THE BAD BOYS
Crawling Up A Hill (Blood Hound Records; LP)
This is one for fans of mid-'60s white boy R'n'B and those who have a fascination for ex-pat Brits who only recorded and released records abroad (a la
Incredible Sound Show Stories Vols. 9 & 16). The Bad Boys indeed, featured on Vol. 9 of said series with their freak beater in excel sis 'She's A Breakaway' (which also features here). The Bad Boys were Ronnie Hanson (guitar), Tom Jordan (lead vocals and bass), Bernie Martin, (Drums) and Wally Scott (on vocals and guitar). They did record for Picadilly, but soon joined the growing number of Brits migrating to warmer climbs in Italy. This is their sole 1966 Italian only LP plus 45s (14 cuts in all).
Whilst nothing really comes up to the belting standard of 'She's A Breakaway' it is, for the most part, a rollicking good mid 60s r'n'b LP.There are good, meaty covers of 'Kicks' (in both English and Italian), Milk-Cow Blues and Runnin' and Hidin' Their title track 'Crawling Up A Hill', plays it much the same way as John Mayall's original. A gritty 'I'll Go Crazy' and a slowed down 'Summertime Blues' are fine, but nothing special. Their Italian numbers 'Se L'acqua', 'Balliamo De Jerk' and 'Cerco La Verita' (especially) are excellent r'n'b bordering on freakbeat at times 'Se L'acqua' for instance has a definite early Pretty Things-ness in its chording. Oh, and ' The Owl And The Pussycat' is much better than the rumours have it, it has a Diddley-esque, hepped-up bossa rhythm and a pretty good guitar solo. So if you are of a r'n'b, beat disposition, there are many waxings less worthy of your hard-earned than this here platter.
Paul Martin
THE COUNT FIVE
Psychotic Revelation: The Ultimate Count Five (Big Beat; CD)
'Psychotic Reaction' must be second only to 'Louie Louie' in garage rock ubiquity and folklore. It, like 'Louie', has come to symbolise the whole corpus of the so-bad-it's-good school of mid 60s youthful musical R&R exuberance. As Alec Paleo tells us in his weighty (25 page booklet of) liner notes, it was Lester Bangs writing in Creem magazine in the mid 1970s who reawakened interest in the largely forgotten one-hit wonders from San Jose.
One-hit they may have been, but listening to this CD you quickly realise they just kept getting better and better, and this despite (as various band members testify in the booklet)
the constant reigning in of guitar volume and effects, drum potency etc. by their record label (L.A indie, Double Shot). Starting out as a high school frat band, they almost broke up for lack of work when a chance phone call offering some weekend gigs pulled them back together. After lucking out with various labels, they finally hooked up with the newly launched Double Shot, then still called Sure Shot. Not having issued any records at that point the label put their efforts into the band, ably managed and promoted by Count Five member Ken Ellner's father Sol, an insurance salesman. Once 'Psychotic Reaction' hit big, it enabled the label to develop its roster and in so doing lost interest in The Count Five. Despite the setbacks and constraints on their recorded sound and production, the Count Five are here revealed to have developed into a significant musical force. Initially, the CD documents the group's first tentative steps in garage band ineptitude and self-conscious sounding beat numbers (and a couple of badly done Who covers) that comprised their 1966 LP (made in a tearing rush at the label's insistence to cash in on Psychotic Reaction's success). This phase is characterised by innocent garage beaters like 'Double-Decker Bus' and 'Pretty Big Mouth'. Even so, there are some fine beat numbers that point towards the groups real ability in 'She's Fine' and 'Peace of Mind', 'The Morning After' and 'They're Gonna Get You'. Thereafter, to these ears at least, the lid is off. Fine psychedelic and popsike numbers like 'Move It Up', Teeny Bopper, Teeny Bopper', the almighty 'Contrast' (2 versions no less!) and 'Merry-Go-Round', not to mention 'Revelation In Slow Motion' and 'Enchanted Flowers' are all winners of a high order in my book. Add the soul-rocker 'Mailman' from '69 and the Psychotic Reaction part two-a-like (demanded by the label) 'Declaration Of Independence' and you've got yourself a cracking CD. Add to this the densely researched liner notes, period photos and first-hand narrative by group members and management themselves and you have a really worthwhile package for both ears and eyes not to mention an important historical and probably definitive artefact. I can't see this disappointing anyone, buy with confidence!
www.acerecords.co.uk
Paul Martin
THE DEEP SIX
The Deep Six (Rev-Ola; CD)
The Deep Six kicked off in '65 from the California folk scene releasing their sole LP on Liberty the following year. This is what Revola have for us here along with some stray B sides and other tracks. The whole disc is a mix between the sublime ('Strollin' Blues', 'Where Were You When I Needed You' and 'What Would You Wish From The Golden
Fish') and the frankly ridiculous ('Somewhere My Love', 'A Groovy Kind of Love'). These are delivered in a clean, mannered but strong vocal harmony style. The set kicks off with a stripped and slowed down rendition of the Stones' 'Paint It Black'. You might think this would sound cheesy in the extreme, but it works surprisingly well as a ballad! All the cover versions were at their label, Liberty's insistence ('Somewhere My Love' was only recorded as a joke!). Then we move to cuts like 'I Wanna Shout' or 'Solitary Man' and you feel as much as hear the sheer vocal power The Deep Six possessed, pretty awesome.
The group benefited from having the involvement of pre-Bread David Gates in a song writing capacity and a hit 45 in 'Rising Sun' (that got them their Liberty deal) which they found impossible to follow up on successfully. One of their number, Dan Lottermoser went on to play bass with another cult LA band Stone Country whose rare sole LP is a must-have for fans of the genre (check out their track 'Mantra' as well as The Deep Six's excellent 'C'mon Baby BlowYour Mind' on the recent California soft pop comp Soft Sounds For Gentle People). As Steve Stanley notes in the liners "Stone Country's excellent LP is an interesting blend of psychedelia and soft pop mixed with occasional country elements. (Fans of Notorious Byrds Brothers should certainly seek out this album)." I have it and it is a real gem of the idiom. Joe Foster reissue this now please!!
