VA - Born Bad Volumes 1-6

In 1986 the first of a series of compilations entitled "Born Bad" introduced listeners to a number of bands that greatly influenced the rockabilly and psychobilly bands in the decades that followed. Perhaps the most important band to emerge was The Cramps, a band that I have featured here on DM many times in the past. The Cramps helped to usher in a new wave of rockabilly acts across the world, and inadvertently created a new genre in the process. They combined the sound and style of the early country, rockabilly and garage rock acts of the '50s and '60s with the newly emerging punk rock attitude and style of the late '70s. Their unique approach was labeled as "Psychobilly", and thus a genre was born.

The Born Bad series collects together the original music that inspired bands such as The Cramps. The six original volumes contain 84 tracks, with each volume in the series containing 14 tracks. The first volume is often listed as "Volume One: Songs The Cramps Taught Us", not to be confused with the bootleg release of the same name, which can be found here: http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/2007/12/various-artists-songs-cramps-taught-us.html A sticker was included on the vinyl release of the first volume that read "Songs The Cramps Taught Us", although it would not be included on any of the volumes that followed. For those of you who are interested in listening to the early rockabilly, country, rock 'n' roll and garage rock acts of the '50s and '60s that inspired The Cramps, it gets no better than this compilation. Those of you who are familiar with The Cramps will recognize these songs, as the band sought to pay tribute to the artists that inspired them by performing their own cover versions to many of the songs contained in the Born Bad series.

The Born Bad series has proven to be one of the most popular posts on the blog. This is actually the third incarnation of the series that I have posted. Each time I have re-posted it I have attempted to improve the download being presented in terms of quality and features. Once again I have replaced the previous version with one consisting of MP3 files of a higher quality bitrate. Perhaps one day I'll get lucky enough to obtain a version of this in either FLAC or 320kbps MP3. I have exhausted all possibilities while searching for higher quality versions, but I have yet to find anything better than 192kbps. I have also included the liner notes for each individual volume, and managed to track down a number of images other than the front album covers.

Decades after the first volume was released someone decided to create two bootleg volumes to expand on the original six, and I will be posting those two volumes (Volumes 7 & 8) next. Due to the fact that they are bootleg releases, and not officially affiliated with the original six volumes, I decided to dedicate a separate post to those volumes. You can find Born Bad Volumes 7 & 8 posted here: http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/2010/11/born-bad-volumes-7-8.html

Born Bad Volume 1

Label: Born Bad
Genres: Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Proto-Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps
Format: MP3

Tracklist:
1. The Bostweeds - Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
2. Ronnie Cook - Goo Goo Muck
3. Link Wray - Fat Back
4. Dwight Pullen - Sunglasses After Dark
5. Glenn Glenn - Everybody's Movin'
6. Roy Orbison - Domino
7. The Sonics - Strychnine
8. The Groupies - Primitive
9. Ronnie Dawson - Rockin' Bones
10. The Third Bardo - I'm Five Years Ahead of My TIme
11. Warren Smith - Uranium Rock
12. Mel Robbins - Save It
13. The Novas - The Crusher
14. Wanda Jackson - Funnel of Love

Download: Born Bad Vol. 1
Download Size: 49MB

Born Bad Volume 2

Label: Born Bad
Genres: Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Proto-Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps
Format: MP3

Tracklist:
1. The Phantom - Love Me
2. Jimmy Loyd - Rocket In My Pocket
3. Tommy James & The Shondells - Hanky Panky
4. Paul Revere & the Raiders - Hungry
5. Kasenetz-Katz Super Circus - Quick Joey Small
6. Charlie Feathers - I Can't Hardly Stand It
7. Jimmy Stewart - Rock On The Moon
8. Hasil Adkins - She Said
9. Dale Hawkins - Tornado
10. Little Willie John - Fever
11. Jackie Lee Cochran - Sweet Georgia Lee Brown
12. Dave 'diddle' Day - Blue Moon Baby
13. Jody Reynolds - Fire of Love
14. Ricky Nelson - Lonesome Town

Download: Born Bad Vol. 2
Download Size: 50MB

Born Bad Volume 3

Label: Born Bad
Genres: Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Proto-Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps
Format: MP3

