If you've been poring over W&H's archive, you'll have noticed us waxing lyrical about this bunch of Melbourne-based loons and tales of their involvement with everything from supporting The Music in obscure British seaside towns to former employment with bands whose rhythm sections found it paramount to get their kit off in front of the audience.
All good stuff, of course, but it wouldn't mean diddly if ROCKET SCIENCE weren't up to much musically, yet their recent second album "Contact High" found a band who obviously adore "Nuggets"-era garage rock, but want to push the manilla that little bit further.
So, a good time to get stuck into the re-issue of their first album, "Welcome Aboard the 3C-10" then? Absolutely, though in truth it's not really as essential as "Contact High", with a rather more generic garage sound for the most part and perhaps rather too much reliance on instrumentals.
Which isn't to say there isn't a hefty wodge of bloody good stuff here. For instance, the album kicks off with two absolute crackers in "Burn In Hell" and "Six Foot 4": the former one of THE modern garage rock, pedal-to-the-metal classics, while the quirky, stop start catchiness of the latter barely houses a howling at the moon vocal from Roman Tucker.
Later on, we also get treated to the "Foxy Lady"-ripping intensity of "Copycat", the feral drama of "International Jetset" and "Moscow To Kamchatka", which is perhaps the pick of the half dozen or so instrumentals featured here, though the album's signature title tune (recorded on two-track at ver Science's first rehearsal circa summer 1998) amazingly runs it close for Spy Theme intrigue.
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On all these occasions, Rocket Science's Charlatans-pistol-whip-Inspiral-Carpets-while-The-Music-Machine-applaud style sounds a exciting as hell and Tucker's fruity Yamaha organ scores effortlessly, though it must be said "...3C-10" can't quite sustain the pace for the duration.
Good though some of them are, the reliance on instrumentals wears thin after a while. "Jet Lag: Down The Pills" begins promisingly, but by the time the false ending and reprise kick in, its' energy is more than spent. "Astrobird", by comparison, is at least a departure, but its' oddball Krautrock pulsing peters out too quickly and "Transposer" is merely irritating farting around. Even "Synchronise Us", which does squeeze in some yelpy vox from Tucker...well, just it isn't much of a song, really.
"Welcome Aboard The 3C-10", then, is hardly a seamless ride. Pockets of turbulence certainly do have you holding on tight at times and on a couple of occasions, one engine threatens to conk out altogther. However, Rocket Science have power in reserve and when this bird does hit cruise control she really soars.
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