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Show Forum . Athey December 14, 1993 music from the past on CD. My weakness isfor surf instrumentals. It has something to do with reverb. The Shutdowns open with a great drag instrumental, complete with the sound of racing The Final Reviews Of 1993 William Athey Forum Staff Writer ! Ernie Johnson Its Party Time Paula Records r Sam Lewis has an ear for talent, hes demonstrated that fact for over 40 years. Hes done it again with this new release by Ernie Johnson. One listen to this CD will convince anyone that the next big thing is rhythm and blues. Now lets take it easy, nice and easy. If your baby is walking out the door, tell her to wait for just four minutes and 20 seconds while you put on Johnson singing, Broke Man Cant Win. The honey will be drippin, and it wont be from a jar. Follow that with his cover of Otis ' Reddings Dreams To Remember, and you are in shape for at least one night This album is so funky, the smell of sweet poontang will fill the house even if there isnt any handy. As if Johnson's voice wasnt enough, the Lewis father and son team somehow assembled the JB horns and Booker T. and the MGs in the same recording studio. The horns are uncredited, in place of the MGs are Sam Honey, James Pee Wee Thomas and Carl (E.G.) Caldwell on guitar. Doug Courtney plays the piano. Honeys soloing on Final Notice is enough to make ... Steve Cropper long for the good old days. PaulaRecords also has a great Christ- mas. It is highly recommended. There are other Christmas blues CDs available, but this is the one to buy. If you cant find either album m local stores, call Paula toll free. The number is Gothic Rock Cleopatra Records What? You say your Bauhaus collection isntcomplete? You cant finda copy of the original Dark Entries single? Better rush on down to the local chain Athey s Twelve Songs For The Twelve Days of Christmas . Hate (Remember them?) have a previously unreleased track, Black Madonna. The Virgin Prunes get one song, Pagan Love Song. How about Tones On Tail? Their song is Burning Skies. Alien Sex Fiend also gets space for a previously unreleased song, Now Im Feeling Zombified. These selections are only from the the first disc. Theres more, oh, so much more. Its winter and Im starting to get a little pale myself. My job requires black attire, to hide the grease you know. My hair will never be black, but red does go quite well with black and white. I love this box-se- t, album, I only wish it were a 2 CDs can never do this genre justice no matter how long they are. No need for theprogramingfunctionoftheCD player, it is all good. Listen to it wearing headphones, naked, vulnerable and preferably in a closet , engines. The Tornados follow with Bustin Surfboards," the title track from their album. The Tornados borrowed a surf sound effect tape from a radio station and fell in love with it They use it on the second of their three songs, The Gremmie." Bustin Surfboards copies the guitar from the Surfaris Surfer Joe, or maybe its the other way around. There are three songs from the Cus 12-C- D If the chance to get a copy of Surf & Drag Volume 2 The Tornadoes Bustin' Surfboards Sundazed Music Inc. What better time than the Christmas season is there to listen to surf music? These twoalbums are recentreleases from Sundazed, a label dedicated to preserving toms featuring Gary Usher and a song by the Quads. All four songs fit the drag classification. They originally appeared , ; Charles Brown , ; 2. Please Come Home For Christmas , ; f ; Charles Brown ; 3. Run Rudolph Run ,, , Chuck Berry , : 4. Little Saint Nick The Beach Boys . i 5. Snoopys Christmas ; The Royal Guardsmen 6. White Christmas , Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters : 7. Happy (War Is Over) John Lennon & Plastic Ono Band 8. Rockin AroundTheChristmasTree ; Little Brenda Lee 9. Jingle Bells ' ' The Blues Magoos 10. Jingle Bell Rock : , Bobby Helms 11. Beboppers Christmas Cordell Jackson , . 12. Rock and Roll Christmas Cordell Jackson s X-M- as v store and pick this double CD up. Better yet, check the independent stores first. There are bands and songs on here that I haven t heard in a decade. Theatre of Shootin Beavers is not a good enough reason to buy the album, here is another. The album contains some of Frank Zappas earliest engineering work. He engineered the recording of two songs on the album, Moon Dawg and The Inebriated Surfer. The Big Beat Visits Salt Lake City Watch for this talented female vocalist withherregular band, The BrokenHearts. Voodoo Swing ended with their trade. t jO .iO ,i " mark song, Voodoo Swinging. Voodoo . Last week was one of the best in recent memory for live music in Salt Lake Swing has international distribution for City. Dave Alvin played the Zephyr club their CD. Once its heard in Europe, on Thursday, Gnome played Play Scool where rockabilly is a religion, these guys on Friday, and Saturday night the may not be around here anymore. Better catch them while you can. Moondogs played at the Bar and Grill. The Moondogs hit the stage like the Saturday night was the best of the week, as Saturday night should be. The train in Johnny Burnettes song; rockin Moondogs payed a visit to our town all the and rollin all night long. By the second way from Chicago, 111. Id never heard of song, everyone in the audience knew that the Moondogs until I saw the ad in SLUG. this band was something special. Their vintage 50s fashions were drenched with Chicagois known for itsmusic-industr- ial, noise and the blues not rockabilly. The