knackgetth

The Knack – Get the Knack

More of The Knack

  • A killer copy of The Knack’s debut LP (one of only a handful to hit the site in nearly three years) with a Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side two mated to an excellent Double Plus (A++) side one – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • While doing this shootout, one thing that took us by surprise was how common it was for pressings to be slightly to seriously bass shy — on this album you lose a lot of points for not having enough bass
  • No such problems here, though: “monster drums and bass” was just one of the superlative notes we had on this Shootout Winning side two
  • With plenty of punchy low end, the music comes to life on this pressing like you’ve never heard before
  • Wall to wall live-in-the-studio rock sound to rival Back in Black and Nevermind — “My Sharona” is on this amazing Triple Plus side two, and it rocks
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Get the Knack is at once sleazy, sexist, hook-filled, and endlessly catchy — above all, it’s a guilty pleasure and an exercise in simple fun.”
  • This is clearly the Knack’s best sounding album. Roughly 100 other listings for the best sounding album by an artist or group can be found here
  • In our opinion, Get the Knack is the only Knack record you’ll ever need. Click on this link to see more titles we like to call one and done

This monster Power Pop debut by The Knack is an amazingly well-recorded album, with the kind of wall to wall, big beat, live rock sound that rivals Back in Black and Nevermind — if you’re lucky enough to have a copy that sounds like this! (If you’re not, then it doesn’t.)

“My Sharona” is simply stunning here. You just can’t record drums and bass any better!

And let’s not forget the song “Lucinda.” It’s got exactly the same incredibly meaty, grungy, ballsy sound that Back in Black does, but it managed to do it in 1979, a year earlier.

Mike Chapman produced this album and clearly he is an audiophile production genius. With a pair of Number One charting, amazing sounding Pop albums back to back — Blondie’s Parallel Lines in 1978 and this album early the next year — how much better could he get?

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If You Like Power Pop, This Is a Must Own Album from 1979

More of  the Music of The Knack

This Monster Power Pop Debut by the Knack is an AMAZINGLY well-recorded album, with the kind of Wall to Wall Big Beat Live Rock Sound that rivals Back in Black and Nevermind — if you’re lucky enough to have a copy that sounds like this! (If you’re not then it doesn’t.)

My Sharona is simply STUNNING here. You just can’t record drums and bass any better!

And let’s not forget the song Lucinda. It’s got exactly the same incredibly meaty, grungy, ballsy sound that Back in Black does, but it managed to do it in 1979, a year earlier!

Mike Chapman produced this album and clearly he is an audiophile production genius. With a pair of Number One charting, amazing sounding Pop albums back to back — Blondie’s Parallel Lines in 1978 and this album early the next year — how much better could he get? The answer is: None more better.

Come to Life, Would You!

So many copies we played of The Knack just didn’t come to life the way the good ones do. Especially noticeable on many of the pressings we played was a lack of bass foundation and punch. When the bass comes in at the opening of My Sharona it should make your neighbors come knocking. On most copies the effect is, to be charitable, less than startling, especially if you’ve heard it sound the way it can on our Hot Stampers. Let me tell you, THEY ROCK.

Bass, Man

Dropping the needle on the average copy we kept asking ourselves where the bass was! Only the best copies let you hear the bass with all its power and glory intact. (Of course, you have to have the kind of dynamic full-range system that can reproduce that kind of power down low; we never tire of making the case for big dynamic speakers because we know what a THRILL it is to hear a record like this played good and loud on them.)

Real Studio Space

One of the qualities we heard on the more transparent copies is huge studio space around the drum kit, especially the kick. We love that “unbaffled” sound; it lets the long-delayed reflections off the back wall be heard clearly. Until we got our EAR 324 in 2007 we couldn’t get a good picture of just what was happening in the studio, but now those reflections are as clear as a bell on record after record, from The Planets to Physical Graffiti.

The advent of top quality stand-alone phono stages is, in our opinion, one of the most important revolutions in audio in recent times. Room treatments that allow that three-dimensional studio space to be recreated in your very own living room are another.

Side One

Let Me Out 
Your Number or Your Name
Oh Tara 
(She’s So) Selfish 
Maybe Tonight 
Good Girls Don’t

Side Two

My Sharona 
Heartbeat 
Siamese Twins (The Monkey and Me)
Lucinda 
That’s What the Little Girls Do 
Frustrated