The Total Rejection – Everybody Knows What You Don’t Know – Raving Pop Blast (Vinyl LP)

While Stone Roses had a five-year gap between their first and second albums, and the legendary PP Arnold had a 39-year and then 12-year gap between solo album releases, The Total Rejection have their follow-up to their excellent debut Wrapping Yourself in Silver Foil Won’t Protect You from the Blast, written, recorded and ready to go in under 12 months! Not only does their new offering, with a baker’s dozen of blistering tracks, pick up where its predecessor finished, it propels their blend of raw ‘n’ raucous 60s garage, 70s punk and 80s Medway delta tinged sleaze, with more than a hint of Art rock, too. Opening number Slip It To Me sets the bar high as a statement of intent of what is to follow – a slice of scorching punk-infused power pop. Title track, well sort of, Hawky (Everybody Knows What You Don’t Know), draws heavily from 60s garage punk, 15 Miles Out of My Mind employs a clever use of feedback in a manner not heard since late 60s art-rock pioneers Creation were at their peak. Shook Up! Is an unrelenting, psyche-tinged workout that takes no prisoners and leaves no survivors as it lays everything in its path to waste. It’s not all sub three-minute assaults on the senses. TTR go all epic in track length, by their standards, on the sweaty ‘n’ grimy workout Take a Step Outside (party 8). Closing track on side one is Bridget (song for Billy Childish), a homage of sorts to the iconic Medway musician. Elements of rock ‘n’ roll meld with garage punk on side two’s opener Reflections, complete with ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ backing vocals, that hook into the subconscious. Strangely Strange is overflowing with snotty-nosed attitude, while Maureen! Maureen! Maureen! evokes pubescent red-blooded male thoughts. Contrast to the epic track on side one is the sparse, near spoken word, a short snippet of a number The Girl Who Loved the Flower Priest. Stamping down hard on the overdrive for the breathtakingly manic Circles in the Sky, which is followed by the sheer punk-pop brilliance of How Can I Luv You? before Chilly chilly brings this delightfully and intentionally lo-fi album to an incendiary conclusion. All tracks have been penned by the prolific Andrew Arthur Jarrett. Look carefully on the album artwork, because within the collage is a GP Lammy with rider and pillion on board. Don’t be surprised to see TTR’s third album following this one in the near future!

Sarge