Slaughter & the Dogs' name may not ring recognition bells among today's listeners, but 1977
punk acolytes will definitely welcome this reissue. Vocalist
Wayne Barrett and guitarist
Mick Rossi named their band after the two albums they treasured most:
David Bowie's
Diamond Dogs, and
Mick Ronson's
Slaughter on 10th Avenue. Both choices summarize this album's light-shade approach. The opening salvo of
"Where Have All the Boot Boys Gone?" sounds as hair-raising as ever and rightly remains the band's best-known song, having been credited with inspiring the
Oi! punk movement. At heart, though, the
Dogs revealed themselves as waggish punk-poppers on
"Quick Joey Small" celebration of criminal bravado, and
"You're a Bore," whose outro soars into impossibly pure ear candy. The band proves agreeably diverse on the slower, janglier
"Since You Went Away," and a remake of
the Velvet Underground's
"I'm Waiting for the Man," which crackles with an impatience befitting its addiction-by-attrition theme. Still other tracks, such as
"Victims of the Vampire," display a goonish sensibility better suited to a
Ramones album. So does the bonus track
"Johnny T," whose 90 seconds of power-pub boogie salute the late, combustive
New York Dolls guitarist
Johnny Thunders. For all its promise, however, the band ended up among
punk's here-and-gone stories, disbanding by the time of
Dog Style's July 1978 release (then reuniting as
Slaughter in 1980.) A more consistent songwriting approach might have lengthened the
Dogs' run, though their lack of airs ensured a winning team for a time. Any band cited by the disparate likes of
New Order, the
Stone Roses and
Smiths frontman
Morrissey surely deserves another look. ~ Ralph Heibutzki
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