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)

Fleshtones "Hitsburg Revisited" 1999***

I remember first seeing The Fleshtones at the AN Club in '98. I had heard a few of their records and went in expecting to have a rockin' good time. You see The Fleshtones may have burst out of the New York punk scene of the 70's, but they were never angry or aggressive. Their music was rooted in Rock'n'roll and Soul tradition, played in a nervy and animated manner, as if they were determined to get everybody to dance - or, in any case, bounce around like a rubber ball thrust to the wall with maximum velocity. And, let me tell you, I wasn't disappointed. They played a highly energised set, connecting with the audience and acting like a real party band. During the encore they left the stage (not that AN really has much of a stage to separate bands from the audience) and started walking around the club, playing. Even the drummer took a piece of his set with him, banging on it while he was making the rounds. Round and round they went, until they were up the stairs (AN is a deeply underground club, in more senses than one) and out on the street. They had to unplug the guitars, of course, but they took the party to the street and, before I could follow them out of the club, they disappeared. I left thinking: now these guys know how to throw a rock'n'roll party better than any other band in the business! "Hitsburg Revisited" (the sequel to 1996's "Hitsburg") is one of their more party-oriented albums, as it contains revved-up covers of vintage R'n'Roll and R&B artists that influenced their sound.
Most of the songs, even those by famous artists, are relatively unknown (the mark of a good covers album) and originate from the 50's or early 60's. Often they improve on the originals: The Stylistics' "Rock and Roll Baby" was a tepid soul number which they turned into a rock scorcher reminiscent of Wooly Bully, and Eddie Cochran's "Little Lou" was one of his weakest songs. Mel Torme's "Comin' Home Baby" is the only famous tune here, and The Fleshtones' rendition is more groovy and less manic than most of the songs here. Other highlights include their versions of Andre Williams' "Going Down To Tia Juana", Frankie Avalon's "Don't Stop Now", and The Young Rascals' "Find Somebody". "Keelee's Twist" is a groovy instrumental, "Voodoo Voodoo" a punky attempt on LaVerne Baker swampy R&B, and "Take My Love" sports a manic blues harmonica. "Soul City" is a song written by Lou Reed in his songwriter-for-hire days before Velvet Underground. "Tearing Me Apart" fits well with the the rest, despite being written by a contemporary band to the Fleshtones (Canadian punks Teenage Head, in 1979). "I'm Over Twenty-Five (But You Can Trust Me)" is a barrel of laughs. Written by Sammy Davis Jr in a pathetic attempt to reach to the "flower power" generation (can you imagine Sinatra doing that?), the original was so inadvertently funny it didn't even need Zaremba to adopt such a camp singing style. The album ends with one of the strongest numbers, The Fleshtones'own garage soul raver "Hitsburg USA". It is a testament to the band's songwriting ability that they could match -and even surpass- the artists that influenced them, and it was to become a staple of their live repertory. Judging from recent youtube clips, 17 years after I first saw them, the band still rocks, so if they come your way this is one party you don't want to miss!

**** for Comin' Home Baby(Mel Torme), Don't Stop Now(Frankie Avalon), Take My Love I Want to Give It All to You (Little Willie John), Going Down to Tia Juana(Andre Williams), Find Somebody(Young Rascals), Tribute to Hank Ballard/Switch-A-Roo(Hank Ballard), Tearing Me Apart(Teenage Head), Soul City(Hi-Lifes), Hitsburg USA

*** for Rock and Roll Baby(Stylistics), Little Lou(Eddie Cochran), Voodoo Voodoo(LaVerne Baker), Keelee's Twist(Joey Dee & The Starlighters)

** for I'm Over Twenty-Five But You Can Trust Me(Sammy Davis Jr)

Various Artists "URGH! A Music War The Album" 1981****

URGH! A MUSIC WAR is a music documentary, consisting of live performances in various places around 1980. It presented the multi-faceted post-punk musical reality and its soundtrack constantly leaps from one genre to the next. Let's look at the tracks one by one:

1.The Police – "Driven to Tears"*** Proof that, in his pre-millionnaire days, Sting led a tight rock band

2.Wall of Voodoo – "Back in Flesh"*** The Fall meet Captain Beefheart? Or America's answer to John Lydon's P.I.L? In any case, not likely to win many fans. After the song, the singer declares that "Show business is my life". Maybe he should try his hand at prestidigitation.

