quirky 'Elephant Flares' with the immortal opening line "I don't know why she don't comb or wash her hair, well all my friends all say there's things in there" - sweet poetry to my ears. We used to sing this line to my friend's crusty, dread-headed girlfriend, much to our amusement and her embarrassment.
 
So, if I had reviewed this for Kerrang! it would've got KKKKK, anywhere else a 10/10, a thumbs up and utterly essential listening - do you catch my drift? Redd Kross split in the late '90s but recently reformed with the line-up that recorded this album. They play the odd few shows and have been recording an album for what seems like years now, whenever it sees the light of day I will be there.
 
Although that C90 has long gone, now replaced by the shiny CD, 'Third Eye' will always hold a special place in my heart and on my stereo. So if you fancy a good bit of quirky Power Pop this is the album to have.