S.U.G.A.R. III 12″
Five years back, S.U.G.A.R.’s self-titled debut showed up with enough piss and vinegar to do some justice to the late ’70s SAINTS and TESTORS records these Berliners love. III is somehow…smoother. The debut had teeth, and this one has a leer. Eight songs in twenty-six minutes at 45 rpm, and the prevailing mode is a low-rent sleaze, the sound of a band that picked up the bad habits along with the riffs and would rather work the room than start a fight. Whether that’s a trade you want depends on what you came for. My own preference runs to the version of this band with sharper edges, but a band that has backed Toody Cole knows exactly what it’s doing, and if the greasy end of rock’n’roll is where you live, there’s plenty here. Out on crystal vinyl from Alien Snatch!