Statues

We’ve already expounded the virtues of these Sudbury natives (and at least one of the seven-inches that this CD release pulls together), but it’s worth doing again. These guys are making some of the best power pop in years, and they’re doing it with the kind of daring originality you rarely see in a band so married to genre eras (in this case, ’70s punk and ’80s power pop). If you missed the band’s tour-only double seven-inch set Crooked Fingers, Broken Hands — it would be pretty understandable, they were in Europe most of the time — this is a pretty crucial CD compilation. Powerful tracks like "Husbands and Wives” and "Adult Teeth” take up residence alongside G.G. Allin, Pointed Sticks and K-Tels covers, and the results just rule. Plus, there’s the new, unreleased "Save It,” which, surprise, surprise, is fantastic. Sudbury, who knew?