At their most musically reluctant, The Deep Six sound like a sun-kissed Mike Sam Singers, (the sort of conservative stuff you'd find regularly on the BBC light programme at teatime in the '50s). At their best their collective harmonies soar beautifully and their live vocal power can only be wondered at. West Coast soft pop fans may be a little unnerved by The Deep Six's more sober moments, but there's plenty to make up for it in the rest of these 17 groovy tracks.
www.revola.co.uk
Paul Martin
MICK FARREN
People Call You Crazy...The Story Of Mick Farren (Sanctuary; CD)
No doubt a listen to this compilation of Mick Farren's work would be a more fulfilling experience if you'd read his autobiography
Give The Anarchist A Cigarette first. The man has an idiosyncratic view of the world that clearly informs these tracks (especially lyrically) and it's hard to take the music out of its context as a soundtrack to his life. However, this reviewer has not yet read it (plea to Jon '118' Mills: give us a loan of the tome fella!), so the music must stand on its own merits. Unfortunately the album doesn't run chronologically,
jumping about between Farren's 1960s work with The Deviants and his late '70s re-emergence as a solo artist. Although this emphasises the eclectic nature of the music he's produced, it does tend to inhibit getting an impression of the way that music developed as time went on. There are also some "mystery" tracks for which we get inaccurate or no information on recording dates or place. They sound like they might be very recent, but this is only a guess from the production sound. Shame, because they - particularly the version of Dylan's
'It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)', which Farren fully makes his own - are possibly the most interesting recordings on here.
I'd always had some don't-know-where-from view of The Deviants as having a kind of proto-Hawkwind sound, but that was clearly barking up the wrong tree. This isn't space-rock; it's more akin to a townie Country Joe And The Fish (Urban Joe And The Fish, perhaps...). The words of 'Slum Lord', 'Billy The Monster' and 'The Junior Narco Rangers' are political, but the music that accompanies them is a pisstake in the best Bonzo Dog sense. It's like the audio equivalent of a Gilbert Shelton comic. The band's pre-freak roots also show via a cover of 'Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow'. It must be said
that they did lapse into the blues-rock meandering that was very typical of the period ('Rambling B(l)ack Transit Blues' is particularly surplus to requirements). But by contrast the multi-sectioned,
poly-genred anti-consumerism epic 'Garbage' sounds genuinely experimental.
Onto Farren's solo years: 'I Want A Drink', 'Half Price Drinks', 'Drunk In The Morning'...can you sense a theme here, readers? Vampires Stole My Lunch Money is probably a bit of an unacknowledged classic. Not really a punk album, despite being recorded during 1978 with a whole bunch of London scenesters (including Chrissie Hynde, whose backing vocals can be heard on 'Half Price Drinks'). More like Dr Feelgood with a tanked up Ian Dury singing lead. Hearing the songs again makes me want to go right back and listen to the original album (which has to be the aim of any compilation, right?
The previously unreleased mystery tracks are (one can only assume), Farren's latest musical work. His singing voice has deepened considerably, to the point where 'Aztec Calendar' and 'Dogpoet'are peculiarly evocative of the late Peter Cook ranting against a beefed up Bauhaus backing track. This sounds disparaging, but it's actually most entertaining. Mick Farren has managed to buck the normal trend of these career history collections by leaving his best stuff until last rather than carrying on years after his artistic climax. Let's hear some more.
www.castlemusic.com
Jane Farrell
THE GRUESOMES
Gruesomology 1985-89 (Sundazed; CD)
The Gruesomes arose from the mid-80s "garage revival" and in their native Canada during their '85-'88 heyday even managed minor national acclaim, touring the country and appearing on TV. Odd, as they absolutely revelled in being as inept and raucous as the most amateur teen-band that gained notoriety through the Back From The Grave series. The angst ridden
'You Said Yeah', 'I'm Glad For You' and 'Your Lies' typify the primal teen sound that so many '80s bands attempted, yet screwed up. Luckily The Gruesomes pulled it off with vintage adenoidal spawned attitude! On the other hand 'Tell Me How You Feel' from final album Hey! and the far earlier 'Things She Does To Me' (from the Jack The Ripper EP) see the band in a far more moody garage ballad and nederbeit pop vein, airing more dimension than many other '80s garagers! Admittedly though The Gruesome are more or less snotty garage all the way, lacking the tone and colour of The Tell Tale Hearts or Thanes, but when it came to pure garage punk, such as 'Time's Gonna Come' from Gruesomania, the band couldn't be beaten in capturing the "put down" philosophy of the best '60s punk! OK, they got more musical towards the end of their career, but primitive chord structures, tambourine bashing and "wylde Pretty Things styled R&B" was the Gruesomes calling card! Psychedelic they were not. Gruesomology neatly compiles cuts from the band's three albums, singles and rare tape appearances. One for the cavemen!
www.sundazed.com
Jon 'Mojo' Mills
THE HARD TIMES
Blew Mind (Rev-Ola; CD)
The Hard Times are a group that many will have come across or at least have heard of in the compilation sense. A batch of stunning folk-rock 45s from '66 ensured their reissue immortality. However here Rev-Ola have added their World Pacific LP from '67, Blew Mind. Hard Times founding member Bill Richardson recalls via Steve Stanley the whole Hard Times story. Its leading character is the sensitive and tragic Rudy Romero who died in a car crash in 1982 and was a major writer in the group. Indeed the CD reissue is
dedicated to his memory. Reminiscing about the L.A scene in '65-'67, Richardson notes how much like a self-contained village it seemed. It was from this "village" that The Hard Times emerged. Seen plying their trade in a L.A club by the producers of Dick Clark's Where The Action Is! TV show they became regulars on the show alongside The Robbs, The Raiders and The Knickerbockers. Also, they picked up a record deal with World Pacific (a division of Liberty Records). A batch of 45s ensued and in March '67 their sole LP Blew Mind.
The album proper kicks off slowly 'Candyman' is a cool track, but 'Here, There & Everywhere' (which I have never liked) doesn't help pick up the vibe. 'Play It For Me' is nice enough, but 'Take A Look Around' has just a little too much Four Freshmen about it (filtered through the Beach Boys no doubt). There follows a good jangly take on 'Fortune Teller' before we reach the heart of the album and in which I suspect the band's real "thing" comes through. Like so many groups, Richardson claims the group were better live than on record and that the album doesn't really capture them very well, not least because of label interference on song selection and the use of session players! Here we find utter sublimity in solid soft-pop into folk-rocking cuts like 'Goodbye', 'Colours', 'Not Me', 'I'm Not A Rock' and the Al Cooper penned 'Sad Sad Sunshine'. The title track itself is something of a psychedelic experiment, accompanied by what sounds like garbled police radio message in the background.
