Thank God for the Seeds. On Raw and Alive, recorded “live” in studio with audience sounds overdubbed later, the Seeds come across as the classic U.S. garage band of all time; repeating the same couple of riffs over and over with their leader and singer Sky Saxon sounds like an early Johnny Rotten, drooling out lyrics about “peace and love”, while the drummer at times achieves a kinda Mo Tucker/Klaus Dinger simplicity.
Perhapes the best momemt on the record is right before “Pushin’ too hard” when Saxon says, “I’d like to dedicate this next song to society. ‘Cause this song has a message” At the moment, Sky Saxon achieves a trully great rock and roll moment — ballancening the fine line between genuis and stupidity, a trait Saxon has pulled off quite often in his impressive career. Another great moment can be found throughout the amazingly titled song, “900 Million People Daily All Making Love.” You are never really sure if Saxon is being honest or taking the piss, but why should it matter? Raw And Alive is fucking brilliant.