Heavens to Murgatroyd, Even! It’s Thee Headcoats! (Already)

Billy Childish formed Thee Headcoats in roughly 1989, following the dissolution of Thee Mighty Caesars. Bruce Brand, his longtime anchor, was on drums, with a rotating array of bassists — on this, the group’s fourth album, Ollie Dolot does most of the work, but John Rowlands plays on three tracks. Heavens… was released on Sub Pop in 1990, getting Childish attention in the US for the first time. It’s a raucous, primitive garage rock album with occasional detours into acoustic blues, and on three tracks, Thee Headcoatees deliver snarky backing vocals; their insistence that they want to marry “a headcoat man” on the song of the same name is particularly hilarious. As always, things are stripped-down and over quickly — the original release had 12 tracks in a half hour, while a recent reissue adds two more, bringing it to just under 35 minutes.