After the album there's another ten bonus tracks which comprise the 45s plus a few mono versions of album cuts. Killer Cali sounds like 'You're Bound To Cry', There'll Be A Time', 'That's All I'll Do', 'Come To Your Window' and 'They Said No' strongly reinforce the iridescent shimmer of The Hard Times at their recorded best. Though some of these will be familiar, it's great to have them all in one place at last. Their final cut 'Goodbye' was recorded under the name of The New Phoenix and comprised more session players than band members. It is nevertheless a fantastic Cali-popsiker and the instrumental version, renamed 'Thanks' ends the disc's 22 track run. This is a collection to be proud of and played and replayed, a real beauty despite its hesitant start and a must-have for '60s west coast sounds fans.
www.revola.co.uk
Paul Martin
THE KINETIC
Live Your Life (Magic Record; CD)
More ex-pat Brits, this time in France. The Kinetic were Andy Mowbray (vocals), Bob Weston (lead guitar), Geoffrey Capper (bass), John Christopher Sze (drums), and Michael Humby (organ). They issued a 10 cut album for Disques Vogue, which is reproduced here, (all self-penned compositions) in 1967, seven of the cuts from which were issued as two EPs. Magic have already reissued
these as CD EPs in original sleeves, so if you own those, you don't really need to go here as well.
Remastered in 24 -bit high definition, the album has a pristine sound quality that's for sure. So what's it sound like? Well on the one hand there's nothing that really stands out (bar one which I'll come to presently) but on the other hand, there is something for everyone. The Kinetic may be known to readers from their two contributions to compilations, 'The Train', a rollicking R'n'B blues-harp wailing instro and their standout track, the pop-siker 'Suddenly Tomorrow'. The latter title is indeed a cool sike moment featuring big chords, minor scales and a nice '67 feel. It stands head and shoulders above the rest of the album's contents. More generally, The Kinetic come across at times like a sub-Action. They certainly employ the crisp soul / pop-beat of the times in 'Live Your Life', 'Letter To Rosetta' and 'Sunny Cloud' (think Timebox, Zoot Money, The Cam-Pact etc). They also do a reasonable line in pop whimsy ('Child's Song') and acoustic led balladry (Hall of the Viking', 'Time Of Season' - no, not the Zombies!). Then there's the R'n'B of 'The Train' and 'Willy 'D' Fixer'. The last cut 'Jam Around' is exactly that a banal and mandatory (for the times) slow blues filler instro with interchangeable guitar and keys lead breaks.
This is all nicely presented in a smart, glossy digipack with a cool cover shot of the band in the Paris shopping arcades. In short, interesting and tuneful certainly but not perhaps essential, something you'd be pleased with as a present though!
www.magic-records.com
Paul Martin
THE NAME
What's In A Name? (Detour; CD)
'The Time For Action' was the title of a Secret Affair single and was hyped mercilessly by their label at the time. So much so that all these years later, it still (for me anyway) symbolises the whole period that this CD contains, broadly 1979-1981. Coming from a seaside town, the mod revival thing was very strong where I was (Brighton). The Name will not be unfamiliar to adherents of said sub-cultural renaissance of the time, though the question mark in the
CD's title might be a more appropriate response from anyone else. In any event what's on offer here is close on sixty minutes of chiming chords from a group of sub-divisional Jam fans. When punk was waning by the autumn of '78, punk musicians who had learned to play in public were feeling more confident and had gained experience. It was time to move on. The ska / Two-Tone / Mod revival offered one way of doing so whilst still appealing to the same core audience, though now dressed in porkpie hats and tonic suits rather than bondage trousers and anarchy T-shirts. Therefore, the same adrenaline associated with punk (in both audience and performers) is as present in the modernisms of aspiring Hush Puppy wearing pop smiths at the turn of Thatcher's decade as ever it had been in the previous three years, the kids just looked "neater" and if anything, more cocky!
It is in this world that a whole bevy of UK bands like The Name plied their trade. The all-embracing godlike status of The Jam within this environment is evident in almost every guitar strum. Nowhere more so for the Name than in their excellent 'Take Me Time (To Forget Her)', a Weller homage if ever there was one. The CD contains demos and fully produced (usually in the form of shelved 45s) titles from The Name's first studio outings in '79 to their DinDisc recordings over the next couple of years. Jam acolytes they may have been, but slouches they were not. They combined self-penned adrenaline raisers with classic soul covers and that's what you get here really. Oddly, their finest moment comes in the form of 'Fuck Art Let's Dance' a studio recording they did on the sly and never considered for their label who they feel would have rejected it outright. Just goes to show the best things happen when you do this stuff for yourself! All tight, crisp harmonies and power-pop perfection, the song transcends its punk-a-like title (and there you can see last years clothes peeking through the niftier threads perhaps).
The disc is also a time capsule in other ways. The "look" may have been different to punk but the mentality of some of the clowns in the audience was not. I can't count the number of punk (and other) gigs I went to (and a few I actually played) at the time where rival gangs decided to use the dance floor to physically resolve their differences. So perhaps bravely and honestly (three cheers from this corner anyway), the disc ends with three live pieces. Firstly, an attempted take of 'Out On My Own Again' live at the Rock Garden which is rudely interrupted by a gang fight in the audience. After some admonitions and pleas for sanity, the band launch into a furious cover of The Who's 'Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere'. This seems to end proceedings, as track 20 is the DJ outro chiding the miscreants for their folly and the potential closing of the club if such behaviour persists (and it usually did!).
All-in-all a good collection of Rickenbacker chords and largely polished singing with a year-on-year chronology of The Name in the liners. If you're a fan of the mod revival or indeed power pop more generally, you'll enjoy this one.
www.detour-records.co.uk
Paul Martin
PLASTIC PENNY
The Best Of & Rarities (Repertoire; CD)
This anthology is a timely reminder that there was a lot more to Plastic Penny than their mawkish 1968 UK Top 20 hit 'Everything I Am' might suggest. They cut two albums and a string of singles for the Page One label that hold their own against contemporary Brit-rock outfits though they saw no further chart action or achieved much critical acclaim at the time.Their deftly-titled 1968 debut Two Sides Of A Penny is divided across one side of ballads - including the aforementioned hit and the uncharacteristically ornate
'Genevieve' - and one side of up tempo tracks such as frantic R & B belter 'I Want You' and neglected psych classic-in-waiting 'Mrs Grundy' - 'Boris The Spider' spiking the punch
before a funeral march. By the time of 1969's sophomore effort Currency, lead singer Brian
Keith had been ousted from the line-up. Although suited to the band's more supper club-friendly tunes, his soul-lite croon didn't cut it on the more raucous rock tracks, which led to other members assuming lead vocal duties. Far from diminishing their identity, this change in the group dynamic proved to be a much-needed boot up the arse.
