Spin That 45 - Part 9: The Syn-Dicate

'It's Rockabilly and Disco fusion'. Wow. Just...Wow. And yes, it is as bad as it sounds. If it would be Boney M with slap-bass and a rockin' beat, maybe then it would work but as both, the Rockabilly and the Disco part, are incredibly bad the whole record is a contender for the 'Worst record of all times' award. 

Side A 'Synthabilly Baby' sounds like a Revival Rock'n'Roll song, a bit lame and recorded with bass-guitar but to spice it up there is the synthesizer which they used like a Rock'n'Roll piano. It just doesn't sound as great. It sounds like a musical nightmare all the way from Teletubby land. I would like to say that 'Rapabilly Boogie' on Side B is better, but it is not. It's just not as annoying as Side A. Of course it is neither Rap nor Billy, it's just a strange 'Pop' song. Why they called it Rapabilly I have no idea. Which makes me think, the closest thing ever to Rap-a-billy must be the Scallywags(the German Psychobilly band) and their 'My Home Is My Castle' Rap-Mix. Or the Meteors of course with their 'I'm Just A Dog' 12" version.

This 45 was released in 1981 on Rebob Records(RB 501), London, pressed in France and re-released by Nervous Records on the 'Hep Cat Hop' LP compilation(NERD 003). Why is a mystery to me because the record is really bad. So bad it's fun to have it.

Night Out With The Boys

The Rapids are returning to the stage, 10 years after their last show. Summer 2010 they will be in Hamburg, headlining(I hope) the '4th Psychobilly Fiesta Over Hamburg'. Of course they never played Psychobilly but I guess they just have more fans among them than amongst Teddyboys or Authentics. 

The Rapids are without a doubt one of the best Neo-Rockabilly bands and their one and only album 'Turning Point'(a matching title as it sounds very different to the band's early releases) should be mentioned together with the Blue Cats 'Fight Back' and Polecats 'Are Go' when talking about refreshing, new and still rockin' Rockabilly records.

June 19th is the day when you should be at the Knust, Hamburg. Other bands that night are Belgium's Psychobilly legends Swampys and the great Go-Katz from England. I won't be there but I pray(well, not really but I would if I was religious) that one day I will get to see the Rapids. For a very interesting interview go here: DO YOU BELIEVE?

And while you are there, look around. It is an amazing page for Psychobilly. The real deal, not the makeup-secretgoths-punkswithquiffs-wannabilly certain people try to sell as Psychobilly.

A Rockin' Good Read...Or Not? Part 6

Finally a rockin' good read from start to finish. The book about South Dakota based Rock'n'Roll group Myron Lee and the Caddies is one of the most entertaining and interesting books on music I have read in a long time.

Most of you will know the band for its Rockabilly classic 'Aw C'mon Baby', the B-Side to the band's self released first 45 'Homicide'. These two songs can be found on different European compilation albums. Other recordings by the band or Myron solo are harder to get hold of, unless you own the 'Rock'n'Roll Midwest Style' LP or 'Rockin' And Rollin' Out Of The Midwest' CD. Both include some more 50s and quite a few 60s recordings by Myron Lee, with the Caddies or solo.

This book starts right at the beginning with Myron as a kid and it takes us on a journey through his musical life until the point when he decided to finally put his guitar away in the early 90s. Yes, all those times from the 50s till the 90s Myron Lee and the Caddies were active and played countless amounts of gigs, not only in the Midwest. They toured the USA and Canada as well and during these times played in Texas together with an unknown young english band called the Rolling Stones or as the backing band for Dick Clarke's 'Caravan of Stars' in 1963 and 1965. They were in Dallas when Kennedy was shot, just blocks away from the assassination, Myron flew out to California to record with Dorsey Burnette, he became good friends with Buddy Knox, he organized sold out Rock'n'Roll shows in the little South Dakota town Spearfish in the Black Hills with the Everly Brothers and Conaway Twitty, a biker got killed during their show. All these stories and many more are in the book.

It is well written, sometimes funny(there's even a pee story) and if Myron has an opinion of any 'star' he met during his life on the road he will tell it, no matter if it's about George Jones drinking habits or Roy Orbison's hospitality. I was surprised to learn all these things about the band and Myron's achievements because all I knew before I read the book was that they had recorded one of my all-time favourite Rock'n'Roll songs. I had no idea there was so much more to say.

