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Monday, October 11, 2021

 The Professionals

Snafu (JTP)



At turns, hard-lashed and enchantingly tuneful. Sing along with the gathered storm.

Recommended: "Easily Lead," "Gold And Truthful," "Spike Me Baby," "Punk Rock And a Hard Place," "Heartburn," "Only Human."

Video: "Spike Me Baby"

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Saturday, October 2, 2021

A few questions for Rockat Barry Ryan...



Is it tue that there's a new Rockats CD coming out?

"Yes! The lineup is basically the Make That Move lineup with guest drummers on certain tracks."

(That would be Barry, singer Dibbs Preston, bassist Smutty Smith, and Danny B. Harvey. Word is, Blondie's Clem Burke is among the guest drummers.)

Please tell us about the record.

"The album was recorded remotely with Danny B Harvey laying down basics at his studio in Austin and sending them to everyone for us to put our parts on."

Tracks planned?

"We have four new Rockats songs, four covers, two updated songs from Live At The Ritz, and the Rockabilly Doll/Tanya Jean single on there, too."

What label is issuing this, and when will it be in shops?
"It will be on Cleopatra Records and we're looking at a late Winter early Spring release. And it will be on vinyl."

Thanks, Barry!

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

 Horrorpops

Live At the Wiltern

Blu-ray and DVD

(Cleopatra)



68 minutes of technicolor spectacle. Sprawling onstage extravaganza in which multi-textured psycho is but one factor, albeit a head-bangingly stimulative one.

Recommended: "Julia," "Thelma and Louise," "Kool Flattop," "Freaks In Uniforms," "Undefeated," "Missfit," "Psychobitches Outta Hell," "Ghouls," "Miss Take," "Where They Wander."

Trailer

Cleopatra



Monday, September 13, 2021

 Dave Phillips and the Hot Rod Gang

I Lost My Beer / I'm Gonna Toss My Cookies

(KEiL Records)



First-chair rockabilly of the sterling countenance one would expect from Master Phillips. Swaggering jocularity, in mid-imbibing and rueful morning-after accounts.

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Keil Records

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

 The Meteors

The Curse Of Blood and Bones

(Cleopatra)

P. Paul down to his iniquitous tricks again, as only he is darkly suited. Limited edition red vinyl.

Recommended: "All I Do," "The Queen Of Zorch," "All I Can Do Is Cry," "Creature," "Haunted," "She's My Witch," "Daughter Of the Deep," "Alligator Man 2020," "Guilty As Charged," "You Used To Be (The Usual Suspects)," "Little Hellcat," "(Ghost) Riders In the Sky"


"Daughters Of the Deep"


Mutant Rock Records

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Cleopatra


 Johnny Jetson

Lick It and Split

Mp3 (self)


Johnny is Rock 'N' Roll personified. And he's got the chops to validate the claim made by dashing '70s elan. Vocals recall Bolan.

Recommended: "American Knight," "I Gotta Get Through," "Light 'em Up," "Overheated," "Rock 'N' Roll Girl," "Shadows On The Moon," "Shine You Up," "Sunday After Church," "Turn It Out"

"American Knight"

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 Arthur Brown

Fire b/w

Zombie Yelp

(Cleopatra)




The infamous 1960s God Of Hellfire reinvents his hit, a sinister turn in the flower power decade. The flip's histrionics parallel that unnerving precedent.


Cleopatra

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Video: "Fire"


 Dave Del Monte

and the Cross County Boys

Sloppy Jalopy /

Take On Me

(self)



Agreeably rollicking ode to a rat rod that, like its theme song, speeds economically to its cool destination. "Take On Me" is a moody instrumental reading of that '80s Aha tune.

"Sloppy Jalopy"

"Take On Me"


Facebook

Bandcamp

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

 Billy Lee Riley

Alternatively (El Toro)

4-song, 7-inch 45



Alternate takes of long-beloved Sun tracks. Colored vinyl. El Toro has similar Alternatively discs available of Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Gene Summers, and Warren Smith.

This is gold.

Recommended: "Rock With Me Baby," "Trouble Bound," "Red Hot," "Flying Saucers Rock 'n' Roll."


El Toro

 Lara Hope and the Ark-Tones

Here To Tell the Tale 

(Orchard Enterprises)




Rockabilly issued from Country music and owes much character to it. This fine release underscores that truth. Each player counts, and does so remarkably.

Recommended: "Let's Go," "Stop, Drop, and Roll," "Here To Tell the Tale," "Some Advice," "Whoa Is Me," "Knocked Out," "I Drink To Your Health."

Video: "Let's Go"

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 Thee Flanders

Neverending Story (Halb 7 Records)




After some 10 years away, Thee Flanders have again darkened studio doors, now with vim and vigor beyond earlier efforts. Put simply: a storm formidable.

Recommended: "Shut Up World" "Blind Date Killer," "Psychocats," "Ghost Of the Dead," "Potsdam West."

Video: CD Teaser

Halb 7


 Frank Jacket

You Say Adios (Mula)

Black Hole Sun single (Mula)




Amiability and downright winsomeness, in hand-tooled styles indigenous to the U.S. southern border region. And then you read the fine print: these sprang from Chile.