Currency could almost be the work of a different band. The song writing betrays newfound confidence and ability - check the exquisite single 'Your Way To Tell Me Go' and the phenomenal 'Give Me Money' where Ace Kefford-era Move tackle the greatest song John Entwistle never wrote! The covers are more eclectic - The Band's 'Caledonia Mission', 'Macarthur Park' deconstructed for a four-piece rock band, a Vanilla Fudge-style romp through 'Hound Dog'. The band flex their musical chops on two powerhouse instrumentals - the title track and the nine-minute tour de force 'Sour Suite' - which tread a fine line between Ogden's-era Small Faces and the latent prog tendencies of 1969.
Fortunately for us they sound more like a bunch of mates larking about and less like The Nice sweating blood over their next opus.
The final single 'She Does' is the jewel in the plastic crown - a stunning slab of testosterone-fuelled pop-rock featuring the kind of larynx-shredding vocals and visceral guitar heroics you'd expect from Deep Purple or Humble Pie. It's a shame that the group didn't survive long enough to make a third album but a stint as Elton John's backing band beckoned.
The rarities promised by the CD's title amount to four non-album single sides and Italian language version of 'Everything I Am' and 'Nobody Knows It' which, like similar attempts at Euro-friendliness by Honeybus among others, will probably have Italians in fits of laughter and the
rest of us reaching for the skip button.
A double disc containing both albums with bonus tracks would have been a better idea but, for the uninitiated, this collection is an easy and recommended place to start.
Andy Morten
PSYCHOTIC REACTION
Masters Of Trash (Break-A-Way; 10" EP)
The latest offering in German label, Break-A-Way's rosta, is one best known to a home crowd. German band Psychotic Reaction here offer one number (for sure) whilst fellow high school band Average (no high expectations for them then!) contributed the equipment and got to record their own take on Deep Purple's 'Mandrake Root'. Average contained one Gunter Krause who later played with Ruphus Zufall, a famous German Krautrock band. The recording studio was quite adventurous. It was a transportable studio that was run by a "Dr. Binder" (why were so many '60s German records recorded by Doctors or in their back rooms etc on their own budget labels??). He came to the band with his equipment instead of vice-versa. That probably explains the sound which is like an over-recorded reel to reel in a practice room (you know, when you use even moderate wrist action on the drums, the whole place sounds like it will implode!). The liners are in German only, so being the linguistic dunce that I am I cannot make any use of them, but a friend gave me the gist hence the intriguing snippets above!.
Going on to the music, the two tracks on the topside 'Psychotic Reaction' and 'Mandrake Root' would nicely soundtrack the kind of scuzzy individual who never opens either curtains or windows, chain smokes and overfills their ashtrays and lives in a permanent state of unshaven and half-dressed hedonism! Trash indeed. Both these numbers are mid paced, bashers with the essential garage quotient of ineptness overcome by enthusiasm. Cramps fans and other night creatures will love it. The flip side 'Prelude In C' is a meandering lightweight attempted jazz instro which serves no purpose to my ears. It's not even clear if it is Psychotic Reaction or Average playing it! This would have been a lot better off as a double sider. I assume the flip is for the benefit of the Germans who may have a liking for it. Anyway, the title doesn't lie for the first two numbers, trash hounds will love them both! 'Psychotic Reaction' by Psychotic Reaction is reportedly the rarest and most sought after German '60s single release as far as beat / garage / trash is concerned and was released in 1968.
Upcoming titles in the Break-A-Way firmament include The Trenchmen / Lost Souls six track split 10" (garage from North Dakota) and an LP/CD of The Fifth Order's 45s and unissued tracks (I've heard the latter and they'll be a nice treat for all mid-60s US folk-rock fans, just sublime in places!).
www.break-a-way.de
Paul Martin
MIKE SHERIDAN AND THE NIGHTRIDERS
Birmingham Beat (Acadia; CD)
Mike Sheridan and The Nightriders/Sheridan's Lot are probably nowadays more famous for being the Birmingham cradle for future members of The Move (Roy Wood) and The Idle Race (Dave Pritchard), rather than their actual recorded output.
I am sorry to report that this new release is an exact CD duplication of the original Birmingham Beat collection that was first released on Edsel back in 1984. The fourteen tracks cover all of the recorded output of both The Nightriders formation and the only two singles recorded by Sheridan's Lot in
1966. Perhaps there are not any demos or unreleased recordings left to supplement the old Edsel release and offer collectors something else for their money.
The early tracks are all pretty standard beat fare with little to really differentiate them from the rest of the pack at the time. The band recorded a sub-par cover version of The Marvelette's 'Please Mr. Postman', on the same day that John Kennedy was assassinated, that lacks the drive of the Fab Four. The single managed to crack the Top 100 at 64. At the time, the band figured anything The Beatles had recorded was bound to sell.
The loss of original guitarist "Big Al" Johnson in 1964, was actually the band's gain. Roy Wood was recommended for the position and brought along harmonies, varied chord structures, better material and a sense of humour. Roy's first recorded songwriting output, 'Make Them Understand' features some nice Roy Wood guitar work and a fine vocal from Mike, but is otherwise unexceptional. For me, the compilation does not get interesting until it concludes with the final single; a cover of Jackie De Shannon's 'Don't Turn Your Back On Me'. Norman Smith engineered the song and everything comes together with fine fuzz guitar and Roy Wood backing vocals. The single was a critical success, but a commercial flop. Isn't that the way these things usually go?
The failure of Sheridan's Lot was the genesis of better things to come. Roy Wood moved on to form The Move and Mike Sheridan went on to record a lovely record with Rick Price. Jeff Lynne joined the group shortly after Wood's departure and the band morphed into The Idle Race.