Tracklist:
1. Kip Tyler & His Flips - Jungle Hop
2. The Busters - Bust Out
3. Jett Powers - Go, Girl, Go
4. The Riptides - Machine Gun
5. The Rivingtons - Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow
6. The Rivingtons - The Bird's The Word
7. The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird
8. Andre Williams & His New Group - Bacon Fat
9. Andre Williams - Jail Bait
10. The Frantics - Werewolf
11. Del Raney's Umbrella's - Can Your Hossie Do The Dog
12. Jack Scott - The Way I Walk
13. Andy Starr - Give Me A Woman
14. Herbie Duncan - Hot Lips Baby

Download: Born Bad Vol. 3
Download Size: 49MB

Born Bad Volume 4

Label: Born Bad
Genres: Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Proto-Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps

Tracklist:
1. Buddy Love - Heartbreak Hotel
2. The Shades - Strollin' After Dark
3. Spark Plugs - Chicken
4. Nat Couty and the Braves - Woodpecker Rock
5. Ward Darby & the Raves - Safari
6. Shortly Long - Devil With The Blue Dress On
7. The Red Crayola - Hurricane Fighter Blues
8. The Standells - Barracuda
9. Richard Berry and the Pharoahs - Louie Louie
10. The Tune Rockers - Green Mosquito
11. Duane Eddy & the Rebels - Girl on Death Row
12. The Rumblers - Boss
13. Bill Allen & the Backbeats - Please Give Me Something
14. Alfred E. Neuman - It's A Gas

Download: Born Bad Vol. 4
Download Size: 51MB

Born Bad Volume 5

Label: Born Bad
Genres: Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Proto-Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps
Format: MP3

Tracklist:
1. Kai Ray - I Want Some of That
2. The Instrumentals - Chop Suey Rock
3. The Raindrops - Hanky Panky
4. Jerry Warren & the Tremblers - Rompin'
5. Carl Perkins - Her Love Rubbed Off
6. The Readymen - Shortnin' Bread
7. The Joker - What Is A Fisterris
8. The Fendermen - Mule Skinner Blues
9. Three Aces & A Joker - Booze Party
10. Lonnie Allen - You'll Never Change Me
11. Macy Skipper - Bop Pills
12. Mac Rebennack - Storm Warning
13. Freddy & the Hitchhikers - Sinners
14. Charlie Feathers - It's Just That Song

Download: Born Bad Vol. 5
Download Size: 50MB

Born Bad Volume 6

Label: Born Bad
Genres: Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Proto-Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps
Format: MP3

Tracklist:
1. Dean Carter - Jailhouse Rock
2. Lee Dresser & The Krazy Kats - Beat Out My Love
3. The Ventures - The Fourth Dimension
4. J.J. Jackson & the Jackaels - Oo-Ma-Liddi
5. The Sonics - He's Waitin'
6. The Wailers - Dirty Robber
7. Carol Connors & The Cycles - Yum Yum Yamaha
8. The Flower Children - Mini-Skirt Blues
9. The Sparkles - Hipsville 29 B.C. (I Need Your Help)
10. Jim Lowe - Green Door
11. Mel Smith & The Night Riders - Pretty Plaid Skirt (and Long Black Sox)
12. The Runabouts - When I Get The Blues (The Strangeness In Me)
13. Tommy Jim Beam & the Four Fifths - Golden Boy
14. Ric Cartey - Oo Eee

Download: Born Bad Vol. 6
Download Size: 50MB

Born Bad Volumes 7 & 8

This is a continuation of my previous post in which I posted Born Bad Volumes 1 through 6, which can be found posted here: http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/2007/04/born-bad-compilation-series-collects.html I'm on break from school, and I have to go to work as soon as I get out, so I'm going to keep this post short. Many years after the original Born Bad compilation series was released, an individual released a couple of bootlegs, Born Bad Volumes 7 & 8. For the most part the music contained within these volumes is in the same vein as the rest of the series. One noticeable difference is the absence of songs which would eventually be covered by The Cramps, which were heavily featured throughout the first six volumes. Another minor difference is that both volumes contain 16 tracks, while the original six volumes contained 14 tracks each. Aside from these differences these bootleg volumes integrate well with the first six volumes, and one can listen to them all seamlessly. Below you will find an excerpt from my previous post, which covers some of the general info about the first six volumes:

