The Acid Casualties - Panic Station (1982, Rhino)

I suppose the main draw here (besides the surreal, Dali-esque album sleeve) was the Acid Casualties reworking of the obscure-ish Pink Floyd chestnut, "Point Me at the Sky." The tune in question (which fascinated me to no end) was released in 1968 as a stand-alone single, shortly after Syd Barrett's ouster from the group, and sounds deceptively written by him, but in fact was penned by Gilmour and Waters.  And the Casualties do it justice, despite mouthpiece Mark Avnet striking me as a tad too throaty when he manhandles the chorus.  

Elsewhere on Panic Station, it's a bit of a challenge determining where this apparently one-off combo was truly angling. Certainly not new wave or punk (though Trouser Press went to the trouble of critiquing it). The band did partake of Robbie Krieger's guest guitar finagling on no less than three songs here. And this album is home to yet another cover, a T. Rex deep cut circa 1972, "Fist Heart Might Dawn Dart."  Yet all in all, the Casualties don't sound obviously prodigious of the Doors or Bolan, though there is an unmistakable classic-rock, prog-lite tincture to many of side one's numbers with some discernable BÖC-isms wafting about, not to mention a few well placed Roger Waters style guitar fills.  Additionally, the finale, "Floating" sports swell Utopian-harmonies that would do Rundgren proud.  Writ large, Panic Station is a pleasure to listen to with nary any major hiccups, even if it is a bit of an anomaly for what I tend to share. 

01. Point Me at the Sky

02. Shadow Street

03. Canyons of Your Mind

04. Solid Sound

05. Armies of the Sun/The Battle

06. Fist Heart Might Dawn Dart (Funny How The Day Comes)

07. She's a Lost Soul

08. Floating

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