Tom Toxic: All the way to Memphis

For #2 document of the sessions in which German Rockabilly marauder Tom and combo were joined by scads of originals -- whose names are rightly emblazoned in genre literature -- to work up/put down tunes of the affably rowdy sort launched from joints' stages or jukes, back when Ike rested feet on the Oval Office desk. 

The assembled group tore through Sun, Sam Phillips, and Cash Cabin studios, slashing individual tattoo on those storied environs. It's as if Jules Verne had put his time machine in the hands of Memphis' Crown Electric cats, and they'd outfitted the fantastical contrivance with amplifiers, dual pipes, and about 26 gallons of twang.

Only 222 copies of this 10" platter lifted off pressing machinery, and I've theorized a reason why production was so abbreviated: The nine, vintage-fashioned ramblin' jive cuts contained thereon are just plain too likely to burst into wildass flames to risk greater engraved numbers. (I would take exception to that caution, suggesting instead that masses be set free to surrender themselves to dance-party frivolity amid fires. Life is way too brief to fuss about frilly niceties.)

Drop the needle, crank the loudness, and do Eddie's 'stockings and shoes' bit. Complaining neighbors need to mind their own damned affairs.

Excerpts from Tom's extensive liner notes:

"On  Wednesday,  February  22th,  2017,  also  around  6:30  pm,  the  moment  had  finally arrived  -  I  was  standing  in  the  legendary  Sun  Studio, the  destination  of  my  dreams.  I don't think I need to explain to anyone what the Sun Studio is all about."

"The day after our Sun session we arrived at the Sam Philips Recording Studio in the early afternoon, feeling somewhat sleep-deprived. The session the day before was draining and the night was short. The studio we intended to record the other day, is quasi the new Sun Studio, built in 1959 acording to Sam Philips' specifications and still looking today as it did when it first opened...This studio is a real time capsule. You can feel the spirit of that era in every corner, and it was very awe-inspiring to be allowed to record there."

"On February 20, 2017 at around 6:30 PM, the first recording session of the Tennessee Tapes Tour began at the Cash Cabin in Hendersonville. For those who don't know, the Cash Cabin was the Man in Back's private home recording studio for a long time...It still breathes the exceptional spirit of this with every fiber of its wooden planks and every pore of its solid stones."

Recommended: "All Mama's Children," "Here're My Hands," "You've Killed a Friend," "Rock'n'Roll and Beer and Girls," "Trouble Bound," "Don't Go!," "It's a Mess," "My Brother Alcohol," "Never Too Old to Rock'n'Roll"

Facebook (The Tennessee Tapes)

Facebook (Tom Toxic/Keil)

No related videos were available at September presstime, sadly, as this disc is scheduled for October issuance.