Merge Records

Merge Records is thrilled to release the 35th anniversary edition of Neurotica, the 1987 power pop and alternative rock opus by Redd Kross. Both CD and vinyl contain the original album remastered by JJ Golden (Pearl Jam, Thee Oh Sees) as well as 12 previously unreleased demos from the era. For Neurotica, brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald enlisted a grand crew of musicians that included guitarist Robert Hecker, keyboardist Paul Roessler (Screamers, Nervous Gender), and Roy McDonald (The Muffs) on drums. And in the producer’s chair guiding the young bucks? Tommy Erdelyi, aka Tommy Ramone, one of the originators of punk rock melody.

Unshakeable hooks on tracks like “Peach Kelli Pop” and title track “Neurotica” would inspire rave reviews at the time of the album’s original release in 1987. The L.A. Times’ Craig Lee wrote: “In an age when too many bands base their music either on calculated career moves or heavy-handed pretensions, Redd Kross is as breezy as a kiss in the wind, a band born to rock in a world that forgot how.”

Decades later, Pitchfork would revisit the album with a glowing write-up: “Pop culture nostalgia was to Redd Kross what LSD was to the Butthole Surfers; their music was delivered with just as furious a passion, but their love for Beatles-esque pop harmony shone through as much as any punk sensibility, and their Kinks influences, entirely free of irony, served as lyrical substance over their powerful, hi-octane hooks.” Plain and simple, Neurotica is just a fantastic piece of art.

All physical formats include a download.

Tracklist

1. Neurotica
2. Play My Song
3. Frosted Flake
4. Janus, Jeanie, and George Harrison
5. Love Is You
6. Pink Piece of Peace
7. It’s the Little Things
8. Peach Kelli Pop
9. McKenzie
10. Tatum O’Tot and the Fried Vegetables
11. Ballad of a Love Doll
12. What They Say
13. Ghandi Is Dead (I’m the Cartoon Man)
14. Beautiful Bye-Byes
15. Neurotica (Demo)
16. Play My Song (Demo)
17. Pink Piece of Peace (Demo)
18. All of the Things (Demo)
19. Janus, Jeanie, and George Harrison (Demo)
20. McKenzie (Demo)
21. What They Say (Demo)
22. Peach Kelli Pop (Demo)
23. Tatum O’Tot and the Fried Vegetables (Demo)
24. Love Is You (Demo)
25. Ghandi Is Dead (I’m the Cartoon Man) (Demo)
26. Beautiful Bye-Byes (Demo)