The power, excitement and humour of the group was positively infectious - who could have known it would take the rest of America three long years to catch Fleshtones Fever? A sound and a vision were there long before the national tours, the I.R.S. album, and the band's present level of polish and professionalism - not achieved, I hasten to add at the cost of those qualities which stole my heart on that fateful August night.

The sound had been around since early 1976, carefully crafted in outer-borough basement rehearsals, perfected in the course of countless house parties and local club gigs. It was a unique, timeless blend of mid-'60's proto-punk (? & The Mysterians, Count Five et al) and the manic '50's R&B personified by Little Richard, with added touches of surf music and James Brown soul. It was Peter Zaremba's compelling vocals, wailing harmonica and one-handed Farfisa organ; Keith Streng's trebly, tremoloed Fender guitar; and the unstoppable rhythm section of bassist Jan Marek Pakulski and drummer Lenny Calderone.

The vision belonged to Marty Thau, a former ace promotion man for Buddah Records who'd gone on to manage the New York Dolls and in 1978, started Red Star Records. Alan Vega of Suicide (Red Star's first signing) caught the Fleshtones in action one night and waxed enthusiastic to Thau, who came, saw and was convinced. Here was the kind of straight-ahead, All-American rock and roll band he'd always wanted to break wide open, with the songs and stage presence to do it.

In July, 1978 the Fleshtones signed to Red Star, and in August began recording their first LP with Thau producing. A first single, "American Beat" b/w "Critical List", was released to wide critical acclaim, but clouds soon darkened Red Star's horizons. Thau's business partners turned away from the new rock towards disco. As a result the album could not be released in time to satisfy the scheduling provisions of the group's contract; and the tapes remained in the can until their ROIR cassette-release.

The tracks comprising FLESHTONES "BLAST OFF", then, are not early demos or crude rehearsal tapes, but the fully realised recordings of a band ready to take on the world. The production strikes a precise balance between atmosphere and clarity; it's in perfect synch with the sound and spirit of Fleshtones classics like "Watch Junior Go", "Judy", "B.Y.O.B.", "Shadowline (Original)", "American Beat" and "Comin' In (Dead Stick)", dig the way these songs draw on all the rhythmic riches of rock's past while transcending mere nostalgia and creating a fresh, distinctive sound wholly the "Tones" own. Marvel at the band's exquisite taste in cover versions: Kid Thomas' frenzied "Rockin' This Joint Tonight", the Strangeloves' joyful "Cara-Lin", and a funny chuckle called "Soul Struttin'" (penned by Thau and Tony Orlando of all people, in the former's pre-Buddah days). Thank whatever gods watch over us that a brilliant version of Suicide's "Rocket U.S.A." was not lost forever, combining as it does the band's powerful backyard-Yardbirds rave-up with Alan Vega's wrenching quest vocal.