The Quick - Mondo Deco (Expanded Edition) (1976/2018)

Review by Tim Sendra
The Quick's one and only album, 1976's Mondo Deco, is a glittering, goofy, and exhilarating snapshot of a crazy, fast-paced era. The mid-'70s were a time when bands could change their images overnight, singers could be discovered and forgotten over the course of one show, and the movers and shakers behind the scenes jockeyed to get their charges publicity and eventually record sales. Sort of like any other time in music history, but with more feathered hair and skinny ties. The Quick had the requisite mover in Kim Fowley, who managed to get them a record deal with Mercury Records and set up with producer Earle Mankey, who had been in Sparks, one of the Quick's main influences. The combo picked up Sparks' speedy hooks, high-pitched, campy vocals, and wacky lyrical content. Mondo Deco was recorded at the Beach Boys' Brother Studios, and the immaculate vocal harmonies of that iconic group were also something the Quick aspired to assimilate into their sound. The result was gloriously catchy, light-footed, and fun power pop that raided the past at every chance, but sounded sleek and modern while doing it. Mondo Deco kicks off with a cover of the Beatles' "It Won't Be Long" that tweaks the arrangement into something twitchy and tense, balancing chunky guitar riffs, parping organ, and singer Danny Wilde's ultra-twee vocals while never spilling a drop. The songs that follow also walk a tightrope between genius and folly, most often falling in favor of the former. "Playtime" is a rollicking mod rocker that lifts from the Who, "Hillary" is an aching power pop ballad that's good enough to overcome the spoken word segments, "Don't You Want It" rocks as hard as the Raspberries ever did, their cover of the Four Seasons' "Rag Doll" comes off like a glam Thin Lizzy, and "Hi Lo" features a chipmunk-chirpy chorus that's very difficult to dislodge. Add it all up and the lads in the Quick made one of the best power pop albums of the '70s. Criminally overlooked and practically buried after its release thanks to a quarrel they had with Fowley, the album really should be in the collections of all those who think they are true power pop aficionados or adventurous glam rock mavens. [In 2018, Real Gone Music released the album on CD for the first time. It featured notes from Quick drummer Danny Benair and former fan club head (and future founder of Frontier Records) Lisa Fancher; a bunch of photos (including one of the band cavorting with famous fan Mark Hamill); and bonus tracks, ten of which are the demo the band did for Mercury Records that got them signed. Many of the songs made it onto Mondo Deco in re-recorded and improved form, though a few, like their arch cover of "Born Free," didn't. Also included is a previously unreleased version of the album cut "Anybody." The demos have been out before on the 2003 collection Untold Rock Stories, but it's nice to have them paired with the actual album. It's a shame they couldn't have just added the demos they cut for Elektra in 1978 and called it The Complete Quick, but this is the next best thing.]