The 2003 Acadia reissue is a great chance to update your collection and add a digital version of the album. The CD reprints the same 1983 vintage liner notes by Mike Sheridan, Roy wood, and Dave Pritchard, that adorned the original Edsel release. I am sure all the Move and Idle Race contingency of fans will make this CD a mandatory purchase. Others will find that the parts are greater than the sum in the case of Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders.
Mark A Johnston
BRETT SMILEY
Breathlessly Brett (RPM; CD)
Brett Smiley's tale of woe is, unfortunately, not a very atypical one for both an artist and the uncaring industry with which he was involved. In the early '70s, Detroit resident Smiley was enamored with The Stones and was able to set up a meeting with Andrew Loog Oldham, who took an immediate liking (or perhaps loving) to Smiley's androgynous (read: beautiful) appearance and his pretty, Bolan-esque voice. With plans to turn Smiley into the new Bowie, Oldham convinced Essex Publishing and Anchor Records to shell out loads of dough to record Smiley's album. Then, sadly, Smiley's drug proclivities become excessive, Oldham and backers
abandoned him, and the album was never released (makes you wonder how many undocumented times this has happened to an artist, doesn't it?). However, this particular woeful tale has a happy ending as the album in question, Breathlessly Brett, has at long last seen the light of day, courtesy of RPM Records, and friends, it was worth the wait!
Though Smiley doesn't have an original bone in his body, he proves himself to be a very capable songwriter and interpreter, as Breathlessly Brett is filled with excellent tunes that more than pilfer the coffers of Bolan and Bowie. Uptempo tunes like 'Highty Tighty', (which borrows gleefully from 'River Deep, Mountain High'), 'April In Paris', and 'Va Va Va Voom' display Smiley's kittenish, Bolan-without-the vibrato vocal style, while the ballads 'Space Ace' and 'Queen Of Hearts' how a depth and intensity one might not expect. Smiley's cover versions are also top-notch; his Harrison-esque take on Neil Sedaka's 'Soitaire' s simply wonderful, and he adds a little playful sexuality to ' Want To Hold Your Hand'
With his pin-up looks and ample talent, Smiley would have had a very good chance to have been a star if everything else had broken right for him. It was not to be, but fortunately he has cleaned up his act and is now performing shows from time to time. Hopefully the release of Breathlessly Brett will somewhat make up for what might have been.
www.rpmrecords.co.uk
www.brettsmiley.com
David Bash
THE TOKENS
Intercourse (Rev-Ola; CD)
If you were like me, you probably always dismissed The Tokens as mere doo-wop "has beens". Sure, we all remember the classic rework of The Weavers (who reworked an African traditional tribal folk song) 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight', but the Tokens had a nifty little surprise hidden in their cannon. A magnum opus if you like.
Rev-Ola has just reissued the long lost 1969 Token's album, Intercourse. If you are thinking "folk" and 'Lions Sleeps Tonight'; don't look for it here. The Tokens were a year into a new deal with Warner Brothers and were trying to break away from the "safe" image as folksy nice guys. The album was recorded in 1968 and released through Warner Brothers on
The Tokens very own B.T. Puppy label. Mitch Margo wrote all the songs, except one bizarre short track by the enigmatic Brute Force. Mitch's songs show just how influential The Beach Boys' (Brian Wilson) Smiley Smile was on his own compositions and vocal arrangements.
The Beach Boy vocal style arrangements are right out of Smile and you can hear them used most effectively on songs such as the a capella 'Greenfields', the reprise of 'It's Amazing To Be Alive', and 'Some People Sleep'.Echoing Brian's own 'I went To Sleep' a bit. Of course, The Tokens prove on this record that they are just as capable of some very beautiful group harmonies all of their own.
The only string of a concept is perhaps that these songs were all written by Mitch as a sort of self-psychotherapy, conducted to lift him through a period of depression at the time. The opening brief salvo, 'It's Amazing To Be Alive' helped Mitch express to himself that, "Hey hang in there, don't let it bother you. As full of shit as people are, it's still amazing to be alive."
One of the most amazing tracks on the album is the humorous 'Bathroom Wall', which is as Beatles-esque as this album ever gets. The song tells the tale of the many bards of the lavatory walls and the many colloquial sayings that get left behind. The two best words of all, according to the song, don't get said at all. Compiler, Steve Stanley assures me that a drop out at 1:29 through 1:31 is part of the original vision of the artists and not a digital lapse.
Another first for the album is the humorous 'Commercial'. One doesn't have to wonder what substances Mitch and the boys were partaking in during the development of the songs. Hey, these are the same guys who wrote 'Mr. Snail' for The Canterbury Music Festival. 'Commercial' is pretty self-explanatory. The Tokens' become one of the first major acts to go on record for an open advertisement to "Try some; buy some."
The CD, for me, was not as much of a revelation as the Tokens' protégé's Canterbury Music Festival (Rain & Shine, released in 2003 on Rev-Ola, and reviewed last month). One cannot help have empathy for Mitch and his struggle to fight the image of the band and produce a cohesive album of material that is both original and performed by the band. Warners obviously did not agree and basically sat on the album. Was it the title? Was it the open invitation to smoke cannabis? Was it against the safe old image of The Tokens? Probably.
www.revola.co.uk
Mark A. Johnston
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Get Lost Vol. 3: 15 Unreleased KIWI rhythm & beat gems 1964-1967 (Zerox Records; LP)
The wag who put this set together had a game plan; let's wind up the punters by releasing each volume in reverse order, that'll drive 'em nuts looking for the non-existent Volumes 1 & 2! While we're at it, let's give out an address for a website that's still only under construction! Other than this is it any cop?? Well actually, if you're into the garage 'n' beat stuff, yes it is! Bereft of liner notes
or even the most meagre detail about any of these acts (admittedly a few will be known to you already), this is a mix of the rough and the even rougher. Culled seemingly from bed-sit rehearsal reel to reel tapes, and worn to transparency acetates, there are amongst this rum assortment some garage gems, and from somewhere as self-contained as New Zealand in the mid-1960s, that counts for double interest points!
Side One is topped and tailed with two cuts from Grimm Ltd. On aural evidence alone, they come across as the Kiwi version of Australia's Missing Links (and that's praise indeed!). 'One Ugly Child' as you might imagine from the title, is the best cut to evade capture on an original Ugly Things volume. Raw guitars and feral voiced rantings about a girl, who from behind, has all the attractive charms a young boy could hope for, but who upon turning round reveals an altogether more unpalatable visual countenance, (the character 'Hatchet Face' from John Waters film Cry Baby comes to mind) may be as politically un-PC as it comes these days, but in the '60s garage-cannon, it is simply a Cramps song in waiting. Their rendition of 'Hey Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut' would indeed give the Missing Links themselves a run for their money.