In 1986 the first of a series of compilations entitled "Born Bad" introduced listeners to a number of bands that greatly influenced the rockabilly and psychobilly bands in the decades that followed. Perhaps the most important band to emerge was The Cramps, a band that I have featured here on DM many times in the past. The Cramps helped to usher in a new wave of rockabilly acts across the world, and inadvertently created a new genre in the process. They combined the sound and style of the early country, rockabilly and garage rock acts of the '50s and '60s with the newly emerging punk rock attitude and style of the late '70s. Their unique approach was labeled as "Psychobilly", and thus a genre was born.

The Born Bad series collects together the original music that inspired bands such as The Cramps. The six original volumes contain 84 tracks, with each volume in the series containing 14 tracks. The first volume is often listed as "Volume One: Songs The Cramps Taught Us", not to be confused with the bootleg release of the same name, which can be found here: http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/2007/12/various-artists-songs-cramps-taught-us.html A sticker was included on the vinyl release of the first volume that read "Songs The Cramps Taught Us", although it would not be included on any of the volumes that followed. For those of you who are interested in listening to the early rockabilly, country, rock 'n' roll and garage rock acts of the '50s and '60s that inspired The Cramps, it gets no better than this compilation. Those of you who are familiar with The Cramps will recognize these songs, as the band sought to pay tribute to the artists that inspired them by performing their own cover versions to many of the songs contained in the Born Bad series.

Born Bad Volume 7

Label: Born Bad
Genres: Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Proto-Punk
Bitrate: 220VBR
Format: MP3

Tracklist:
1. Ric Cartey - Oo Wee Baby
2. Johnny Fortune - Dragster
3. The Blues Rockers - Calling All Cows
4. Roy Brown - Buther Pete Part 1
5. Larry Phillipson - Bitter Feelings
6. Terry Dunavan - Earthquake Boogie
7. The Shells - Whiplash
8. The Fanatics - I Will Not Be Lonely
9. The Wailers - Hang Up
10. Junior Thompson - How Come You Do Me
11. The Rhythm Rockers - Madness
12. Kit & the Outlaws - Don't Tread On Me
13. Charlie Feathers - One Hand Loose
14. The Embers - I Walked All Night
15. Gene Summers - Taboo
16. Link Wray - Rumble

Download: Born Bad Vol. 7
Download Size: 51MB

Born Bad Volume 8

Label: Born Bad
Genres: Garage Rock, Rockabilly, Proto-Punk
Bitrate: 192kbps
Format: MP3

Tracklist:
1. Sheriff & the Ravels - Shombolar
2. Bo Diddley - Dancing Girl
3. Walter Brown - Jelly Roll Rock
4. Keith Courvale - Trapped Love
5. Hayden Thompson - Blues, Blues, Blues
6. Lightnin' Slim - It's Mighty Crazy
7. Roy Brown - Butcher Pete, Part 2
8. Danny Dell - Froggy Went A Courting
9. Fender Four - Margaya
10. Elvis Presley - Do The Clam
11. Slim Harpo - Strange Love
12. Randy Alvey - Green Fuzz
13. Captain Beefheart - Hard Working Man
14. Sonny Burgess - Red Headed Woman
15. Don & the Galaxies - Sundown (Instrumental)
16. The Revels - Intoxica

Download: Born Bad Vol. 8
Download Size: 54MB

The Cramps - Bad Music For Bad People

Here is yet another fine album by the Cramps. I have posted a few more albums in the past, which you will find if you use the search bar above. This collection of B-sides and rarities was seen by many as an attempt to cash in on the band's departure by I.R.S. records. This one is far from being a long player also, with "Bad Music" clocking in at only 31 minutes long. Don't let that deter you though, as each song is packed with energy and a performance that only The Cramps can deliver. The most well known song on the album is "New Kind of Kick", a song which has plenty of attitude to burn, with Interior getting lyrically rude more than once and Ivy turning in some fierce, screeching guitar. Another winner is the sleazy "Drug Train," originally the B-side to "Garbageman," which celebrates debauchery with the expected gusto. Knox gets to show his command for steady but right drumming on this one, while Interior and Ivy go crazy with the usual enthusiasm.