sweat They removed jackets and ties, Moondogs arc one hotrockabilly band, but rolled up their sleeves and proceeded with the best live show I can remember seeing, more on" them later. First the locals. ever. The spirits of Presley, Vincent, The bill at the Bar and Grill was designed as a trip in a time machine. Back to Cochran and Holly smiled down from the sock hops of the 50s. The Scoffed above as the band worked the audience of into a frenzy. opened the show. They are a young Rockabilly music doesnt get much rockabilly band just cutting their teeth in live performances. I classify theirrockabilly respect these days. It is seen as retro and or psychobilly. They Anyone who attended this styleas were at their best on the covers; Johnny show at the Bar and Grill now knows why the music will never die. It is the heart and Burnettes The Train Kept A Rollin, Jack Scotts The Way I Walk, and Billy soul of rock n roll, and almost 40 years after the first recording was waxed at Sun Studios, LeeRileysFlying SaucerRockandRoll, filled the opening slot admirably. They had the Moondogs put on a demonstration. The Moondogs have four members. to expand on their planned set because Voodoo Swing was eating pizza with the Three of them take turns on vocals or Moondogs, and they arrived late. The harmonize together, and the drummer doesnt sing. On electric keyboard was Scoffed almost ran out of songs. Dr. Joe Brawka. The Dr. in his name Next up came what I think is currently Salt Lake City s best band, Voodoo must come from his academic appearance, his skills and style on the keyboard Swing. Their CD is out; pick it up immediately. Voodoo Swing has developed are descended directly from Jerry Lee since the last time I saw them. They are Lewis. Id like to see him on a big stage now professionals; all those Thursday with an acoustic piano; I have no doubt he nights at Burts Tiki Lounge have honed could match the antics of Lee himself. their skills. Theyve sped things up and Steve Szczeblowski strapped on a big are now approaching the thrash rockabilly Gibson and coaxed solos from it that the Reverend Horton Heat is known for. alternately brought tears of joy or simply They played mostly original material, but dropped jaws in awe. Jerry LaFine had s, a snare, a kick bass the highlight of their set was the appearonly two ance by Laura Jones as guest vocalist She and a clutch of cymbals. He sat calmly and covered the Collins Kids Rock Boppin brought the most amazing beats effortlessly from the small kit, until he stood on Baby and Janis MartinsMy Boy Elvis. , William Athey Forum Staff Writer v. - 1. Merry Christmas Baby ! 3. - In No Particular Order on the album, Hot Rod City. The album is getting rare and the songs are more obscure examples of the harmony that defines vocal surf music. Another interesting artifact is Tommy Boyces title song from the mid-60- s television Is. Action The Where show The highlights are the instrumentals. There is plenty of reverb, some Spanish guitar, and it all makes you want to do the Watusi. The No. 1 reason to search out the CD is to get the Tornados recording of Shootin Beavers. The song ranks with any of the best surf instrumentals. It received heavy airplay on its release. The Tornados were well cm their way to stardom until parents caught on to the only lyrics the song has: Shoot that beaver, bag that pelt. Parental calls to radio stations ended the airplay, the song and the Tornados careers. The offensive lyrics were removed and the song was refilled, but it was too late. The Bustin Surfboards" album wasntreleased until 1964. The release wasnt in time to capitalize on the groups peak years of 1962-6- neo-rockabi- lly out-of-fashi- tom-tom- his kick bass and thrashed at his equipment, bent into an impossible position and in danger of toppling over. He never missed a beat. Jim Sutton was a lunatic. He played a big, black bass fiddle. With sweat drip- -. ping and an insane grin that never left Ids face, he made love to that bass. Lying on his back with the bass on top, on top with the bass below, standing on it with the bass precariously balanced on its edge, on his knees with the bass positioned as a guitar or in a traditional upright position, spinning it between beats, Sutton put on a clinic in slap bass. The Moondogs played a combination of covers and originals. Sonny Fisher, Jerry Lee Lewis, Link Wray and Elvis Presley were covered. Most of the audience was too young to realize the band gave a history lesson along with the music. They covered many of the Gods of Rockabilly, men whose careers were finished long before audience members were bom. The audience didnt care about history, they were as covered with sweat as the band, the adoration on their faces was as intense as that of a boy at his first heavy metal concert. The Moondogs ended with Hank Mizzells Jungle Rock. The jungle calls from the stage were drowned out by those from the audience. It was 1 a.m., but in spite of the danger, the Moondogs returned for an encore. Liquor laws be damned. They chose Jerry Lee Lewis and High School Confidential as the encore. Audience members stretched out their hands to touch the members of a band that is unknown, except to the packed house at the Bar and Grill on Saturday night. None of them will ever forget this show, or the Moondogs. Want their CD? It is available from the Moondogs by writing to Jim Sutton at 822 Altgeld, Chicago, 111. 60614. Phone It is also available from hepcat records. P.O. Box 771306, Lake-wooOhio 44 107. Phone 216-5- 2 " 312-525-88- d, |