Old friends like Larry's Rebels and The Chants turn in an unissued tune apiece. Those social end products, The Bluestars wanna tell us that they 'Don't Wanna Be Lonely Anymore' and with a simplistic but effective garage guitar motif that permeates the song, there's no reason why the should be! Terry Dean (no, not the '50s UK one) tells us about the 'Bus Stop' (no, not that one!) "...a wild ride on a Saturday night…" indeed! The Identity's 'Just Out Of Reach' is a '67 wobbly guitar bliss out and The Deep Set's 'Living It Down' sounds spot on for '66 loudness. Murray Sutherland's 'Lament Of A Clerical Worker' is a self-pitying ditty in as far as I can discern the lyrics anyway. In any event, if you're one of those who champion tape hiss, muffled and obfuscated sound as indicative of lost (and retrieved) greatness you'll want to get your festering fingers on this!
www.zeroxrecords.com
Paul Martin
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Girls In The Garage Vol. 11 (Romulan; LP)
This time around, it's a Tranglobal outing. Side one kicks off with the worst track on the album (good thinking guys!), one of those annoying kiddie records that Romulan seem to delight in, mind you, the other one of that ilk, Puerto Rico's Tammy at least gets a decent R&R riff to sing against, Australia's Little Pattie, does not, so start on track 2! The first side is pretty fine but somewhat uneven. The standouts here are Margo & The
Marvettes (originally from Ireland) 'Say You Will', a very catchy little tune. The Villagers' (US) 'He's Not The Same' is an infectious dumb-ass repetitive number you can't help but like. For me though, Emy Jackson and her uncredited backing group's (probably from Singapore) 'Crying In A Storm' wins side one hands down! Moody lyric line, whammy bar vibrato, all recorded seemingly in the deep end of a swimming pool give this delicious tune an ambience all its own.
Side Two, is full of killer stuff right through. Dutch singer and actress, Linda Van Dyke, gives it some stylish femme blue-eyed soul power in 'Baby, What Am I Doing' whilst The Shangri-Las a-like Pussycats pound out 'I Want Your Love'. American (relocated to West Germany) Peggy March really gives it some freakbeat wellie in her 'Too Long Away' and Dutch band Jenny & The Rascals' 'Baby You Know It Ain't Right', is stronger and more confident than anything else thus comped by them. Quebecoise girl Karo turns in a storming belter in the form of 'Dans La Ventre D'une Enorme Baleine' and Detroit trio, The Clingers end the album with an equally storming 'Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight'. In short, if you're already a fan of this long-running series, you'll want this pronto; if you're a GITG novice, you could do a lot worse than start here.
Paul Martin
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Girls Make The World Go Round Vol.1: Beat-Madels Aus Deutschland (Girl-O-Rama; LP)
Volume Two of this series (coming soon) is to be predictably French; Fab Filles De France. I only hope they can rustle up enough material to avoid duplication of the increasing output of the French girls (who did this stuff the best I always think anyway). Also lets prey that they'll doing at least one comp of Italian girls who were almost on a par with the French in song and performance quality and who are sadly underrepresented in
current availability. Reissue Rita Pavone's Stasera Rita LP now I say!
Any road up, what we have here is a bevy of Germanic maidens (actual and transported from Scandinavia, The US etc.). As compiler Karl Heinz informs us: "Pop music in Germany has always been firmly rooted in a kind of traditional folk music, the schlager." Certainly the German girls on this evidence didn't so easily swing in the way the French girls seemed to (unless it was a German language 45 by a French girl such has France Gall). Nonetheless, what they did excel at was the Torch song (think the film Cabaret but hipper!). In this mode, Lill Linfors' 'Don't Stop The Slop' and Belinda Lee's 'Mein Herz Ist Allein' excel admirably whilst an older sounding Hanne Wieder's 'Enthullingen Einer Striptease-Tanzerin' would be interesting to hear in English! On the upbeat side, Vicky's 'Messer, Gabel, Schere, Licht' and especially Dorit Olivier's 'Bongo Boy' (an ode to a poor shoe-shine boy apparently) are head shakingly cool. Eva Hommonnay sounds like she would be more at home with more MOR material although her 'Ich Habe Dich Gerfunden' is tuff enough and transplanted American Peggy March turns up again (see also Girls In The Garage Vol.11 review elsewhere) with a kickin' number in 'Male Nicht Den Teufel An Die Wand'. Even Kiki Dee and Alma Cogan pitch up in the indigenous tongue. Perhaps German doesn't as sound as readily natural in some of these songs as French or Italian, and it is the slower, drawn out numbers where they come up trumps, but overall, this is a good collection and a worthwhile one, I hope they'll be more.
Paul Martin
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Quagmire, Volumes 1 & 2 (Finest Hour; CD)
Here is living proof that there are still some cracking US 60's garage band 45s that have somehow escaped the archaeological researchers of the reisssue compilers. Most of the 27 songs on each volume have not, to my knowledge, seen the light of day before. (But, hey, I don't spend three figure sums on rare 45s!) Many are A or B sides that earlier compilers passed over for one reason or another.
Band info is fairly sparse, but as the sleeve notes say, all you need to know is that "Four high school buddies start a band after seeing The Beatles on Sullivan. They gig locally, put out a killer record and split in '68. One is drafted, one marries, one goes on to college, and one blows his mind on acid and then finds religion." (I should add that the other member carries on playing and is now a C&W veteran.)
There is plenty of variety and a high quota of crude sloppy raunch, enough to satisfy any Back From The Grave fan, but there are also folk-rockers, ballads and poppier numbers. Quite simply, any '60s garage fan needs both volumes.
Phil Suggitt
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Riot Of The Amphetamine Generation (Dig The Fuzz; LP)
The fourth and reportedly final volume in the 'Amphetamine' series (the others being Return Of, Revenge Of and Rave Of) is no slouch. A cluster of sixteen unissued never-heard-of-thems who push their wares through a thick carpet of well worn acetate surface noise to insist on their contribution to the mid 60s UK beat cannon. Though all Brit (and one possibly Irish) bands, there are a number here which could easily pass for archetypal mid 60s American garage.