The usual selection of covers of rockabilly and garage rarities also surfaces, most memorably with a ripping cover of Hasil Adkins' "She Said." More semi-hits like "Human Fly" and "Goo Goo Muck" surface as well, making the whole release a fine if overly short overview of the Cramps' vision. Production at points ventures into the totally primitive, which is all the more appropriate for the band in question, admittedly giving everything the necessarily rough-and-ready atmosphere for the group's own brand of scummy sleaze. The artwork is notable in its own right, with the fleshless big-haired ghoul on the cover having turned into an icon for the Cramps and psychobilly music worldwide.

Year of Release: 1984
Label: I.R.S. Records
Genres: Psychobilly, Punk
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List
1. Garbageman
2. New Kind Of Kick
3. Love Me
4. I Can't Hardly Stand It
5. She Said
6. Goo Goo Muck
7. Save It
8. Human Fly
9. Drug Train
10. TV Set
11. Uranium Rock

Download: The Cramps - Bad Music For Bad People
Download Size: 68MB

Edit: I re-uploaded this as requested. I also increased the bitrate to 320kbps. Enjoy!

The Cramps - Live at CBGB's January 13, 1978

This is a vinyl rip of a limited edition (autographed) live LP given away at CBGB's 20th Anniversary Show on December 10th, 1993 by The Cramps. Entitled "Frank Furter and the Hot Dogs", it features an 11 song set by the Cramps performed at CBGB's in New York on January 13th, 1978. As with any live Cramps performance, this is full of high-spirited rockabilly/psychobilly music, accompanied by the vocals, pants, howls, and growls of Lux Interior. The recording isn't of the highest quality, but it certainly qualifies as listenable, and would be an essential album for Cramps fan's collection. As a bonus, I have also added a clip of the Cramps performing "Teenage Werewolf" nearly three years later, which is taken from the Urgh! A Music War" video.

Year of Recording: 1978
Year of Release: 1993
Genre: Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Punk
Bitrate: 128kbps

Download: The Cramps - Live at CBGB's January 13th 1978
Download Size: 27MB

The Cramps - Teenage Werewolf
Urgh! A Music War (1980)






Watch In High Quality

The Cramps - Smell Of Female

This live EP, recorded at famed NYC punk venue The Peppermint Lounge, was released in 1983, bridging the lengthy gap between The Cramps' second and third albums. It's a bit of a classic in its own right however. Taking its title from the voiceover prologue to Russ Meyer's cult film 'Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!', 'Smell of Female' includes a cover of the film's hilarious theme song, along with four original songs and a cover of The Count Five's trash-rock hit 'Psychotic Reaction'. The Cramps deliver energetically throughout, and there are no really weak songs. The CD release features three bonus tracks, including the studio cut 'Surfin' Dead', which was used on the soundtrack of 'Return of the Living Dead'. This is the best available document of the live sound of The Cramps in their heyday, and as such is highly recommended. The cover shots of Poison Ivy Rorschach shaking a tail feather are a nice bonus!

Track List:
1. Most Exalted Potentate Of Love
2. You Got Good Taste
3. Call Of The Wighat
4. Faster Pussycat
5. I Ain't Nothin' But A Gorehound
6. Psychotic Reaction
7. Beautiful Gardens
8. She Said
9. Surfin' Dead

Download: The Cramps - Smell Of Female (46.3MB)

