Whatcha Doin'

AMG Review of Whatcha Doin'

Heather Phares
All Music Guide

The Go's debut album Whatcha Doin' introduces the Detroit group's aggressive, authentic update of late-'60s garage rock. Songs like the snarling "Meet Me at the Movies" and the blissed-out "Summer Sun Blues" display the group's fuzzy, driving guitars, half-shouted, half-sung vocals, and swaggering beats, while the poppier "It Might Be Good" and the "Get Off of My Cloud"-esque "You Can Get High" add another dimension to the Go's straight-up ock sound. Whatcha Doin's final song "Time for Moon" is one of the album's best, combining a primal beat with dashes of backwards guitar and raw vocals. Though the occasionally muddy sound of the album takes the Go's quest for '60s-style authenticity a bit too far and fails to capture the group's live energy, Whatcha Doin' is a good introduction to one of the Motor City's most explosive bands.