The band that inspired The Ramones

Official collection of all the band’s singles recorded for such labels as Southern Sound, Vanguard, and ATCO

LP features 180-gram vinyl

Release includes unseen photos, liner notes, and interview with Johnny Ramone

East Coast rockers from Queens, New York, the Vagrants are as OG as they come. Admired from across the Forest Hills High School cafeteria by future members of the Ramones, they ripped across the city and state with ecstatic abandon and an explosive stage show. They pissed off Bill Graham on a mini West Coast tour and were told they\’d never play there again.

Full of damage and pure dynamics, the Vagrants provided the blueprint for early punk. They invented their own timeless interpretations of soul and contemporary rock smashes including their infectious take on \”Respect,\” eventually immortalized on the original Nuggets compilation in 1972. Shit, they may even be responsible for helping to push a young Hammond B3 rocking Billy Joel (then in the Hassles) into the big league. Not to mention a little Mafioso mayhem thrown in for good measure (steal, beg or borrow the album to read an extensive set of deep liner notes from Ugly Things\’ Mike Stax on the subject). But forget the tales of these real rock Rumble Fish, it\’s the music that tells the story. 12 tracks of groovy garage, propulsive psych, and primitive proto-punk, Light In The Attic score another coup with I Can\’t Make A Friend 1965-1968.

Forget contemporary carbon copies, here\’s a vinyl slab of the real thing. With perfect production by Felix Pappalardi and the monumental guitar of pre-Mountain Leslie West, the Vagrants will rip your mind apart and take you off-the-wall at your local cave-stomping discotheque, almost fifty years after their initial recording. The songs are that powerful. Forget the masses, this is music for the heads. It\’s the sound of five New York kids with big dreams: Roger Mansour (drums), Peter Sabatino (vocals, harmonica, tambourine), Jerry Storch (organ, vocals), Larry West (bass, vocals), and Leslie West (guitar, vocals).\”I Can\’t Make A Friend\”? Surely some things have changed for the Vagrants, right fellows?