Gun Club - Fire of Love

The Gun Club's debut is the watermark for all post-punk roots music. This features the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce's swamped-out brand of roiling rock, swaggerific hell-bound blues, and gothic country. With Pierce's wailing high lonesome slide guitar twinned with Ward Dotson's spine-shaking riffs and the solid yet off-the-rails rhythm section of bassist Rob Ritter and drummer Terry Graham, the Gun Club burst out of L.A. in the early '80s with a bone to pick and a mountain to move -- and they accomplished both on their debut album. With awesome, stripped to the frame production by the Flesh Eaters' Chris D., Fire of Love blew away all expectations -- and with good reason. Nobody has heard music like this before or since. Pierce's songs were rooted in his land of Texas. On "Sex Beat," a razor-sharp country one-two shuffle becomes a howling wind as Pierce's wasted, half-sung half-howled vocals relate a tale of voodoo, sex, dope, and death. The song choogles like a freight train coming undone in a twister. Here Black Flag, the Sex Pistols, Son House, and the coughing, hacking rambling ghost of Hank Williams all converge in a reckless mass of seething energy and nearly evil intent. As if the opener weren't enough of a jolt, the Gun Club follow this with a careening version of House's "Preachin the Blues," full of staccato phrasing and blazing slide. But it isn't until the anthemic, opiate-addled country of "She's Like Heroin to Me" and the truly frightening punk-blues of "Ghost on the Highway" that the listener comes to grip with the awesome terror that is the Gun Club. The songs become rock & roll ciphers, erasing themselves as soon as they speak, heading off into the whirlwind of a storm that is so big, so black, and so awful one cannot meditate on anything but its power. Fire of Love may be just what the doctor ordered, but to cure or kill is anybody's guess. (Year of Release: 1981)

Track List:
1. Sex Beat
2. Preaching The Blues
3. Promise Me
4. She's Like Heroin To Me
5. For The Love Of Ivy
6. Fire Spirit
7. Ghost On The Highway
8. Jack On Fire
9. Black Train
10. Cool Drink Of Water
11. Goodbye Johnny

Download Gun Club - Fire of Love (46MB)

Video of the Week: The Cramps - Tear It Up - Urgh! A Music War

The Cramps - Tear It Up

Lux Interior's stage presence can be described in many ways.. electrifying, comical, or even disturbing. You can rest assured that it will never be described as dull though. This particular performance from Urgh! A Music War is one of the best that I've seen. Rather than spoil the interesting parts, I'll just let the video speak for itself.

Urgh! A Music War is a British film released in 1981. It featured performances by punk rock, New Wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980. All performances are live, recorded around 1980, mainly in England and the USA. There is a bit of controversy surrounding the film, concerning the rights of the movie, and the possibility of a DVD release. You can read more about the film, and the surrounding controversy below.

Wikipedia Article
View More Videos From Urgh! A Music War

Various Artists - Songs the Cramps Taught Us Vol. 1

The Cramps are a Psychobilly band whose only permanent members have been Lux Interior (Erick Purkhiser) and Poison Ivy (Kristy Wallace), the lead singer and lead guitarist respectively. Their musical style is stripped-down rockabilly, mostly in twelve bar blues form, played at varying, though usually fast, tempos, with a very minimal drumkit. The compelling part of the early Cramps sound is dual guitars - Ivy's Fender Twin Reverbed twang paired with Bryan Gregory's brutal Superfuzzed grind - without a bassist. The content of their songs and image is sleaze, the same trashy Americana John Waters celebrates, sexual fetishism, clever bad jokes, and a lot of cheap, horror B-movie cliches. Influences on the sound are early rockabilly and proto-rock'n'roll like Link Wray and Hasil Adkins, 1960s surf music acts such as The Ventures and Dick Dale; 1960s garage rock artists like The Standells, The Gants, and The Sonics, as well as the post-Glam/early punk scene from which they emerged. They also were influenced to a degree by The Ramones and owe a lot to Screamin' Jay Hawkins for having invented the theatrical, horror-blues stage act. In turn, they have strongly influenced subsequent punk and rockabilly revival bands, even creating a genre in their wake. "Psychobilly," a style played by bands like The Meteors and the Sharks, is a term coined by the Cramps, although Lux Interior maintains that the term does not describe their own style. The Cramps' music, flamboyance, and glamour influenced or anticipated acts like The White Stripes, The Gun Club, The Fuzztones, James Chance and the Contortions, The Birthday Party with Nick Cave, The Dum Dum Boys, The Meteors, Flat Duo Jets, and Tav Falco's Panther Burns.

