Originally released in 1986 and finally issued on CD in 2005 as part of Anagram Records' ongoing trawl through the dustier corners of the '80s U.K. indie scene,
Sewertime Blues is not one of
the Meteors' key albums. Singer/guitarist
Paul Fenech is running on psychobilly fumes throughout this album; not only are the songs largely uninspired rehashes of the earlier
Meteors sound, they're played with a curious lack of energy and, in far too many cases, needlessly extended up to and beyond the four-minute mark, which is about twice as long as a
Meteors song really needs to be.
Fenech's lyrics are also atypically uninspired, lacking the cartoony horror-movie aspect of so many of his best songs. The CD edition adds two previously unreleased bonus tracks, an endearingly messy rockabilly take on
Jan & Dean's "Surf City" and a minor Fenech original called "The Edge."