Joe S. Harrington said:
19. I’m Stranded – the Saints (Sire, 1977):
In the wake of the Ramones, first the singles started coming (“Solitary Confinement” by the Weirdos etc.). I’m Stranded was one of the first complete recordings to adopt the nonstop punk formula. In fact, like the Ramones, the Saints even included a couple of fifties covers (“Wild About You,” “Kissing Cousins”). The Saints had actually been around in their native Australia as long as the Ramones and had been slowly honing their Stooges formula. It did not take the Ramones to teach them how to play, but admittedly the fast bracing stuff, and the simplicity, was reinforced by the appearance of the first two Ramones albums. The Sire seal gives it away – released around the same time as such other Seymour Stein-sponsored classics like Blank Generation and Talking Heads ’77, this album was among the front-line of definitive punk texts. It’s one of the things that made us realise, long before there was ever a Sex Pistols album, that this phenomenon was not a single-band crusade (thanks Ramones). Guitarist Ed Kuepper was among the most able-bodied of the post-Williamson guitarists (a school that also included Cheetah Chrome, the guy in the Weirdos, Ross the Boss etc. etc.) and the searing leads were a touch that the still-leadless Ramones could’ve used. Of course the fretboards would flay with even more fierce abandon on the subsequent album, Eternally Yours (see #30, – obviously I think these guys are among the greatest ever). Then they would add horns.
They were never like the Ramones since they were also Australians, and the Continent’s most worthy exports that were not prefabricated by Harry Vanda and George Young. Goddamn, all the real grit of punk, what made it really EXPLODE in the minds and hearts of millions, can be summed up by the bridge in “One Way Street” when Bailey, a GREAT singer, sneers “if you don’t like it honey that’s too bad.” It is as good as Iggy at his best, and these guys were doing it strictly straight out of the shoot. “Story of Love,” with its metallic riff and declaration-of-independence lyrics, is downright hypnotic in its simplistic forcefulness. “Messing with the Kid,” a clanky-but-brilliant “ballad” based partially on the Stones’ “Sway,” would evidence that they were already looking ahead to the slow stuff on the second album (along with the Ramones and Motörhead they were the ONLY group from punk’s first wave who dared still sport long hair). It’s just a great album all around. Along with Bollocks and Ramones Leave Home it is the DEFINITIVE sound-of-1977 LP. Just say Yes!