5.6.7.8’s

  • 5.6.7.8's
  • Can't Help It! (Gasatanka/Rockville) 1993 
  • The 5.6.7.8's (Aus. Au-go-go) 1993 

These three tough chicks from Japan filter the primal energy of early American rock’n’roll through their own likably cartoonish sensibility, making up in femme fatale swagger what they lack in technical finesse. Compiling tracks from various Japanese singles and EPs, Can’t Help It! combines uninhibited readings of “Wooly Bully,” “Wild Thing” and the Elvis Presley (by way of Wanda Jackson) “Let’s Have a Party” with appropriately trashy originals like “I Was a Teenage Cave Woman,” “Edie Is a Sweet Candy” and “Motor Cycle Go-Go-Go!” The Australian release, also a stitch-job, is similar in execution, with personalized covers of “Tallahassee Lassie,” “Long Tall Sally” and (!) “Harlem Nocturne.”

[Scott Schinder]