Frantic Flintstones

Take a Hike!!!

(Bad Billy)

The spartan, full-steam reading of Hank's classic makes for optimum intro. The pack it leads follows suit, neatly depicting exactly why the group scaled Mount Psycho to its thin-oxygen acme. Zeal floods from speakers. First issued in 1991 by Kix 4 U, Take a Hike!!! was just returned to shelves by Bad Billy. Available today in black, orange, and (150) purple 12" vinyl. Poster thrown into bargain. 

Recommended: "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Just a Dream," "Sweet Nothings," "Little Old Lady," "Necro Blues," "Burned 'n' Turned," "Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me," "Old Black Joe," "Dream On Move"

Videos: "Your Cheatin' Heart"   "Sweet Nothings"   "Burned 'n' Turned"   "Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me"   "Old Black Joe"   

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Spirit of Rock

Guana Batz   EP

Rockin' Banshee   7" EP

(Tombstone)

"Only a few left!," Bad Billy declares. That hardly surprises. Such is the predictable response when yet-hot Guana Batz product is issued. The spinaround Psycho they've mongered for decades (revolving personnel being a frequent feature in the genre) crashes dead-ahead while never forgetting to cultivate accessibilty of a sort; it doesn't reach toward you, you will longingly grasp.

Recommended: "No Way Out," "Rockin' Banshee," "Run to the Promised Land," "Corridors"

Video: live 2024 (53: 38)

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Demented Are Go

"Black Valium"   video

(Bad Billy Records)

Like some dead rose impossibly blooming, "Black Valium" commences in sinister slow-motion. Sparky of the towering quiff and his grotesquely greasepainted mates lurch in teasingly drawn-out psycho-method, only to tear into hastened dive formation. Each beat digs into earth. Wah-wah is omnipresent. The darkness is oppressive, and the storm relentless.

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The Bullet Biters

Serial Drowner   7" 3-song EP

(Bad Billy Records)

With two decades in their past, Finland's Bullet Biters perpetrate so sharply as to crush lessers. Bursting forth is neo-Rockabilly transmogrified into beastliness. Experience shouts its worth. The triad nimbly executes unanticipated switch-ups, stomping in creature creepers. Cuts were drawn from a forthcoming full-length release; Bad Billy advises just 200 black-vinyl copies of this sampler will feel buyers' hands.

Recommended: "Serial Drowner" (At presstime, only this track was available for study.)

Video: "Serial Drowner" (live)

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Louvin Brothers

Satan Is Real   LP

(Bad Billy Records)

Bad Billy offers this 1959 classic on red vinyl; copies are limited to 300 units.Veteran critic John Morthland (whose early 1970s Creem writings impressed) observed professional songcraftsmen penned some tracks, here. (One of several exceptions being the title cut, written by the crooning brothers). I don't know whether 'just a job' insincerity was implied. And accounts of mandolin-picking Ira's addictions and combustability also suggest conflict. But just as he and Charlie are now hailed as among vocal-duo elites for their stratospheric, high lonesome stylings, wooden pews once teemed with country folk for whom Divine spirit embodied each tranquil passage. And for those good souls, that meant everything.

Recommended: "Satan Is Real," "There's a Higher Power," "The Christian Life," "The River Of Jordan," "The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea," "Are You Afraid To Die," "He Can Be Found," "The Drunkard's Doom," "Satan's Jeweled Crown," "The Angels Rejoiced Last Night"

Videos: "Satan Is Real,"   "The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea" (This standout song was written by Mother Maybelle Carter and several of her daughters, of the storied Carter Family.)

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