| Track by Track Review
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DISC ONE:
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Blood On The Cats Original Album
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Alien Sex Fiend – Wild Women (Version)
Weird trippy ambience starts this. Percussion and vocals rise up after a time. The tune rocks out with a weird, sparse arrangement that is suitably psychotic for a while. Eventually guitar joins and brings more of the rockabilly angle. This keeps evolving with lots of weirdness on the menu. There is a punk edge here, too. |
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Sunglasses After Dark – Swamp Baby
This is driving, echoey and trippy fun. It works really well with its retro turned edgy angle. The vocals are shouted and strong. Heavy, dark and punk infused, this is all class. This gets faster moving later and really rocks out with a horror movie edge to it. |
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Bone Orchard – Fats Terminal
The old-school rock and roll angle on this is paired with a theatrical horror angle. The rhythm section is a big part of the arrangement. Christie McGee even channels Elvis Presley from time to time on her vocal delivery. |
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The Escalators – The Day The Sun Burned Down
More of a pure punk sound is all over this one. It reminds me of the punky side of Hawkwind. In fact, I can hear hints of "Quark Strangeness and Charm" on the tune. This is such a strong tune. |
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The Guana Batz – Cannibal Run
I love the high energy opening of this cut. The rockabilly concept is front-and-center here with a decidedly punk angle to it. |
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The Meteors – Graveyard Stomp
This has some great rockabilly meets old-school horror concept at play. This is high energy and so much fun. There is a modern, punky edge, but it's a more minor part of the song. |
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Screaming Lord Sutch Loony Party – Murder In The Graveyard
The opening to this is dramatic and theatrical. The cut shifts to a jazzy rock and roll groove from there. This is definitely an entertaining romp. |
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The Sting-Rays – Dinosaurs
Backwards tracked weirdness makes up a good chunk of this cut. The track moves out from there to fast=paced punk rock with plenty of rockabilly built into it. |
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The Outcasts – Seven Deadly Sins
Echoey rockabilly based punk is in the driver's seat on this swinging groove. It's another slab of cool. |
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The Ricochets – Runnin’ Wild
Driving and punky, this still has some rockabilly in the mix. It's fun, but not one of my favorites of the set. |
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Panther Burns – Red Headed Woman
Another driving tune, this has plenty of both old-school rock and roll and punk rock. This one doesn't really work all that well for me. |
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Plus
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The Revillos – Voodoo
This is lo-fi, echoey and so cool. It's high energy and seriously rocking. There are even some hints of The B-52s on this, largely from the backing vocals. |
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The Vibrators – Wolfman Howl
There is a definite surf guitar element at play on this thing at times. The cut is a powerhouse screamer that is more classy punk than it is rockabilly. That said, there is an old school rock and roll edge to it. I'm reminded of an updated "Monster Mash" in some ways. My only complaint is that this is too short. |
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The Brilliant Corners – Black Water
I love the bass sound on this number. The tune is more of a dramatic hard rock tune. There are some rockabilly hints, though. |
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Inca Babies – The Interior
Edgy punk drives this cut with a lot of style and energy. Yes, it does have some old-school rock and roll edge, but this sneering stomper is more pure punk to my ears. |
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Scientists – When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow
I really dig the echoey, trippy rock and roll meets punk concepts on this cut. It's such an interesting piece that seems firmly tied to the old garage band sound. |
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The Cannibals – Paralytic Confusion
Screaming hot and tastefully noisy punk is on the menu here. This thing is absolutely on fire. It's among the best here. The trippy echoey closing section is so cool. |
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The Jackals – Psychobilly Belinda
There is a lot more pure rockabilly in the mix here. This is energetic, but not really a standout for me. |
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The Rattlers – Scare Me To Death
I dig the fast paced rockabilly on this tune. This doesn't have a lot of punk in the mix. It features some classic guitar work and really grooves. |
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Restless – Blackcat
I dig the old-school rockabilly sound on this stomper. It's not a favorite, but it's a good tune. |
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Fireball XL5 – Rockin’ Shoes 22 Deltas – Heart Attack
Echoey and fast-paced, there is plenty of rockabilly here. This is fun but not really a standout. |
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Buzz And The Flyers – Let’s Bop
While a solid tune, this isn't really a highlight. It's just more old-school based sound. |
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Blue Cat Trio – Rockabilly Boogie
Another with a pretty pure rockabilly concept at its heart, this is fun. |
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Dave Phillips And The Hot Rod Gang – Tainted Love
This chestnut gets a solid performance here. I like this one quite a bit, really. It has plenty of both punk and rockabilly in the mix. |
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The Polecats – Marie Celeste
I dig the horror aspects that come into play on this one. The cut is echoey and very old-time rock and roll based. It's a fun tune that's among the stronger stuff here. |
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The Sharks – Skeleton Rock
The bopping bass on this is so cool, but the whole tune rocks so well. This is the very definition of graveyard rockabilly. |
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The Tronics – Wild Cat Rock
While this is a fun song, it's not one of my favorites. It's pretty much pure rockabilly. |
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Pearl Harbour – Voodoo Voodoo
