There's a long, rich tradition of power pop groups being obsessed with teenage girls (
the Scruffs
even named an album
Teenage Gurls
). But you'd be hard-pressed to find a band whose mania for the adolescent female matched that of
Milk 'N' Cookies
. On their first (and only) album, 1975's
, the Long Island band sounded like some vaguely lascivious fusion of U.K. glam rock guitars, stripped-down rock & roll stomp, and the preening style of
the Bay City Rollers
. However, while
the Rollers
at least tried to play as nice boys, lead singer
Justin Strauss
was all breathy, sexually ambiguous pout as he made it clear he had something very special in mind for his female fans.
Strauss
' doe-eyed stage whisper astounds on "Little, Lost and Innocent," "Chance to Play," "Not Enough Girls (In the World)," and the truly remarkable "Rabbits Make Love." In their way,
were every bit as subversive as
the New York Dolls
and as blatant as
Kiss
. But their outrage was dressed up in hooky pop tunes with crunchy guitar figures and an attack that was a few shades away from punk rock. (The latter comes as no surprise, as the CBGB scene was emerging in New York around the same time.)
Ian North
's songs were genuinely inspired more often than not, while his guitar work would have done
the Sweet
proud. And bassist
Sal Miada
and drummer
Mike Ruiz
gave these tracks the heavy stomp they needed and deserved. There might have been a place for
on the new wave and power pop scenes that took hold a few years after their album came out. But in 1975, this album was a witty and deliberately eccentric cult item that still sounds gloriously weird more than four decades later. Perfect for your next teen dance; just see to it these guys don't put an aspirin in someone's cola. [In 2016,
Captured Tracks
gave
a super-deluxe vinyl reissue, with the original album accompanied by two LPs' worth of demos, rehearsal tapes, and live tracks. For the most part, the bonus material finds the band sounding rougher and harder outside the recording studio. The rock side of
' personality is bumped up a bit, and on numbers like "Girls in Gangs," "Randy Slut," and "Naked City," they sound even more brazen than they did on the album. This box set gives a clear picture of how
got to be who they were, and suggests where they might have gone if anyone had been listening in 1975. It's a bit much for beginners, but a treasure trove for archaeologically minded fans.] ~ Mark Deming