With geographical and historical links to heavyweights like the Dead Kennedys, Angry Samoans and Flipper, you might expect Berkeley’s the Jars to play blistering hardcore punk, but the joy of this album, which collects both of the band’s singles along with some rarities and live recordings, is in the way that the band combines that punk attitude with a pop sensibility. Nothing radical perhaps – indeed, that pretty much sums up what a large part of the New Wave movement was all about – but the Jars’ “Psycho-Pop,” to use their preferred term, has a definite character of its own.
The band formed in the Bay Area in 1978 and were therefore ideally placed to be part of the Californian punk explosion, but they looked less to contemporaries like Bags, the Germs and X and far more to the original garage punks of the 1960s like the Sonics and the Seeds. The Jars had a convoluted genesis, but the recruitment of keyboardist Gary Nervo and his all-important Farfisa organ is, from the musical point of view, perhaps the most crucial part of the band’s story. Although short-lived, they moved quickly, and by the end of 1980 had put out both of the 45s that were to be their only official releases during their three years together. Those singles – “Start Rite Now” with “Psycho” and “Electric Third Rail” on the B-side and “Time of the Assassins”/”Jar Wars” are at the core of this compilation, but surprisingly they don’t dominate it, with previously unreleased studio recordings like “Teenage Rebellion” and “Turn out the Light” being every bit their equal.
Still, in truth, the complete works of the Jars doesn’t really amount to an awful lot; 10 studio tracks, five live ones, several of both being instrumentals. The key to their sound is in one of those live tracks; an energetic but pretty faithful version of the theme tune from “The Munsters.” Yes, The Jars do sound a bit like the Sonics – although their cover of the 1965 classic “Psycho” is far more concise and clean-sounding than the original – but in reality, it’s the “Munsters” theme, with its twangy guitars and campy Farfisa organ that is pretty much the template for the band’s tongue-in-cheek, high-energy version of ‘60s garage rock. That said, there is some variety, from harsher, more punk-oriented songs like “Electric Third Rail” to an early stab at the punk-ska crossover with their live version of the Harry J All-Stars perennial 1969 hit “The Liquidator,” cheekily retitled “Nervo’s Tune.” True, the Jars tackle the track by removing most of its ska rhythm, but the ghost of it remains and it would be years before US ska-punk would become an established sound.
The Jars may have a somewhat marginal place in the history of California punk, but while the music of that scene has a tendency – especially in the hardcore era – to be a bit anonymous, Psycho-Pop remains fresh and distinctive. A lightweight release perhaps, but a very appealing one.
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