Redd Kross’ ‘Neurotica,’ a Lost ’80s Power-Pop Classic, Finally Gets Its Due: Album Review
variety.comJem Aswad Senior Music EditorAbsence can make the heart grow fonder, and one of the ironies of the power-pop revival of the mid-1980s was how hard it was to find records by some of its main archetypes, even if those earlier groups had genuine hits: The brace of great early-‘70s albums and singles by Beatles-obsessed bands like Badfinger, Big Star and the Raspberries had been out of print for years and could only be found at specialty shops for exorbitant prices or as random junkshop jackpots.Even more ironically, one of the greatest albums of that ‘80s wave — Redd Kross’ “Neurotica” — suffered the same fate.
It was released in 1987 on the short-lived U.S. division of a small Australian label called Big Time that had a cool roster (Love and Rockets, Alex Chilton, Hoodoo Gurus, Dream Syndicate) but did not fare well in the brawny U.S.
market, a circumstance that was not aided by the original album’s muddled production: Redd Kross’ effervescent harmonies and sharp hooks were buried in a thuddy mix with a horrifically dated ‘80s drum sound.
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