Leave Me Alone!

Album Review

This eight-song ten-inch vinyl release must have most of what could be salvaged from the Knaves' tape archive, including their debut single "Leave Me Alone"/"The Girl I Threw Away" and both sides of their lesser-known follow-up, "Inside Outside"/"Your Stuff." Actually "Leave Me Alone" is a rather overrated (within garage fanatic circles anyway) standard bluesy punkish rant, but "The Girl I Threw Away" deserves its reputation as one of the most outstanding fusions of Byrds-y folk-rock with morose '60s garage punk. Knaves songwriters Howard Berkman and John Hulbert offer more fairly attractive, sullen blends of brooding Byrds influences and rawer garage rock on "Tease Me" and "Away," though "Your Stuff" gets back to the garage mainstream with some nice stop-and-start tempos backing the salacious half-spoken vocal. The release is stretched out to semi-LP length with one of the most eccentric covers of "As Time Goes By" (yes, the Casablanca classic) you'll ever hear, as well as an alternate backing track for "Leave Me Alone." It's a slightly above average '60s garage release, made more interesting than the norm by virtue of the folk-rockish melodies and harmonies in much of the original material, and includes lengthy quotes from Knaves Berkman and Gene Lubin on the back sleeve.