Seriously, this is worth getting! You won't regret it. It has tons of amazing old pictures as well. Get it directly from Myron Lee here: AW CMON

Spin That 45 - Part 8: Lee Kristofferson

What looks like a 70s Porn-Funk 45 with the silver font and the terrible pink picture is actually a pretty decent Horror Rock'n'Roll 7". Take a close look at the chick's throat. There are two small bite-marks! Woooo scary!  Even scarier is the guys haircut, or better non existing haircut and the fact that he shoves his right hand into the chick's armpit. What's that about? Weirdo!

This 45 is a classic example how it should not be done as packing and content don't have anything in common. The front sleeve looks like any crappy 70s Disco record but as I said already, the music is pretty much the opposite. Side A is a cover of the 1958 John Zacherle song 'Dinner With Drac'. I'm not too crazy about it, I don't even like the original too much and novelty songs in generell so let's talk about the real reason why you want this record in your collection: The B side. 'Night Of The Werewolf'!

Some may remember that I mentioned the song already in part 7 of 'Spin That 45' about UK Revival band Black Cat's 'Strollin' After Dark' EP. So here is the original of Black Cat's creepy Instrumental. Released in 1977 it sounds as if it could have been recorded in the early 60s and that's probably the reason why the song can be found on Ace Record's 'Teenage Rock'n'Roll Party' CD and Liverpool based Viper Label's 'The Ultimate 50s and 60s Rockin' Horror Disc' CD. Not many bands had the guts to cover this obscure 70s song, one of them are the kings of Psychobilly, the Meteors, who recorded it for their 1985 album 'Monkey's Breath'. But it seems that some band's own compositions are heavily influenced by 'Night...' such as Something Else's(pre-Mess Of Booze, pre-Lou Cifer) 'Werewolf Stroll' and Johnny and the Roccos 'I Was A Teenage Werewolf From Outer Space'.

Kristofferson's real name is John Lewis Wagstaff and his artist name is, you've guessed it, a reversal of Christopher Lee. He made a few more records and in the early/mid-80s he was programming popular computer games under his artist name Lee Kristofferson. His haircut was still weird.

Fin-A-Billy Part 6: Hal Peters Trio

These guys played authentic Rockabilly light-years before it became a genre within the Rockabilly scene. Formed in 1984 in Finland's capitol Helsinki as Hal Peters Trio the name got slightly changed some years later(1988) to Hal Peters and his Trio when a fourth band member was added. They lasted till late 1994 when Hal Peters and his Countrymen were founded(now a 6-piece), who got replaced March 1998 by Hal Peters and his Stringdusters. But in 2009 it was back to the roots, a new 45 was released as Hal Peters Trio and the band played it's 25th anniversary gig at the 25 Years Goofin' Records Anniversary After-party.

No Finn is called Hal Peters of course, so Hal's real name is Heikki Laakkonen but as 'Heikki Laakkonen Trio' sounds more like a Jazz Trio from the 60s it was a smart move to use an English stage-name. Peters and his boys have released a bunch of records over the years. There are two LPs each by Hal Peters Trio, Hal Peters and His Trio and Hal Peters and his Stringdusters(okay, one's a 10" and it was actually recorded when they still called themselves Hal Peters and his Countrymen), as well as a bunch of 45s, one 12" and various CDs. 

The band started as straight mid-50s Rockabilly band but with the years passing by they began to play more and more Hillbilly and Western Swing. This is what lead to the changes in band-names(Countrymen, Stringdusters). So if you like the later get the Stringdusters records, otherwise stay with the Trio(both versions) releases for some straight, no bullshit, old-school Rockabilly!

Neo-Rockabilly Jewel

If you like Neo-Rockabilly, the classic 80s Neo-Rockabilly, those Cat bands that were popular 30 years ago, you will know Neo-Rockabilly supergroup the 13 Cats. In 2008 US label Cleopatra Records released a limited edition of 100 white label copies of the band's CD '13 Tracks'(plus 2 bonus songs) on vinyl. I just found about the album a few weeks ago and was lucky to get an unplayed copy on Ebay for the regular price. I don't know how many copies are still available but I guess it ain't much. So if you love vinyl and Cat music you better try the best you can to get one for yourself!