Search - Zakary Thaks :: Form the Habit

The definitive collection is finally here!

tobemilo | Sweden | 05/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here it is: the collected works of Zakary Thaks! Everything is lovingly restored, remastered and just plain awesome. From their hard rocking debut single "Bad girl" (with a great cover of the Kinks' "I need you" on the flip), to the Beatlesque "Please", the fuzzed-out frenzy of "Face to face" and the cool garage psychedelia of "Green crystal ties" - they're all winners. The musicianship is also staggering, knowing that these guys were only around 15 at the time! The booklet is also a delight, with lots of pictures and a revealing interview with one of the original members. The only thing I miss is a bit of information when the various tracks were recorded. Anyway, this CD is a great buy and is sure to please fans of 60's pop/psych/garage - time and time again."

Brilliant

Oliver Sheppard | US | 12/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Ahead of their time" is a cliche in rock music journalism. But Texas' The Zakary Thaks had their pulse on the future of rock music in a way few did in their era. As someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s on a diet of punk, thrash, and hardcore, I recently became interested in tracing back these sub-genres of rock n roll to their roots. Of course, I passed backwards through THE NEW YORK DOLLS and THE STOOGES, and came upon the amazing "Nuggets" compilation of 60's garage rock/psychedelic rock bands. It was there I discvered The Zakary Thaks, who made their appearance with "Bad Girl." Perhaps the fastest, tightest, thrashiest song I've heard from the 60s, "Bad Girl" singlehandedly lays down the blueprint for all of the fast punk that would come to predominate the hardcore punk scene of the early 80s: Consistently fast drums, tight power chord riffing, a compact solo in just the right place that leads back into main riff just in time for a barnstorming ending--it's just great stuff.



The other songs on this compilation don't disappoint, either. Though there's nothing quite as fast as "Bad Girl" [which is on here], some other songs do come close: "Can You Hear Your Daddy's Footsteps" and "Footsteps Jam," to name a few. Other songs trade in the breakneck pace of "Bad Girl" for solid, heavy groove--for example, their cover of The Kinks' "I Need You" and "Outprint." The guitars get fuzzed out in a really cool way for songs like "Face to Face."



There are a lot of bands now that are trying to do this sort of thing musically--trying to recapture the spirit of simple, balls-out, energetic rock n' roll the way garage rock bands of the 60s like The Zakary Thaks did. Few can match the intensity of originals like this, however. (The NEW BOMB TURKS and HALO OF FLIES have come incredibly close, though.)



If you're interested in hearing a band that paved the way for acts like The Stooges, The Ramones, the '77 punk movement, and US hardcore of the 80s, get this. You won't be sorry. The Zakary Thaks were one of the best rock outfits of the 1960s. They do not deserve to be as obscure as they are."