The Gruesomes

There's a reason Montreal retro garage rockers the Gruesomes really only lasted about five years in their prime: the shimmer wore off really quickly. As in, they took a grinder to it. Case in point with this first-ever CD version of their third full-length Hey! A trying continuation of their tinny production, '60-slacker approach and twangy guitars, these 14 tracks are too simplistic to be entertaining and the vocal delivery lacks the enthusiastic kitsch of earlier releases. It's just plain off-key and annoying. Snotty and lazy without having enough talent to back it up, Hey! grates like crotch rot. Factor in the inclusion of 1985's Garbage Pail Kids demos and the whole experience seems unending; like a trip to a particularly malicious dentist.