Kay Adams

Little Pink Mack

(Sundazed Music)

One has only to steer the stylus to appreciate yesteryear's mono Bakersfield sound and realize how distant country has wandered from once-fertile soil. 

Compiled here are comely Kay's live-in-studio 1960s efforts with Buck Owens and his cobalt spangle-suited Buckaroos, as witnessed by viewers of Buck's (pre- Hee Haw) Ranch Show. Affaires D'Amour in aspects both exultant and despondent predominate and stir intimately. Petite girl-next-door Kay renders them with winsome, aching embrace. Few were the raven-tressed songstresses' peers.

I'm not being hyperbolic when I pronounce the songs twanged gems of that beloved era. Vintage recordings offer especial reward. Sundazed has performed a tremendous service by retrieving these tracks from forgotten shelves.

Buck always surrounded himself with stellar musicians. Lowdown bass-string amblings and pinched treble picking, plus masterfully veering steel and reliably snapped snare beat, make sprightly bed for Kay's back-country drawls and womanly sonorousness. 

Today's pop-country sickens.

Recommended: "Little Pink Mack," "Roll Out the Red Carpet," "Let the Good Times Roll," "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," "Anymore," "Rocks In My Head," "I Let a Stranger Buy the Wine," "Bottle Baby," "Get Out Of My Heart," "Big Mack," "A Devil Like Me (Needs An Angel Like Me)" (Kay and Dick Curless duet), "Number One Heel," "Old Heart Get Ready," "Six Days A'Waiting," "Down, Down, Down," "Loose Talk," "You Don't Have Very Far To Go," "Honky Tonk Heartache," "Be Nice To Everybody," "She Didn't Color Daddy," "Walk the Floor," "Toy Heart"

Video: "Little Pink Mack"

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Cornelius Watson

Here Is...The Infernos

(Self-issued)

St. Paul/Minneapolis firebolt Cornelius has long bombarded that region's clubs with originals based in roots-musics both familiar and always welcome. Wielding an aggressive six-string and letting exuberant vocals fly, he caught that lightning in a studio bottle. Impressively, The Infernos match him each moment; they acquit themselves in rock-ribbed manner. In his learned pickings and swipes, Cornelius recalls storied pioneers while injecting personal combustion. Testament that Rock'n'Roll will stand.

Recommended: "Cute Aggression," "Barricade," "Astoria," "Nikki Swede," "Wreckin' Crue'," "Never Should've," "Pain Of Love"

Video: "Wreckin' Crue"

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The Hillbilly Moon Explosion

Back In Time

(Cleopatra)

Whereas maturation leaves some hobbling, its effect here has been to enrich an already redoubtable ensemble. Songs are predominantly in middle range - though occasional gently ruminative ones smolder enticingly - granting emphasis to lyrical presentation. All of which is not to discount considerable muscle-flaunting.

Recommended: "Sometimes Late At Night," "Summerlove," "Knocked Down," "1979," "Sudden Ring," "Jet Fuel Rock'n'Roll," "Lets Go (Back In Time)," "Always Just You," "Reno"

Video: "Knocked Down"

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Mean Jeans

Blasted

(Fat Wreck Chords)

The union of blast-furnace attack and pop hooks that insinuate themselves into consciousness is a fetching one. It's not easy to hit on the proper chemistry, but the Mean Jeans understand how accurately those phenomena should measured. And the resultant admixture will knock admirers through walls.

Recommended: "I Don't Give a Shit Anymore," "Let's Go," "Diagnosis," "Lost My Mind," "Blasted To the Moon," "Something's Going On," "Break Up With You," "I Don't Know What I Did Last Summer"

Video: "Diagnosis"

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Back In the Day, 1975

The Dictators

...Go Girl Crazy!

(Epic)

Some accounts of NYC's 1970s Punk explosion erroneously cite the Ramones' iconic 1976 Sire debut as its earliest platter. But these Bronx-stomping, metallically inclined prototypes beat da brudders to store racks, issuing their own initial wax in 1975. 

Bassist and singer Adny Shernoff's wiseass junk-culture mini-anthems drew on classical Rock'n'Roll elements and remain bracing today. ("Oh, Weekend / Flashing Rock'n'Roll guitars / Cruising in my daddy's car / I do my homework in the bar!") The Stratocaster / Les Paul juggernaut of sadly departed Scott "Top Ten" Kempner and soloist "Ross The Boss" Funicello (née Friedman, perhaps the fastest hand extant) imbued tracks with careening crunch. Propulsion came courtesy of Stu Boy King, his skins-agility a decisive factor in the material's animation.

Producers MurrayKrugman and Sandy Pearlman were unobtrusive, letting the reckless teen hijinx roar directly.

Posturing as an erstwhile pro grappler with scarlet spangled warm-up jacket, larger-than-life frontman Handsome Dick Manitoba tore up club stages and bombarded audiences with inimitable gutter-blast vocals. A contemporary Creem Magazine report noted the rip-roaring rabble-rouser once flung greasy french-fries onto stunned club goers, who dropped to their knees and stuffed their mouths. 

Though he sang only one song on The Dictators Go Girl Crazy, and shared vocals with Shernoff on several others, "secret weapon" Manitoba assumed more spotlight as time passed. Not surprisingly, given his outrageous presence and massive hairstyle, he became the group's enduring face. 

Unfortunately, the pastiche of power chords and lowbrow humor failed to charm consumers. Sales figures were paltry - they were just too specialized for mass appetites. (Captain and Tennille's mawkish "Love Will Keep Us Together" topped Billboard's 1975 Hot 100.) Epic dropped the Dictators shortly following their debut's issuance. 

The record's dash proved seminal, though, and many bands hip to the chemistry were influenced. Knowledgeable chroniclers hail it as a significant artifact.

Subsequent years saw additional releases by the Dictators, but the brass ring remained beyond grasp. Today, Handsome Dick Manitoba and the band pursue fortunes separately. HDM's 2019 Born In the Bronx was reviewed here upon its release.

Recommended: "The Next Big Thing," "Master Race Rock," "Teengenerate," "Two Tub Man," "Weekend," "(I Live For) Cars and Girls"

Video: "Two Tub Man"

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Johnny Falstaff

"Alright Alright" single

(Self-issued)

Assuming you're fortunate enough to stumble into the right honky-tonk on the right night, you'll witness one of the rewards life offers regular folks. Johnny's loping rendition - call it either Ameripolitan or alt-country, both apply - encourages solidarity as its narrator laments absent love. But don't let that disconsolance birth misapprehension; there's fetching rhythm afoot, its sway sufficient to stir reveling legions. Telecaster at hand, possessed of an offhand drawl, and backed by a sure-footed combo that includes six-string doyen Kenny Vaughn, bassist Dave Roe, an drummer Pete Abbott,  Johnny stands tall as a Country authentic. And there aren't many of those in 2024.

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Damon Brazzell

A Night At the Drive-In: Ukesploitation Vol. 1

(Avalon Street Records)

Appropriately inelaborate, this admiring appraisal of junk screen offerings grappling teens ignored but now appreciate for low-rent charms. The most engaging paeans are those rendered in electric hot-rod fashion. Rubbery monsters, juvenile delinquents, bikinied beach twisters, and skid-row junkies all receive enthusiastic salute as beloved cheesy-fun archetypes. 

Recommended: "Gutter Trash Charm," "Good Girls Don't (Wear Cha-Cha Heels)," "Redneck Mutant," "Sun Demon"

Video: "Gutter Trash Charm"

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