Frank Zappa once said that late ’60s all-girl garage group the Shaggs was “better than the Beatles.” Bless Frank, he spoke a lot of shit and the Shaggs were obviously nothing of the sort. However, that band’s importance and influence is lost on many music fans who would, if they went back and listened to the Philosophy of the World album, realize that a large percentage of today’s indie bands sit only two or three degrees of separation from the Shaggs. Dot Wiggin, a startlingly normal looking lady, fast approaching her later years, was the singer and guitarist with the group, and Ready! Get! Go! is her first solo album, recorded a full 44 years since that one and only Shaggs full-lengther. There are previously unrecorded Shaggs leftovers here (“Banana Bike”) and some new tunes. The musicianship is a little more together than the Shaggs offerings, but the vocals are still slightly off in a wonderfully haphazard way, and the tunes are still fun and lullaby-like. What took you, Wiggin?
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