This came out in 2005 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
The fuzzed-out guitars and basses. The thumpy tom-toms and cardboard-box snare drums. The cheesy keyboards and wheezy harmonicas. The choppy four-chord riffs and 12-bar arrangements. The snotty vocals and dog-pack backup vocals.
If you’ve heard any of the Nuggets albums — or any of the first half-dozen Rolling Stones albums, for that matter — you’ve heard everything Thee Shams have to offer. Which is not to say that this Ohio quintet don’t reconstitute their retro-rock with all the gritty authenticity and attention to detail they can muster. Or that they can’t come up with a catchy tune every now and then. Or that they don’t simply rock. But it is a sign that so far, these guys are only as good as their record collections. And that’s not exactly the greatest reason to add them to yours.