Track List:
1. Sparkles - Hipsville 29 B.C.
2. Dwight Pullen - Sunglasses After Dark
3. Link Wray - Fatback
4. Sherrif & Ravels - Shombolar
5. Riptides - Machine Gun
6. Bo Diddley - Dancing Girl
7. Trashmen - Surfin Bird
8. Walter Brown - Jelly Roll Rock
9. Sonics - Strychnine
10. Rumblers - Boss
11. Third Bardo - Bikini Girls With Machine Guns
12. Busters - Bust Out
13. The Phantom - Love Me
14. Jett Powers - Go Girl Go
15. Ronnie Cook & Gaylads - Goo Goo Muck
16. Runabouts - Strangeness In Me
17. Groupies - Primitive
18. Frantics - Werewolf
19. Elroy Dietzel - Rockin Bones
20. Dale Hawkins - Tornado
21. Shells - Whiplash
22. Keith Courvale - Trapped Love
23. Freddie & Hitchikers - Sinners
24. Charlie Feathers - Can't Hardly Stand It
25. Andy Starr - Give Me A Woman
26. R. Lewis Band - Get Off The Road
27. Hayden Thompson - Blues Blues Blues
28. Lee Dresser & Krazy Kats - Beat Out My Love
29. Andre Williams - Bacon Fat
30. Jack Scott - The Way I Walk
31. Elvis Presley - Do The Clam

Download: Songs the Cramps Taught Us Vol. 1
Download Size: 103MB

The Cramps - Totally Destroy Seattle (Live Bootleg)

I couldn't find out much information about this recording, other than the fact that it was recorded on May 20th, 1982 at Astor Park in Seattle, Washington. There appears to be a lot of Cramps fans that visit here, so I thought you all would enjoy this. Here's the information that was included with this bootleg:


At one time I was a regular dealer at local record conventions. I met this guy at my booth who wanted to trade music. He said he had this album by the Cramps, which was extremely limited, even by bootleg standards. It was locally pressed in Seattle on red vinyl, and the cover was silk-screened directly on the record jacket. At a time when most boot LPs sold for under $10USD, he had paid over $25USD for it.

This record was transferred through Burwen Research Labs TNF and DNR units onto a TDK SA90 in approximately 1985. Burwen Research had developed the first analog pop and click remover (TNF = Transient Noise Filter) on the market, as well as the first analog noise reduction unit (DNR = Dynamic Noise Reduction). Burwen Research were bought out by KLH in the late 1980's, then KLH went out of business. When the name KLH was used again in the audio market some years later, it was a different company and these units were no longer produced. These units worked very well, and were easier to set than today's digital programming.

(Year of Release: 1982)

Track List:
1. Domino
2. Human Fly
3. Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
4. I'm Five Years Ahead Of My Time
5. Primitive
6. Goo Goo Muck
7. Reality (Beautiful Gardens)
8. TV Set
9. Sunglasses After Dark
10. Garbage Man
11. Psychotic Reaction

Download: The Cramps - Totally Destroy Seattle (66.8MB)

Tav Falco's Panther Burns - Panther Phobia

I snagged this from the TWILIGHTZONE! music blog (link below and in sidebar), which I consider the best music blog on the net. I would like to thank RYP, who runs that blog, for introducing me to so many wonderful bands, and I hope he won't mind if I use the description from his blog, as I'm pressed for time at the moment.

Yeah, it's your world now: Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Doo Rag, the Gories, the Gibson Brothers, Fat Possum Records and Rooster Blues, the Flat Duo Jets, Southern Culture on the Skids. Sure they rock. They all rock. And when they were rocking in their mamas' arms (about nine months after we balled'em), Tav Falco and his Unapproachable Panther Burns were shaking all over. These were wreckabilly, juntabilly, psychotropic evenings long before such genres were termed, when the difference between the Panther Burns and Charlie Feathers was mostly age and a few notches on the volume knob of a Vibroverb amp. Okay, and Charlie knew how to play.
Tav on the band's end of the '70s noise rock origins: "Here was an art form I could participate in by just picking up the instrument, like a Kodak Instamatic camera. It was the feeling and aesthetic that mattered, more than musicianship or virtuosity. I didn't feel hindered by my lack of conventional guitar knowledge. I just went into it full tilt."

