johnny moped: cycledelic

Damaged Goods present a reissue of Johnny Moped's Cycledelic, originally released in April of 1978. Described by Jon Savage in his book England's Dreaming (1991) as "certainly one of the more curious albums to emerge from the first wave of UK punk. Moped was a clumsy singer even by the standards of early British punk, given to moaning and gurgling when he couldn't think of something to say, and guitarist Slimy Toad had chops and wasn't afraid to show them, so some of the longer songs like 'Maniac' and '3D Time' veer off into what sounds like a thug's version of prog-rock. And even when the band did tear into something short, fast, and loud, they sounded like '60s pop gone mad on speed; Cycledelic may be one of the only albums from punk's first wave that displays almost no audible Ramones influence. But if the Mopeds were following a path all their own, they were clearly having a lot of fun doing it. Johnny Moped was a little too odd to serve as a true 'every kid', but the absurd brilliance of the best moments on Cycledelic are a shining example of the punk credo that anyone could do it -- and that sometimes amazing things could emerge from unexpected places."