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May 4, 2011Sonny Smith will never be Buddy Holly, but if Buddy were around, he'd recognize a kindred spirit. So would Rick Nelson, Bobby Fuller, or Marshall Crenshaw (who isn't dead but still...), or anyone else who made simple but powerful pop music with brains, guts, and hooks sharp enough to cut glass. Hit After Hit is that good.
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May 13, 2011Hit After Hit doesn't achieve its titular goal completely and totally. It does come fairly close, though, and makes strong cases for the tunefulness of San Francisco's new garage music, Smith as a songwriter, and the appeal of something done straightforward if also done well.
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Jun 7, 2011Most of the songs clock in at under three minutes, and the Sunsets definitely know how to make the most of the time they've chosen to take.
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May 4, 2011After a few more times through Hit After hit, you begin to sense there's something more to these songs. It may be a knock-off, but it's an incredibly nuanced one.
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MojoAug 26, 2011Fab follow-up to 2009's Tomorrow Is Alright from the San Franciscan collective. [Sept. 2011, p. 95]
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Jul 21, 2011It's the kind of warm summer record you put on without much thought, and that's a large part of its charm.
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May 4, 2011With Hit After Hit, he's made 11 more charming and knowingly primitive bursts of sunny fuzz. He's got plenty more left in him.
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May 16, 2011Hit After Hit is a simple, charming, not-a-note-wasted lark of the kind that seems to be in short supply these days... except when it's flowing from Sonny Smith's pen.
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May 4, 2011The playing is deceptively forceful, and the songs cut surprisingly deep.