Before applying his vision to the guitar, Tav Falco was a filmmaker and documentarian. He amassed knowledge of regal Memphis area musical greats and championed their work even before he could replicate it. (He has since gotten down with Jim Jarmusch and collaborated filmicly with Kenneth Anger, and had roles in several films, including "Great Balls of Fire" and "Highway 61." His movie appearance in the current retro-release of "Downtown 81", featuring Jan Michel Basquiat, resulted from the Panther Burns' movements on the East Village No Wave art scene in the 1980s.) Among the talent whom Tav Falco and his Panther Burns have brought to greater renown: R. L. Burnside had yet to record an album when Panther Burns began covering his songs. (Tav's 1974 footage of R. L.'s juke joint is a compelling document of a world that is slipping away.) Charlie Feathers hadn't gigged in years when Panther Burns made him a regular guest on their stage. The great rockabilly songs of Cordell Jackson ("Dateless Night," "She's The One That's Got It") found a new audience and the guitarist herself has enjoyed a second career since the Panther Burns turned the spotlight toward her. The Sir Mack Rice omnibus had receded to a couple hits before the Panther Burns revived his more outre tracks: "Tina The Go Go Queen" and "Ditch Diggin'" among others. Long before master musician Othar Turner and his Rising Star Fife and Drum Band were known to the world, the Panther Burns enlisted their talents on the band's first LP (1980's Behind the Magnolia Curtain). In the lean years of the early 1980s, the Panther Burns brought regular work to Alex Chilton and Jim Dickinson, both of whom played with and produced the band.

Tav: "The Panther Burns are the missing link between the earlier forms of swamp blues' unbridled howl and the psychological onslaught of the new millennium. We are, essentially, the ditch diggers in American music."

Named after a legendary plantation located still off 61 Highway in the lower Delta, the Panther Burns began their art actions around 1979 in a Memphis cotton loft, grew through the 1990s to a home in Vienna (and in Paris where their tango performance attracted international notoriety), and with this brilliant Panther Phobia have returned to the mythic Memphis garage of their origins. Recorded and mixed in Memphis, Tennessee, by Msrs. Jeffrey Evans (former Gibson Brother and the talent behind the '68 Comeback) and Doug Easley (producer and host to the stars at his studio, Easley Recording (901-323-5407)), Panther Phobia heralds a return to the tumultuous and exuberant tones and groans of the Panther Burns's landmark Behind The Magnolia Curtain. The music is organic, like a landlord's eviction squad. Drums pound like irate neighbors at the door. Slow songs snake like a chick passing out on 'ludes. You will lock your doors when you hear this record, you will bar your windows. Blood will flow from your nose, your lungs will itch. You will get a divorce, a speeding ticket, eleven twenty nine in the workhouse.

Tav: "You may have heard of the comedia del'arte, the peripatetic theater troupe of the 15th century, well the more rustic American version is the Panther Burns' staging of what we term antler del'arte. In other words, Panther Burns are the last steam engine train on the track that don't do nothing but run and blow."

Track List:
1. Streamline Train
2. She Wants To Sell My Monkey
3. Going Home
4. Once I Had A Car
5. The Young Psychotics
6. Cypress Grove
7. Wild Wild Women
8. Cockroach
9. Mellow Peaches
10. Panther Phobia: Manifesto!
11. This Could Go On Forever

Download: Tav Falco's Panther Burns - Panther Phobia (70.2MB)

TWILIGHTZONE! Music Blog

Horrorpops - Hell Yeah

Fronted by upright bassist/vocalist Kim Nekroman, the sextet have absorbed a heady mix of '50s rock & roll and late-70s punk, and given birth to a debut that's genuinely fun. The leadoff track, "Julia," utilizes the steady lurch of the Clash's "London Calling" to set the stage for a record that, while positively rank with influences, somehow manages to rise above them and achieve a singular voice, and that voice belongs to Nekroman, a statuesque, subterranean Betty Boop, with a set of pipes that alternately comfort and destroy. With her cat-like growl and thick-slapped bass, she burns through standout tracks like "Ghouls" and "Psychobitches Outta Hell" with an abandon that recalls the feline energy of early B-52's. As a group, the HorrorPops sound like a small army, and like the Misfits, they fill each chorus with wordless melodies and unison replies. The obligatory surf-instrumental, "Horrorbeach," transcends the banality of the billion or so revivalists who have nearly beaten the genre out of existence. By adopting such a devil-may-care attitude to a style that nearly invented the phrase, they have avoided the forced reverence of previous imitators, and brought back the simple, sexy enthusiasm that made rockabilly so forward thinking in the first place. It's this kind of execution, attitude, and middle-finger-with-a-grin approachability that makes the HorrorPops a band to watch out for. (Year of Release: 2004)

