The Fleshtones "Hitsburg USA!" 1997***

Some time ago I presented Hitsburg Revisited together with an account of my first Fleshtones concert circa 1998. As I mentioned then, that album was a sequel to Hitsburg USA!, their first all-covers compilation. The latter was a bit harder to get as it was only issued in vinyl in the States, and had a single CD edition by a Spanish label. I recently happened upon it at a second hand market in Barcelona and thought "Why Not?". You can't go completely wrong with The Fleshtones, though some of their albums are a bit samey and therefore inessential. Some funny mis-spellings aside ("Wild Cat Tanner?" "Keep Her Guesting?") the most frustrating thing about the Spanish edition is that there's no mention of the original versions, many of which are rather obscure. One exception is "Inside Looking Out" which suffers in comparison with the over-familiar Animals' original. Another is Joplin's "Down on Me" which is refreshingly re-imagined as garage-soul. The most familiar for me was "Speedy Gonzalez". That Pat Boone tune is the first rock'n'roll song I remember loving, when I was in kindergarten or something. It's cool that people still play it (yes, The Fleshtones apparently still play it live) even though it isn't too politically correct with today's standards. Finding out the rest of the originals required a lot of searching, which only enhanced my admiration for Zaremba & Co's encyclopedic knowledge of vintage R&B. For Hitsburg they just picked and recorded some covers from their huge live repertory (this site lists 250+ songs covered by them). No matter what the original was like, they turn it into party music injecting it with their particular brand of garage punk, soul and rockabilly. Best among them are Arthur Alexander's "Keep Her Guessing", Richard Berry's "Next Time" and Rosco Gordon's ode to booze "Let's Get High". There are a couple of slower tunes (blues "This Sporting Life" and country "Rainbow in My Heart"), 50's-60's novelty rock ("Dick Tracy", "Mr. Custer"), red hot rockabilly ("Let the Doorbell Ring", "Wild Cat Tamer") - all from the 50's and 60's except from "If and When" from The dB's debut power pop single (1978, around the same time the Fleshtones started out). The album's production (by Peter Zaremba himself) is simple and sounds as if recorded live. Supposedly that's the best way to record garage bands but the Fleshtones' manic intensity doesn't translate so well on record and the songs often sound more hurried than animated. An enjoyable listen nevertheless, recommended for fans of garage rock and vintage R&B. Better yet, go see the band live while you still can!

**** for Keep Her Guessing (Arthur Alexander), Next Time (Richard Berry), Let's Get High (Rosco Gordon)

*** for Let the Doorbell Ring (Jack Dupree), Down on Me (Trad. arr. J.Joplin), Panic (Otis Williams & His Charms), If and When (Chris Stamey & The dB's), This Sporting Life (Brownie McGhee), Dick Tracy (The Chants), Mr. Custer (Larry Verne), Wild Cat Tamer (Tarheel Slim), Speedy Gonzalez (Pat Boone)

** for Inside Looking Out (Animals), I'm Crying (Dave Davies/Kinks), Rainbow in My Heart (George Morgan)