Recommended (You Say Adios): "You Say Adios" (Alt version), "Two Bottles Of Cheap Beer," "When Will You Decide?," "One Last and True Goodbye," "I'm Blue and Alone," "Release Me," "Dices Adios."

Video: You Say Adios sampler

Bandcamp (Black Hole Sun)

Thursday, June 24, 2021

 The Shut Ins

3 Ring Circus (self)




Guitar-afficionados album that yields riches aplenty for all. Labrynthine, rapturous.

Recommended: "It's Time For the Show," "Whittlin'," "Lazy Stephen," "Begat the Pigat," "Ol' Stumpy Mix," "Merle's House," "Nothing But Time," "Dancing For Bobo."

Facebook (Paul Pigat)



 The Honky Tonk Pounders

Dead End Road (PART)




At the center of all great rocking is the beat. Herein, it pulses determinedly. And the feral licks overlaid atop the pounding magnetize.

Recommended: "Dead End Road," "It Must Be Love," "Straight From the Heart," "Out Of Control," "Handsome Hanna," "Walking the Floor."

Video: "Dead End Road"


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PART


 The Tin Cans

Back For More (PART)




Even in its more charged passages, there's an agreeableness to this CD. Country and blues in sublime union. A solid beat hies them along.

Recommended: "The Time Is Right," "Boppin' On," "Lost In Swamp," "Illusive Love," "Ship Of Lost Souls," "I Need To Know," "The Girl Next Door," "Please, Mr. Postman."


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PART




 Wenzdaze

Brainwashed (Wild)




Only youth could produce garage punk so guileless.

Recommended: "Brainwashed," "Without You," "My Love," "Introverted Misfit," "Creeper Stomp," "You're Dead."


Wild Records

Video: Live (1 hr) 


Wednesday, June 16, 2021

 Annie Marie Lewis and Danny B. Harvey

Americana Songbook Vol. 1 (self)



Revered treasures from our nation's cultural heritage receive majestic interpretation, from two who are at once faithful to source material and capable of unique voicing. It's impossible to envision a more elegant pairing.

Recommended: "Only A Paper Moon," "What'll I Do," "One For My Baby," "That Old Black Magic," "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Blues In the Night."


Bandcamp

Youtube


 Hillbilly Casino

Red, White, and Bruised (Hobolight Records)



A favorite of average working folks, who swarm honky tonk dance floors and throw off real-world cares. Like Hillbilly Casino, they grasp that there are only two kinds of songs - good ones and bad ones. 

"I defy you to find five other bands in the U.S. that can play Hank Sr. back-to-back with Motorhead, back-to-back with Ernest Tubb, back-to-back with Tex Ritter, back-to-back with the Ramones," slap-bassist Geoff Firebaugh once delared.

This 2017 disc is newly available on Spotify. 

Recommended: "She's Got Tricks," "How Do You Think," "Knockin' At Your Door," "Jibber Jabber," "More Blues Than Green, "Dog On A Chain," "Toss Turn and Roll," "Troubles."

Video: "She's Got Tricks"

Spotify


 Paul Pigat

The Game (Little Pig)




Acoustic country-blues guitar, accompanied only by Paul's wonderfully unvarnished vocalizing. His instrumental prowess is unhurriedly showcased. Reminds in moments of Phil Alvin's Unsung Stories.

Recommended: "Roll All Night," "The Game," "Some People's Children," "Piece Of Work," "Treat Your Papa Right," "You Gotta Use."

Website

Amazon

Apple




 The Homisides

11 (self)



Spirit of '77. There's hunger in their presentation, always a propitious token.

Tracks: "One Shot Down," "Mean Go Getter," "Snuff Me Out," "Just Head," "Worst Enemy."

Bandcamp




Monday, June 14, 2021

 Danny's Favorites

There Still Punk (Tetryon Tapes)

 Phone Jerks

Out The Gate (Resurrection Records)




The late-1970's Punk explosion was an organic moment, a turbulent lashing out at the pasteurized rock product that blighted airwaves and shop shelves.

It was also a hell of a lot of fun. An episode in which old rules were smashed, brash, red-eyed street warriors drafted new ones live on club stages, and the primeval rock'n'roll spirit was remembered. The prototypical reeled, adorned in new and thrill-laced raiment.

Danny's Favorites and the Phone Jerks are fully in the character of that era. They're exuberant, wonderfully rough. Frenetically demolition-chorded, urgently tossed off.

The DIY aura accentuates economical arrangements. Like the finest old-school Punk, each scant track careens past and skids into its successor.

Though they're too esoteric for the masses, these discs kick wide the door for a vintage Punk visitation. The hip will dig.

Recommended (Danny's Favorites): "Public Figure," "The Future Is Here," "Storage Unit," "Danny's Favorite," "One Potato, Two Potato," "The Mormon Song," "I Got A Feeling For A Feeling," "No Driver's License For the Elderly."