3.Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – "Enola Gay"***** The opening synths of this song is The Sound of New Wave to me. A perfect single and a great live performance.

4.Oingo Boingo – "Ain't This the Life"*** Danny Elfman's ska/jazz/punk alma matter. Always a weird one, he was bound to end up collaborating with Tim Burton! This one could have been in Corpse Bride, I can't help but picture dancing skeletons when I listen to it...

5.XTC – "Respectable Street"** New Wave with funk overtones. Not impressed with the live performance, though. C'mon XTC, you can do better than that...

6.Go Go's – "We Got the Beat"***. Never mind that popster Belinda Carlisle began her career here. The Go-Gos were a great girl group in the best 60's tradition

7.Klaus Nomi – "Total Eclipse"***** The voice! The wardrobe! The haircut! The make-up! Nomi certainly was one of a kind, with his operatic vocals, Kraftwerk synths and electric guitars. And this song is his zenith, recorded shortly before he regrettably became the first celebrity to die of AIDS...

8.Jools Holland – "Foolish I Know"*** Jazzy piano from former Squeeze pianist, soon to become a successful TV show host. 

9.Steel Pulse – "Ku Klux Klan"**** Top-Class Roots Reggae and antifa message from these Birmingham based Jamaicans

10.Devo – "Uncontrollable Urge"**** Better than expected - an energetic punk rock performance!

11.Echo and the Bunnymen – "The Puppet"**** A rough, full of angst performance by Ian McCullough - different than his usual croon. Interesting!

12.The Cramps – "Tear It Up"**** Inventors of psychobilly in all their psychotic majesty

13.Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – "Bad Reputation"*** Although already a rock veteran with the Runaways, Jett was still young enough to identify with punk's rebellion against the "hippy generation" of rock. This one sounds like a mix of the Beach Boys, Ramones and...Cyndi Lauper.

14.Pere Ubu – "Birdies"** These Art-Punks from Ohio were never big crowd pleasers, yet they receive an enthusiastic reception

15.Gary Numan – "Down in the Park"*** Kraftwerk-like synths and Joy Division detachment from an emblematic figure of New Wave.

16.The Fleshtones – "Shadow Line"*** Garage Soul party rockers, still going strong today.

17.Gang of Four – "He'd Send in the Army"*** Angular guitars, funky bass, socially conscious lyrics - that's what Go4 were always about, that's also what they deliver here.

18.999 – "Homicide"*** By 1980, the music press had officially declared Punk is Dead. 999 sang "I believe in Homicide" and proved it's alive and aggressive as ever. If you see them coming your way, better change sidewalk...

19.X – "Beyond and Back"**** LA's finest punks, whose  records were produced by the most un-punk-like Ray Manzarek. With Siouxsie lookalike Exene Cervenka on vocals and fiery rockabilly guitar licks courtesy of Billy Zoom.

20.Magazine – "Model Worker"** A stellar New Wave band, but I think they underperform here.

21.Skafish – "Sign of the Cross"*** The only band I hadn't heard before. Based on their name I would have guessed they played ska music, but they surprised me with their hardcore punk, almost metal, attack and anti-religious lyrics. They obviously weren't trying to make any friends. Gotta respect them for that!

All in all, URGH! is a perfect snapshot of the scattered musical landscape after the punk attack on the musical industry, catching the fleeting moment of free music expression before the industry took the upper hand again, limiting artistic liberties with "professional" productions, lifeless digital sound and made-for-MTV videos. The film offers more goodies not included in the soundtrack, such as performances by Dead Kennedys, UB40, Surf Punks, Members, Alleycats, Au Pairs etc. Watch it on the big screen or low-resolution VHS, for the full period effect...