Pretty Wicked Head And The Desperate Men - New Age Savage (New Zealand 1989)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

I had this long lost album on request over at Rare MP3, as I hadn't replaced my original copy, it was commercially unavailable and, until recently, I had actually forgotten that it existed. Until even more recently, a Google search on this album turned up very little information.

Just this last week, Mrs Roddus and I were browsing in one of the few remaining CD shops left after the recent earthquakes, when low and behold, I find a second hand CD copy of this release, which I immediately purchased for a surprisingly reasonable sum.

I don't now recall how I first heard of "Pretty Wicked Head..." back in 1989/90, but the name alone would have been enough to gain my attention, back then. Anyhow, they were playing at the old Zetland hotel(one of the last gigs there before they remodeled it into the Cafe Bleu in 1990) when a mate and myself stumbled across the gig and decided to check it out. I remember being very impressed with a great fast paced all out rockin' affair, considering that I knew none of their music. I may have purchased the one of the 500 copy limited addition cassette of this album at that gig or soon after from a shop. It was later re-issued on CD in limited quantities.

Back in those days, Hotels like the Zetland had to close at 11PM and I remember after the gig, someone handing out flyer's to a private party/gig at an old house on the other side of the central city. The band playing at this party was a local post punk type outfit all dressed in Nuns Habits and calling them selves Nuns Fart.

After being so blown away by their live act, The Heads.... "New Age Savage" album itself was, on first listen, a little disappointing and I thought it was a bit tame. So it didn't get as much attention at the time as it deserved and after disposing of my tape collection several years later, I then forgot of its existence.
Listening to it now, some 20 years later, it is apparent to me that this short lived foursome from the arse end of the music world, Invercargill, have produced a classic of New Zealand Indie Pop/Rock that had fared well over the test of time. Full of great pop vocal melody's and well constructed tunes make for a whole album of catchy numbers that were instantly recognisable after all these years and I am pleased how much more I am enjoying this now than I did back when I first heard it. The closing track, "All New Zealand Hero's" is a minor NZ classic, and I think did some time in the charts. "Mercy Of The Moon Girl" is also a beautiful stand out track, a slow atmospheric sound scape of a pop song. A touch of the Dunedin sound, gives this album it's New Zealand feel, but otherwise this could have been recorded anywhere(and some of it was recorded in Canada).

A fun and enjoyable listen that deserved more attention than it got on initial release, and maybe the recent re-release will go some way towards changing that. My rating 4/5.