There are three 'unknowns' on this volume all of which have tuff-enough sounding R&B credentials. The opener on Side 1 in fact kicks off with a Rocky Erickson-alike primal scream and rather sets the tone of the album in so doing. South Wales's The Mountain Men's 'Too Many People' is not The Leaves song of Nuggets box set fame, but an early Kinks-ish riff bound piece of movin' R&B. But coming from a bunch who kept a mountain goat at Barry Zoo they couldn't have been that hard! The Peasants' 'Rampant' is a basic twelve-bar instro with big Sandy Nelson-like drums in a Bo Diddley or 'I Want Candy' kind of bag (oh, and it has a sax break!). Both Edinburgh's Boston Dexters' 'Nothing's Gonna Change Me' and Mort Draygen & The Diamonds' (don't laugh!) 'If I Had A Ticket' are wailing gob-iron led blues tunes, though The Boston's veer towards the garage end of the spectrum whilst Mort & Co's blues harp led number is more mid-paced and tends towards the soulful side. Being the UK of course, if I had a ticket, the train would no doubt have been cancelled!
Thereafter the fuzz guitars and the American feel becomes more prominent. Kicking off with The Strays' 'There Are Wrong People' (and don't we all know some of them!) mid-paced fuzz led pleaser, similar though with a feyer vocal is VAT 69's 'All The Time'. The Red Hook Angels (named after a New York vigilante group it says here) 'That's All I Need' is a nicely muffled and naively played number up until the middle eight when they suddenly turn into the Pretty Things and get very intense indeed, a good, even great number. Lee Tracey & The Tributes offer up their rendition of the great Gene Vincent '66 garage classic 'Bird Doggin' with ladles of fuzz. Not a patch on Gene of course, but pretty tuff considering they also recorded 'Swan Lake (inst)'! This Kind's (pictured on the front cover) 'Dirty City' takes us firmly into The Animals, blue-collar underdog territory, the song being basically an attack on the singer's father's worthlessness! The Spectres, pre Status Quo, have two contributions here. Both from unissued acetates and despite sounding as if recorded inside an empty baked-beans can, are most worthy. The first 'Love In Vain' is an excellent c.'66 minor key, moody pop tune whilst 'Say That You Need Me' is a chirpy, upbeat 3/3 waltz-time pleaser. Free Expression's 'My Life Has Changed' is probably the best recorded (fidelity-wise) on the LP, a nice moody, jangly popper that sounds slightly later than it probably actually is. All in all, another winner of a UK beat / R&B / garage comp form Dig The Fuzz. Who knows where their acetate archaeology will take us next; probably a brand new four part LP series -- I hope!
Paul Martin
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Jagged Time Lapse Vol. 5 (Flashback Productions; CD)
So...big side drum roll and cymbal splash....here's the latest volume in this widely respected series of the arcane and uncomped 45s from the nether world of (largely) UK 1960s unheard sinces!! So what's in the (jewel) box then?? Well firstly, there's a very attractive eight page colour booklet with liner notes, release details, label and sleeve repros. Nice picture label as well featuring the Flashback megaphone man! These are hand-picked lovelies, with careful avoidance of duplication of overly-comped material. As such, each gem deserves a mention, so...
The set kicks off with Beverly's 'Where the Good Times Are', a fuzz shadowed pop pusher that has strong shades of later Nashville teens about it. Rifkin's 'Continental Hesitation' has appeared recently on Oddities Vol. 2 LP, but for the non-vinylphiles amongst you, this is a mid-paced bendy popster with a stop-start structure and time signature changes. Gene Latour & The Detour's 'My Life Ain't Easy' can be believed, as it's as good a slab of freak beat driven club soul as anyone with a purple heart in their gob could wish for, pure 1966, only it was recorded in 1968 ! Dave Barry's next up with the
oft talked about 'Latisha'. Like Screaming Lord Sutch's later 60s recordings (who for some reason I always pair Berry off with in my mind, think 'The Cheat') this is perhaps Berry's finest moment. Dave goes vaguely lysergic, a decidedly wobbly guitar threads throughout on this mid-paced two-chord pop floater. Paul Nicholas, the quintessentially cheeky-London barra' boy of '70s and '80s UK sit-coms and light dramas (only Adam Faith could top him) enjoys his Paul Jones moment (i.e think 'The Dog Presides' compared to anything else he did) in 'Lamp Lighter'. A full-on acid guitar driven tune that cuts off at 1.53, just as a juicy guitar solo is about to 'happen'. Is this edited? Is there a longer version in the vaults? I think we should be told.
Herman Hermits present us with 'Moonshine Man' from their US only issued Blaze LP. Here, they use a McCartney "fixing a hole" bass line (a la 'Taxman'), add some suitably zeitgeist lyrics and presto - reinvented Herman's. Alas it didn't do them any good. But if you dig this or the cluster of other later cuts by the group that have appeared on a few comps of late, go get the Blaze album on Repertoire CD with a bevy of bonus tracks to boot! Jethroe Tull's (ne 'Toe') first 45 'Aeroplane is flown next and I can't believe that's Ian Anderson on vocals, surely not! This is nothing like anything else that followed for them, a slow floater with harpsichord flourishes, very Collecting Peppermint Clouds friendly indeed. The Moody Blues' 'Leave This Man Alone' has a good harmony vocal riding on a solid groove and skied-up guitar part, reminds me a lot of later '60s Tages. Mud's best recording is a real find here. 'House On The Hill' is another nicely harmonised number in a baroque style, lyrically dreaming of property ownership, a great period feel and not to be confused with The Consortium's 'House Upon The Hill', which boasts similar sentiments but is an entirely different song.
Black Velvet's 'The Clown' has recently appeared on Incredible Sound Show Stories Vol. 16: Second Glance Through The Looking Glass, but again for the CD only people, this is a chance to hear it on the format of your choice. Vaguely fairground pumping organ defines the melody whilst a soulful vocal refrain recites a tale of pity and woe. Made In Sheffield's flip to the rainbow coloured 'Amelia Jane' comped in several places recently, is 'Right Satisfied'. Unlike it's A side, this is less lysergic, a cool late beat-pop mover in fact with some nice bendy guitar flourishes. Legay will be familiar to aficionados through their must-have 45 top side of their £250 (unless it's gone up again?) rated 'No-One' which has been well comped over the years. The flip is the enigmatic sounding 'The Fantastic Story of The Steam Driven Banana' and the curiosity value of this has been a big attraction to me over the years. Now I finally get to hear it! It's as confident and strident in its own way as the top side, but nothing like it musically. It's a lovely piece of childlike whimsy, a fast-paced dreamer of record, about mutations in a greenhouse! "It's a Steam Driven Banana and it belongs to the farmer", yep, they don't write 'em like that any more! Stylistically, file alongside various ditties about Uncles and Aunts and their varying inventions, trips and flying machines et al!
