Dogmatics-Thayer St. (1984)

 

Artist: Dogmatics

Title: Thayer St.

Label: Homestead

Format: LP

Cat #: HMS003

Year of Release: 1984

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1984

Sold Price: $14.99

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 11/28/20

Discogs Last Sold: 10/7/20  NM/VG+ $20.00

Low: $7.00

Median: $15.95

High: $23.81

Current low price: $14.50 VG+/VG+

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 4

Have/Want: 202/80

Where Sold: San Francisco, CA

Time it took to sell: 4 years

Where and When Bought: Nuggets, Boston early 90's under $5

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go?: Yes

A nick below their follow up Everybody Does It, nonetheless, Thayer St. is a top flight release from one of the premier Boston Rock bands of the 80's.  Clearly one of the best bands Homestead ever put out.

The opener "Sister Serena" is an instant classic, heard all over the left of the Boston dial in it's day.  Maybe even BCN and/or FNX.   The closer "Hardcore Rules" is a name dropping jokeathon decidedly NON-hardcore parody that I probably played 50 times on WICN.  Of course Boston Rock had schisms, mostly generational, that merged as time progressed.  You might see a Lyres review on the national front in Maximum Rock 'n Roll, but that stuff was irrelevant old guard to the SS Decontrol/DYS scene.  Of course, as younger scenes came up SSD and DYS and even Gang Green got lumped into bands like the Dogmatics.  I was a little under the cut, starting radio in Worcester in early 1986 when Everybody Does It was the new rotation.  I seem to remember thinking it got serviced late for a 1985 record, like June or something.  The details you remember from when you are a teen.  I also remember the bass player Paul O'Halloran getting killed in a motorcycle crash later in 1986, before I ever was old enough to see them.  I think they even played Ricks on Main Street in Worcester around this time, but alas I was 16 and 5 years under the cut.  Bands like this played bars and only bars, which was very strict for those under age without fake ID that I took til 19 to get.

So back to the record.  Replaced on CD as the all-in-one 1981-1986,  you can only find individual tracks online of this release, so I'm gonna link them one by one.  "You Say" is a standard Boston garage rocker.  "MTV O.D." was often coupled with "MTV Get Off The Air" by the DK's.   Perhaps with futher anti-MTV commentary like "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin" by Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper.  The side closes with "King-Size Cigarette."  More garage rock.

Side 2 opens with a sax laden blaster "Gimme The Shakes."  Steve LaGrega was also sax on a couple Barrence Whitfield and the Savages albums, and you can't get more Boston Rock than Barrence Whitfield.  "Whipped" features scenester and Blackjacks member Johnny Angel on guitar. "Good Looking Girls" has a bit of a rockabilly feel.  They cover all the bases.

I finally got to see the reformed Dogmatics in 2014 at Bowery Electric.  A rare NYC visit.  It blows my mind that that was six years ago, but it was.  They got around to putting out a release in 2019 called She's The One after a long long release layoff.  

Still rock 'n roll.