Track List:
1. Julia
2. Drama Queen
3. Ghouls
4. Girl in a Cage
5. Miss Take
6. Where They Wander
7. Kool Flattop
8. Psychobitches Outta Hell
9. Dotted With Hearts
10. Baby Lou Tattoo
11. What's Under My Bed
12. Emotional Abuse
13. Horrorbeach

Download: Horrorpops - Hell Yeah (55.3MB)

Reverend Horton Heat - Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

Rockabilly is the purest form of rock and roll music there is. It didn't remain popular past the late'50's and early `60's, but it can hardly be considered a fad. It is the basis for which all forms of rock and roll emerged.

The Reverend Horton Heat is not just simply copying the rockabilly of the past, but he's giving it the freedom wasn't allowed in the 1950's. He puts the energy and rebellion right out in front, something the rockabilly artists of the past were forced to be much more subtle about.

"Smoke`Em If You Got`Em" is sleazy, trashy, fun listen from beginning to end. "Bullet" is an instrumental that effectively builds the anticipation to hear the Rev burst in with his potent voice and crazy lyrics. "I'm Mad" follows up perfectly as the hardest rocking song on the album.
From there on, it's one catchy song after another. "Bad Reputation" swings like no other song and is entirely too much fun. "Psychobilly Freakout" is the twisted cousin of "Surfin' Bird" and "Eat Steak" has to one the funniest, yet demented song ever recorded.

If it's untamed rock and roll you're after, this will not fail to satisfy. (Year of Release: 1991)

Track List:
1. Bullet
2. I'm Mad
3. Bad Reputation
4. It's A Dark Day
5. Big Dwarf Rodeo
6. Psychobilly Freakout
7. Put It To Me Straight
8. Marijuana
9. Baby, You Know Who
10. Eat Steak
11. 'D' For Dangerous
12. Love Whip

Download: Reverend Horton Heat - Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em (44.7MB)

The Cramps - Songs The Lord Taught Us

Continuing the spooked-out and raging snarls of Gravest Hits, the Cramps once again worked with Alex Chilton on the group's full-album debut, Songs the Lord Taught Us. The jacket reads "file under: sacred music," but only if one's definition includes the holy love of rockabilly sex-stomp, something which the Cramps fulfill in spades. Having spent Gravest Hits mostly doing revamps of older material, the foursome tackled a slew of originals like "The Mad Daddy" and "TV Set" this time around, creating one of the few neo-rockabilly records worthy of the name. Years later Songs still drips with threat and desire both, testament to both the band's worth and Chilton's just-right production. "Garbageman" surfaced as a single in some areas, a wise choice given the at-once catchy roll of the song and downright frightening guitar snarls, especially on the solo. The covers of the Sonics' "Strychnine" and Billy Burnette's "Tear It Up" -- not to mention the concluding riff on "Fever" -- all challenge the originals. Interior has the wailing, hiccuping, and more down pat, but transformed into his own breathless howl, while Ivy and Gregory keep up the electric fuzz through more layers of echo than legality should allow. Knox helms the drums relentlessly; instead of punching through arena rock style, Chilton keeps him the rushed rhythm running along in the back, increasing the sheer psychosis of it all. (Year of Release: 1980)

Track List:
1. TV Set
2. Rock On The Moon
3. Garbageman
4. I Was A Teenage Werewolf
5. Sunglasses After Dark
6. The Mad Daddy
7. Mystery Plane
8. Zombie Dance
9. What's Behind The Mask
10. Strychnine
11. I'm Cramped
12. Tear It Up
13. Fever

Download: The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taught Us (56.1MB)