Facebook

Tetryon Tapes Bandcamp

Feral Kid Records

Apple


Recommended (Phone Jerks): "Out Of the Gate," "Back To Bootcamp," "Kill Kill," "Gospel," "Rubberhead"

Facebook

Bandcamp






 The Quaranteds

Over the Hills (CD Baby)




Not all will appreciate this raucous effort both rocket-fueled and gravel-throated detonative - only those who matter. All others can repair to the boring sidelines.

Recommended: "Over the Hills," "Fish Food," "Corn Dog Stomp," "Black Sky's," "Slender Man."

Facebook


V/A

 Virus Psycho Compilation Vol. 1 Side A




Multifarious incarnations and apparitions of the monster genre. Often Spanish language, always bracingly stitched.

Recommended bands: Fantastamatic, Asteroides Trio, Wild Boys, RO and the Skull Boys, Los 3 Cavalera, 13 Bats, Cadaver Army, Tres Muertes, Rotten Maniacs, Screamers and Sinners, Straight From the Grave, Evil Devil.

Video

Bandcamp

Thursday, June 10, 2021

 The Damned

Punk Oddities and Rare Tracks 1977 - 1982

(Cleopatra)




Punk of the '70s was DIY superior to the inevitable corporate domestication/commodification of it as tepid "New Wave." England's Damned were of the primordial specimen. And they've survived beyond cohorts Sex Pistols and Clash.

Recommended: "Love Song" (Demo) "Do the Blitz," "You Know" (live '77), "Idiot Box" (live '77) "Smash It Up" (live) "Thanks For the Night," "Nasty."

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Cleopatra




 Peter D. Schwotzer

Another Cemetery Walk (self)




Involved guitar instrumentals that placidly wend their ways, and consistently do so with elan.

Recommended: "Dreaming In Darkness," "Extraordinary Moments," "Old Friends Growing Older," "Another Cemetery Walk," "Mom and Dad."

Website

 The Autopsies

Post-Mortem Follies (Lycans Den)


Much rapid psycho leaps from the grooves, with nary a care for the bedlam it wreaks. Among the more auspicious of young breed.

Recommended: "Hot As Hell," "One Big Smile," "Dr. Philly P. Morgue," "Twilight On Lullaby Lane," "Small Town Murder."

Video: "Hot As Hell"

Facebook

Lycans Den


The Graveyard Bashers

Wreck 'em Dead (Lycans Den)




"Morally or otherwise, there ain't no boundaries," ("Mean Motherfucker") serves as an apt depiction of this relentlessly lurid CD. Psycho so brutish it slashes oozing gashes.

Recommended: "Psychobilly Sleazebags," "66 Cuts," "Graveyard Brothel," "Mean Motherfucker," "Mystery," "Set You On Fire."

Facebook

Bandcamp

Lycans Den






Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Video:

Alpha Rhythm Kings

feat. Miss Tammi Savoy

Choo Choo Ch' Boogie




 Iain Terry and the Smiley Jacks Band

Down In the Jungle

Rockabilly Drag Racer









 The Backyard Casanovas

Big Fat Mama




Sunday, June 6, 2021

 Dave Del Monte and                                           

the Cross Country Boys                                 

Well!! single (self)


Crash Gordon shines in this bouncy, spare rockabilly jaunt in the vintage spirit. Dave employs in his vocals the drawl, swoops, and guttural growls emblematic of storied hillbilly shouters.

"It was my first collaboration with Crash, who is an awesome guitar player," Dave emailed me. "The song was a blast to put together. The video with the record labels was my wife's idea."

Romping and stomping seem in the blood of Dave and the Cross Country Boys. We reap the finger-popping reward.

Video: "Well!!"


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Amazon Music

Apple

Spotify

Deezer

 Lee Rocker

Gather Round (Upright Records)



The moving fingers navigate and, by the doing, send all into happy orbit.

Recommended: "Gather Round," "When Nothing's Going Right" "A Dirty Martini," "Graceland Auction," "Dog House Shuffle," "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat."

Video: "A Dirty Martini"

Website


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About Me

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FORMER staff writer for Rockabilly and Pin Up America magazines. FREELANCE credits include Daily Caller, American Thinker, Free Republic, Huffington Post, Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, Independent Political Report, USA Today, Des Moines Register, Iowa City Press-Citizen, Waterloo Courier, Cedar Falls Times, Marshalltown Times Republican, Cincinnati.com, IndyStar, Arizona Republic, No Depression, Goldmine, Blue Suede News, Rock and Rap Confidential, Crackerjack, Blues News, Wrecking Pit, Punk Globe, Prairie Sun, Music and Sound Output, BAM, New Music, and 1980s NYC fanzines Shake, Rattle, and Roll, Rebel Rouser, and Off the Wall. AUTHOR: Shake, Rattle and Rocket!, Ghost Saucers in the Sky!, Stratosphere Boogieman!, Flesh Made Music, That a Man Can Again Stand Up: American spirit vs, sedition during the incipient Trump Revolution, and Ideas Afoot: Political observations, social commentary, and media analyses. WORKED as 2004 Iowa coordinator for Ralph Nader independent presidential campaign; co-founded Iowa Green Party, also served as statewide media coordinator; press coordinator, 2002 Jay Robinson (Green) IA gubernatorial effort. Wrote extensively re Trump campaign..