The Friggs - Today Is Tomorrow's Yesterday (Singles & Unreleased Songs) (2007)

Girls with guitars are freakin’ cool. Yeah, there’s appeal to chick bassists (I’m lookin’ at you with big dreamy eyes, Kim Gordon…) but six-string wielding ladies have a peculiar power all their own. Maybe it’s the inherent misogyny of rock’s boy’s game – meant in the Peter Pan, Lost Boys sense – but it still stands out when a woman takes the rooster spot on stage, and no disrespect to keyboardists, but guitarists rule the roost and always will. The Friggs vibrate with gutbucket, dusty underground rawness, guitars way out front as they shake, twist and duck walk like bloody champs.

Today is Tomorrow’s Yesterday (Singles and Unreleased Songs) (Apex East Recording) gathers together the sweet meat from these beloved ’90s garage rock queens. Opener “Come Now” sounds like The Stooges jammin’ “Wild Thing” and the party rarely slows over the next 14 tracks. Their MySpace page offers the following equation: “The Troggs + The Fugs + The Shaggs = THE FRIGGS.” Quite right, and add the cock rock fire that eventually surfaced in Sleater-Kinney (“Born 2 Make U Cry”) and a bit of the B-52’s Beach Blanket shimmy (“Friggs Theme”).

These cuts date from 1991-1995 but have an ageless feel, a tumbling romp that pulls a smile from you. Moments feel like a lost ’60s radio smash (“You Don’t Know What You Got (Until It’s Gone)”) or a late ’50s jukebox fave (“Cenestoga Nova” or the Chuck Berry-like “Mama Blew A Hoody”), while others like “Juiced Up” could slip onto modern college radio without a blink. While a devoted cult has been familiar with this music for over a decade, it’s swell to have this neato, peachy keen compilation to bring the rest of us up to speed.