Ah so shallow is the world view that leaps to compare 5.6.7.8.Õs with Shonen Knife. As if all gals from Osaka didn't rock! 5.6.7.8.'s are the bad girls to Shonen KnifeÕs Twist Barbie. Like the Knife trio, they fit the stereotype of Japanese goofs hungry for American popular culture. But whereas Shonen Knife play the cute-but-clueless pop junkies, 5.6.7.8.Õs manipulate their own image. Their deliberate use of broken English, bad nicknames (Salad the Geisha-Girl, "Screaming" Panther, and Ronnie "Yoshiko" Fujiyama) and matching leather-wear turns the Japanese type in on itself. They see American pop culture for what it is and, like us, dig it anyway. (Not that Shonen Knife don't - it's just that they kind of leave ambiguous the fact that they know how goofy they really are.)
The 5.6.7.8.'s decade of choice is the 60's. About one-third of the songs on ...Can't Help It are garage closet classics, including the leadoff "Ah So!" The originals are equally smokin with lo-fi but clean production, rippin' guitar leads and authentic background howlin and screamin.
...Can't Help It includes both the band's Japanese singles, a CD and single released on Australia's Au Go Go Records and a single on Gastanka/Rockville as well as previously unreleased stuff. All of it transcends the novelty elements. (Prudence)