| Track by Track Review
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Buddy Merrill - The Green Hornet
This has some "Flight of the Bumble Bee" built into it. At its core it's a surf guitar jam that works really well. This is fun stuff. |
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Curtis Knight and The Squires, feat. Jimi Hendrix - Hornet's Nest
As you might guess, the guitar on this is on fire. I dig the organ work, too. This is another instrumental. It's a driving tune that rocks out like crazy.
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LaVern Baker - Bumble Bee
This is more of a contemporary pop song. The guitar sound is cool. I'm not crazy about the doo wop backing vocals. That said, the lead vocal performance is strong. It's a fun song overall. |
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Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra - Buzzin' Around With The Bee
The piano and horn work on this is great. The track has a solid groove and a lot of energy. This is a fun jazz romp. It's mostly an instrumental, but there are a couple lines of vocals in the mix. |
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Winifred Atwell - Bumble Boogie
A boogie piano rendition of "Flight of the Bumble Bee," this thing is on fire.
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Hank Williams - Fly Trouble
Built on a down-home country arrangement, this is a big change from anything we've heard to this point. It has its charms, but is a bit of a let-down for me.
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Buddy Lucas - Get Away, Fly
Blues and jazz merge on this cool number. It has a lot of charm and style.
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Chubby Checker - The Fly
Basically a variant on "The Twist," this is exactly what you'd expect from Chuck Berry. |
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Martin Denny - Tsetse Fly
With an arrangement built on tuned and non-tuned percussion, this is bouncy and fun. |
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Bobby Christian with The Allen Sisters - The Spider And The Fly
There is a driving sort of weird musical arrangement. The vocals have a theatrical spoken thing at play. They go a little overboard in trying to be creepy. This has an artsy vibe to it, and I respect the experimental nature, but it definitely feels like a novelty song. |
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John Zacherley - The Spider And The Fly
This has weird dialog and a piano backdrop. This artist was a horror host on the East Coast at one time. This has a theatrical novelty song feeling to it. It's another strange one, but it's fun. |
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The Nobles - Black Widow
We're back into surf guitar territory on this thing.
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Jack Hammer and The Pacers - Black Widow Spider Woman
This rock and roller is a lot of fun. It has plenty of energy and the wailing saxophone adds a lot of magic to it. |
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Bob Regan - Tarantula
I dig this guitar instrumental a lot. It's fun. It has some killer guitar work, too. |
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Bruce Gist and The Invaders - Tarantula
More of a surf guitar sound is at the heart of this piece. |
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The Sabres - Spider Walk
This rock and roller is pretty classy. It's sort of a mid-tempo romp. They add some little vocal flair at times to try to make it a little spooky.
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The Tarantulas - Tarantula
I really love the guitar work on this instrumental track. In fact, this piece is one of my favorites here. It just oozes style and cool. The organ is a nice touch, as well. |
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The Storms (Feat. Jody Reynolds) - Tarantula
This is another classy instrumental piece. It is also another of my favorites here.
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Abie 'Available' Baker - The Web
There is a creepy, slow jazzy groove to this piece. As strong as the last couple were, I think I might like this one even more. The vocals at times seem to take away from the number for me, but they add to it at other points.
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The Royal Teens - Little Cricket
This has an old time pop meets rock and roll groove. It seems a little too cheery and light-weight to me. The cricket sound on the track is really annoying. I think this might qualify as a "skip" track for me. |
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Freddy Sunder with The Ronnex Orchestra - Cucaracha Boogie
This jazzy contemporary pop number is way too vanilla for my tastes. While I think it's a step up from the last one, and I do like the piano and the instrumental break, it's not up the level of a lot of the other music here.
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Link Davis - Grasshopper Rock
The saxophone soloing on this stomper is so strong. This is a high-energy romp that works well. |
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Gene Maltais - The Bug
This rocking romp is a lot of fun. It's a pretty basic old-school rock and roller. |
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Brook Benton - The Boll Weevil Song
More of a country tune, the vocals are largely near spoken. This has some fun vibes. |
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Moon Mullican - The Wedding Of The Bugs
A rockabilly pop piece, this is entertaining. It's also silly and a little light-weight. |
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Chet 'Poison' Ivey - Lady Bug
This bouncy and energized rock and roller works pretty well. |
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The Swing Kings - The Bug
A guitar instrumental piece, this is pretty dated in sound, but it is fun. |
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Link Davis - Beatle Bug
This instrumental tune is high energy and so cool. It's a standout. It seems to deftly merge old-school rock and roll with jazz. Both the horn playing and the guitar get a chance to be showcased. |
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