My ignorant self had never heard of the mighty SONS OF CYRUS prior to pushing play on this collection of "singles and rarities," but halfway through opening track "Tired of This Time", I knew we had a winner. How could this relatively unknown band from Sweden, that has a cheap-ass drawing of a Mexican sombrero on the front, deserve a disc collecting their B sides, you ask? I don't know either. But damn, I had a blast listening to it. Read on, doggies.

For those yet to be enlightened, the SONS are a serious rock revival, blending the great garage punk sound of the 60's along with influences from current lo-fi, high-energy heroes like the HELLACOPTERS. Their upbeat, fun originals blend perfectly with the selection of rock standards that pepper the track listing. Oldies like "Nobody But Me," "Devil With A Blue Dress On" and "Good Golly Miss Molly" are unable to escape the wrath of these angry swedes. They also get kudos from me for not butchering my favorite ROLLING STONES tune "Street Fighting Man." In fact, I dare say they do it justice! As you can imagine, production quality varies from track to track, but this band conjures up such an infectious, rockin' vibe, minor quibbles like that will go unnoticed.

If you're not into up-tempo, dirt kickin', sloppy-in-all-the-right-ways rock, then "Monkey Business" will make you miserable. But if beer drinking, girl grabbin' music is more your thing, then these twenty tracks of foot tappin' will have you locked in from start to finish.

- Broadbent

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/thesonsofcyrus

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