Now, this rocker is great. It has some smoking hot classic rock guitar sounds, and the female vocals work so well on the tune. This is one of the highlights of the disc. |
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Darkness And Jive – Guys ’n’ Dolls
This rockabilly tune features both male and female vocals. It has plenty of both punk and old-time rock and roll built into it. |
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DISC TWO:
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The Cramps – Goo Goo Muck
I have always liked The Cramps a lot. This doesn't have the wall of sound concept that I am used to hearing from them, but it does still have plenty of their usual graveyard cool. |
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The Gun Club – Preaching The Blues
A hard-rocking jam opens this, but it drops to a stripped back arrangement for the first vocals. The cut works out from there with a lot of rock and roll style as it continues. I can make out some George Thorogood on this, but also some Violent Femmes along with other things. |
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Grant And The Geezers – Monster Stomp
Bouncing rock and roll is the order of business here. This tune is a lot of fun. |
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King Kurt – Destination Zululand
I really love the energy and groove of this rocker. It's quite effective and oozes cool. |
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The Nomads – Psycho
This killer punk tune is another that makes me think of Hawkwind's punk side to some degree. There is some Iggy and The Stooges in here, too. |
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The Sid Presley Experience – Public Enemy Number One
This is so much fun. It has plenty of punk cool and real meat on the bones. There are the sounds of sirens and a shootout on the tune. |
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Naz Nomad and The Nightmares – She Lied
Fierce punk is on the menu here. This has some old school rock and roll, but it's drenched in fuzz and punk angst. |
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The Bananamen – Surfin’ Bird
A noisy cover of the old classic, this gets pretty crazed. It's a fun one. There is an echoey vocal piece mid-track that is weird. It comes back out of there, but then dissolves into more serious weirdness later in the tune. They come back out of that, but the tune is still noisy and crazed. In some ways it makes me think of The Dead Boys. |
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Restless – Mr. Blues
As this comes in it feels a lot like The Stray Cats. That element is still on display as this drives out from there. This is another fun romp. |
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The Voodoo Dolls – Split Personality (EP version)
Echoey and noisy, this is somewhat trippy. It has a noisy sort of a rockabilly groove to it. |
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The Primevals – This Kind Of Love
Edgy, hard rocking and quite classy, this is another fun romp. It lands more on the pure punk end of the spectrum. |
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The Delmonas – Peter Gunn Locomotion
This unusual mashup is a lot of fun. I'm reminded a bit of The B-62s on this tune. It's one of the highlights of the set for me. The female vocals have such a great old school rock and roll sound to them. |
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The Milkshakes – Comanche
A cover of a classic surf guitar rocker, this works well. |
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The Vibes – The Underestimated Man
This rocker is more punky than some of the others. Still it has plenty of that rockabilly edge to it. |
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The Tall Boys – Feel It
Here we get another punky groove. I like this quite a bit. There are some almost Doors-like vibes on this tune at times. |
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The Prisoners – Revenge Of The Cybermen
They had me before this even started because I'm a huge "Doctor Who" fan. Some trippy weirdness brings it into being. After a processed vocals reads the title they launch into some old-school rock and roll jamming. The organ on this brings some cool retro textures, and the guitar soloing is on fire. Even without the DW connection, this instrumental is one of the best tunes here. |
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The Playn Jayn – Rockin’ Hearse (Live)
Another hard rocker, this is a good live recording. This has plenty of both punk and rockabilly in the mix. |
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The X-Men – Do The Ghost
Old school rock and roll merges with the punk angles on this killer rocker. |
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The Golden Horde – Vampire Bat
I like the female vocals on this. The hard-edged, energized rocking groove on this thing is so strong, too. The guitar solo is on fire. |
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The Screaming Blue Messiahs – Good And Gone
This punk stomper has a lot of energy and tons of cool. The vocals are sort of between shouted and sung. |
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The Raymen – Man From Mars (original 1984 version)
Screaming hard rocking edges are all over this screamer. It's driving and so classy. |
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The Meteors – I’m Just A Dog
This powerhouse has a punk meets rock and roll angle to it. It's another solid entry. |
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Frenzy – Cry Or Die
A fun rocker, I like this a lot. It has plenty of echoey punk angles, but the driving rock and roll is the dominant thing here. |
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Erazerhead – Werewolf
Wolf howling can be heard at the beginning of this. Then a weird little, echoey distant old-time rock and roll tune is heard. That gives way to screaming hot punk meets rockabilly jamming for the song proper. I'm reminded of The Ramones on this to a large degree. They take this through some changes, and it is turned into a literal howling good time later. |
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The Krewmen – Death Letter Blues
Bass driven at the start, this rocker drives out with a lot of style. I'm definitely reminded of Jim Morrison on this number. |
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The Fuzztones – Ward 81
There is a spoken introduction here that is a preacher in front of his congregation. The band rises up there with a killer fuzz-driven psychedelic jam. This is definitely classy stuff. It drops back later for the return of the preacher, but it is accompanied by some cool tasty guitar soloing. Eventually it works out from there back to the song proper. |
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