Various

This Swami Records comp features a superb, rollicking assortment of released and unreleased rock’n’roll from the label, which was started by John Reis. Beehive and the Barracudas and the Husbands both offer strong, stoned blues tunes. The unreleased Hot Snakes song "U.S. Mint” is among the band’s fiercest tracks, forsaking the extended intricacy of Drive Like Jehu, Rick Froberg and John Reis’s previous outfit for succinct melodic force. Reis’s Rocket from the Crypt also supplies a hyperactive, harmonious tune that recalls the band’s work from Group Sounds. Backed by the Swami All Stars, former Testors’ front-man Sonny Vincent provides another of the compilation’s shining moments with "Psycho I.D.,” a song that can blow out car windows with charged energy. Swami Sound System Vol. 1 smokes like a raging tire fire.