David McNeil's 'Don't Let Your Chance Go By' is a cool, almost west coast sounding and subtly orchestrated folk-pop groover with a fiddle solo. Featuring a female co-vocalist, it has a definite early Jefferson Airplane-ness about it. More Clowns (see 'Black Velvet') with Eire Apparent, a track taken from their "waddayamean you ain't got it!" Hendrix produced Buddha album, Sunrise. A good commercial psychedelic acid rock number somewhat reminiscent of The Gods (UK). The Belgian's are coming in the shape of The Wallace Collection whose 'Baby I Don't Mind' popsike number comes from the Laughing Cavalier album and both of which are well worthy of your investigation. Mirage's 'Chicago Cottage' (an exercise in contradictions in terms presumably) is a flip to their final 45 from '68 and has escaped compilation until now. Again more dreams about property ownership: "My Chicago Cottage, Groovy little cottage" (oh yeah!). It's a good harmony floater. Another escapee from compland is The Loot's 'Don't Turn Around' (and just when you thought you'd captured them all on the Untamed And Innocent CD comp). This is as good as all their 45s were; a nice solid bass led pop groover, lightly orchestrated, harmony vocals and slides along nicely. How could you refuse such an offering when it contains lyrics like: "You may be one of the beautiful people today, but what are you going to be when you have thrown your flowers away?" Indeed! Love Sculpture's sublime debut 45 'River To Another Day' appeared on the "blink-and-you've-missed-it" Darkening Violets CD comp a while back, but is in better sound quality here, a real posike floater (sorry for the overuse of that word but it's apt!) of the first order be rest assured! The Executives' 'I Ain't Got Nobody (For Real)' is a hammond led blues-soul based number a la a poor man's Chicago Transit Authority or Blood, Sweat & Tears sans the brass section. The vocals are rather forced and unconvincing (or insincere) I thought and it doesn't really gel that well. Love Affair's 'The Tree' is a rather messy sounding and structurally undecided (oh, all right, let's call it "experimental") ode to a fallen tree remembered in childhood by the singer, its felling symbolising presumably the singer's loss of innocence or childhood musing, you know the usual thing.
Harsh Reality's 'How Do You feel' is a great prog-pop pleaser in a Procol Harum stylee utilising what sounds like a doubled-up or at least reverbed snare drum effect, bluesy guitar and a soulful vocal. Hardin & York's post-Spencer Davies outings included 'Candlelight', more hammond led prog-pop with plenty of light and shade and a nice phased section towards the end. Topo D. Bill's 'Jam' is Keith Moon, 'Legs' Larry Smith and Roger Ruskin Spear pissing about on a B side, a novelty item: "We're covered in jam, Tommy and me; they washed it away boo-hoo", next... Kevin Godley's 'To Fly Away' is a delicate and delightful confection squarely in the 'Animal Song' vein of Frabjoy & Runciple Spoon's outing on JTL4. Graham Gouldman's 'Chestnut', a funky blues (virtually) instrumental finishes off this volume as indeed it does his Graham Gouldman Thing album from which it is taken. All-in-all another classic volume of great sounds you're unlikely to find elsewhere, so grab this one while it's around.
andy@james.karoo.co.uk
Paul Martin
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Zig Zag: 20 Junk Shop Soft Rock Singles 1970-'74 (RPM; CD)
Hot on the (stack) heels of the hugely enjoyable forays into early 70's lost glam, glitter and cheesy TV pop comes the next instalment in RPM's Lipsmackin' 70's series focusing on "English singer songwriter gems, one-offs and radio hits". This lovingly compiled and wonderfully packaged set takes a broad swipe through the halcyon days when a hirsute plumber from Basildon called Brian could get a record deal purely on the merits of a handful of songs he'd written on his day off, then wind up lip-synching on Top Of The Pops as Pan's People and Slade traded Top Trumps and supped Double Diamond in the dressing room. Well, maybe not but you get the idea.
In fact most of the selections here are rather more intuitive and informed than the "junkshop" tag implies, as the opening salvo of Brian Protheroe's 'Pinball' and Clifford T Ward's 'Wherewithall' demonstrates.
The first is tricksy, cocksure and overflowing with pop culture references and bed-sitter images. And it has a saxophone solo. The second is romantic, vulnerable and rooted in the English poetic tradition. And it has a twin lead guitar solo. They're both tremendously good pop singles that pretty much characterize what's to follow. American influences are all too evident on Ewan Stephens' 'We Can Give It A Try' (pure Dylan) and Lesley Duncan's 'Everything Changes' (Carole King) but a quintessential (there's that word again) Englishness overrides even the most expert attempts at becoming the new Randy Newman. Listening to Howard Werth's 'You're Not Smiling', it's impossible to imagine him ever being considered as Jim Morrison's replacement in The Doors (which he was). Even John Carter, that Brummy upholder of all things Californian, paints a particularly English picture on his 1972 solo outing 'One More Mile To Freedom'. Carter is amongst several acts here that enjoyed their heyday in the '60s but adapted gracefully to the changing styles of the new decade.
Neil McArthur (aka Colin Blunstone) excels on the joyful 'It's Not Easy' - The Sarstedt Brothers, Peter and Clive (nee Eden Kane), even scored a minor hit with 'Chinese Restaurant'. 'Yesterday's Hero' by English Rose, featuring ex-Love Affair guitarist Lynton Guest, is a favourite of this reviewer (Ed: and me!) by virtue of it's appearance in the classic 1970 sexploitation flick Groupie Girl (the soundtrack album is to be re-issued by RPM in the near future) while, perversely, former Love Affair front man and heart-throb Steve Ellis doesn't get the opportunity to flex his considerable throat muscles on the strung-out 'El Doomo'.
Zig Zag is a revealing and largely successful dip into uncharted territory. And not a platform boot in sight
www.rpmrecords.co.uk
Andy Morten
