The Get Quick – “How the Story Goes” (Rainbow Quartz) www.thegetquick.com Groovy hip-shaking time-travelers, swinging beat-heavy stylists, sweet hook-laden jangle-rock.

You might call it laziness on my part, but I prefer to call it ripping the veil off the inner machinations of rock and roll marketing. What I'm referring to is that this review is going to consist primarily of the promotional literature that came with the CD. I know it may come as a surprise that persons reviewing a disc get the material free, but it can't be much of a shock in this post-modern topsy turvy world. You often get a publicity kit with the release containing information about the band, the new album, and possibly a photo. Sometime the hyperbole is ridiculous and sometimes the data is helpful. Writers will often steal a line here or there (at least I do) and surely that is to be expected. But to copy an entire promo sheet has always been out of the question for me, at least until now. Why? Because whoever wrote it got it right concerning The Get Quick's Rainbow Quartz debut: How The Story Goes. My comments will be in the brackets and the promo info in bold, but overall I could not possibly do the band any more justice than the story that follows: The Get Quick are a rock and roll outfit from Philadelphia, PA. How The Story Goes is their first album for Rainbow Quartz. Instead of using their budget to cozy down in a local studio for a few weeks, they elected to go to New York and drop the wad on three days at Sear Sound, a premiere studio with impeccably maintained vintage gear where such arbiters of sonic excellence as Phil Ramone, Steve Lillywhite, Sir Paul McCartney, and Monster Magnet [what the hey...Monster Magnet?] have worked. The boys were eager to utilize the Fairchild limiters from Abby Road and the same Neumann microphones that had captured some of the greatest recorded tones of all time. With producer Michael Musmanno (Lilys, Icarus Line) riding the faders on the Neve 8038 Custom Console, they managed to create an album that Urge Overkill and ELO would be proud of. Rock-solid tracks that pop with Magical Mystery Tour-style overdubs. Great vocals and big beat drums are underpinned by throbbing spot-on bass and blown apart by supercharged buzzsaw guitar. There are saxophones and strings, harpsichords and squealing moogs [the squealing moogs made my youngest daughter think about monsters which caused her to give the album a thumbs down], but most important are the songs themselves. These are melodies discovered in the soft underbelly of consciousness [this sentence makes me think about Blue Oyster Cult]. These are songs composed and arranged with the skill of a master carpenter [this sentence evokes Jesus]. These are performances executed with the quick flashes of inspiration that breed innovation. [This sentence confuses me a little - does it mean the quick flashes inspired the band to innovate or will the performances on the album cause others to innovate?] This is How The Story Goes. That's as succinct and accurate a promo sheet as I've ever seen. How The Story Goes is a fast paced delight full of fun rock and roll echoing the past filtered through the post modern audio speakers of today. My own favorite track is "New Plimsoles", but there are plenty of plums to be plucked to satisfy most everybody's idea of pudding. So believe the record company's blurb about The Get Quick. Rainbow Quartz will rarely lead you astray.

The Get Quick -- How The Story Goes (Rainbow Quartz): I got a chance to see this Philadelphia band at the Chicago edition of International Pop Overthrow, and I was very impressed. This album cements my impression. The Get Quick are a nice mix of mod rock, ‘60s pop and power pop. Their songs have familiar elements, but they make them unique, both with their strong playing and personality, and throwing in some new ideas into the mix. A few surprises can make a good song great. "New Plimsoles" is the early highlight, a song that uses some James Bond/spy movie bass guitar lines and a superb arrangement (dynamics rule!) to set up a sucker punch, come out of nowhere hook. This song is cool in about 17 different ways and is just jammed with great ideas. One of the best songs to come out in 2005. Nothing can equal that, but there are some other strong tracks. On "Happy", a familiar R & B-inspired rhythm is combined with some good swooning vocals. When the sax comes in, there's somewhat of a glam rock vibe (think Roxy Music). Yet this doesn't quite sound like either a glam or an R & B song. Whatever it is, it works. Another creatively arranged song is "I Heard About You", which mixes lament slow tempos with perky mid-tempo rhythms, sounding like a musical mood swing. The Get Quick pulls this off with aplomb, using the arrangement to highlight the lyrics, not just to show off. Not every song here is so inventive, but they have such a good grasp of rock and roll, that every tune has a hook or two. In a couple spots, they remind me just a wee bit of Off Broadway and The Scruffs. This is an stellar record. parasol.com

Every five years or so, some Philadelphia-based band makes one killer psych-pop album. First there was the Original Sins' Move, followed by the Lilys' Better Can't Make Your Life Better, followed by the Asteroid No. 4's King Richard's Collectibles. Like clockwork, about a half-decade after the last of those, here's the debut from Philly's the Get Quick, and it might be the best of the lot. The opening "Live Without It" makes the album's sonic antecedents clear, with a vocal harmony line and main guitar riff eerily similar to the Flamin' Groovies' "Yes It's True," itself a near-rewrite of various Searchers and Beau Brummels hits. Following that is the new wave grind of "New Plimsoles," with its killer snot-rock distorted guitar riff and squealing sax interjections. The rest of the album flits between those two styles, jangly Beatlesque power pop, and a noisier, heavier brand of art-psych freakbeat. Thanks to the trio's arranging skills (violins and organ regularly join those saxes, which enliven enough of the songs that they should invite guest reedsman David Fishkin to join the band full time) and singer/guitarist Erik Evol's songwriting chops, the combination makes for an incredibly entertaining listen. Particular highlights include the jittery "Blaue Reiter" (Evol's tribute to the German post-impressionists) and "Happy," a driving, anthemic song that makes an uncredited encore at the album's end. Every song on How the Story Goes is a winner, and the album as a whole is one of the most entertaining underground pop releases of 2005. Rating 4 Stars