As refreshing as it is to see an all-girl punk group, unfortunately
Fabulous Disaster, though top-notch in the straight-ahead punk genre, doesn't deviate from the sounds of San Francisco and Gilman's boy bands. Sure "Next Big Joyride" and the thrashy "My Addiction" rock with the best of 'em and are heavier than say,
the Donnas,
NOFX, or
Green Day, but because of
Fabulous Disaster's genre restrictions on
Panty Raid!, they simply can't hold a candle to San Fran's way-out clamorers like the brilliantly noisy
Erase Errata and quirky electro no-wavers Numbers. Still, songs like the cranking "Bi-Polar" and the sugary pop number "Don't Wanna Sleep" draw their influence from the masters (
Buzzcocks!) as opposed to hackneyed contemporaries, and easily out-rock the boys and girls within their somewhat limited genre. ~ Charles Spano