The Terminals — Touch
Touch is a remaster of this early nineties album by this underrated New Zealand Band. It's not what you would call poorly recorded, but it's still quite grimy in that Xpressway DIY vein. It wasn't recorded in a bedroom on a four track though; it was done in a real studio, with overdubs even. The devil-may-care, casual, yet spiky and endearingly unprofessional approach shouldn't work so well under such conditions. Lest we forget the first two Velvet Underground LP's, also recorded in such environs, and very much a blueprint which these folks follow with great enthusiasm.
If the recklessness is manufactured it doesn't show. Touch is a rare treat because it offers a great combination; Raw, raucous abandon. Distortion, feedback, trebly, trembling guitar/noise squall. And great songs. A lot of bands had taken this approach in the late eighties/early nineties, many possessing all of the former traits, leaving out the latter.
Sure there are plenty of great examples of quality music which came out of New Zealand in that era, up to today. But the Terminals somehow fell somewhat beneath the radar. No doubt the Dead C, Alastair Galbraith, This Kind of Punishment, et al deserve their reputations as fine purveyors of music, but the Terminals were right there with 'em.
I have to admit, I missed this album myself upon its original release. Had I picked it up, I would have found that it's one of the tightest and most tuneful examples of its kind. There is the Velvets influence, (certainly not a bad thing) but there's also a few songs which owe something to psychedelia. There are even a few veiled pop hooks to be found beneath the scree.
The two bonus tracks are separated by a short break of silence to preserve the integrity of the original album, which tells you that it makes sense from front to back as all good records should. The extra tracks are of a similarly high quality, and are every bit as playful and noisy as the rest of the disc. No sub par studio outtakes here. Last Visible Dog deserve heaps of credit for digging this one out of the vaults.