Four On 4 - Trash On The Tube

Hot on the heels of previous post, thought I'd offer another Sting-Rays related quickie. Remember seeing this at the time in 1984 on everyones favourite Friday tea time music show of the 80s' The Tube. There was a feature on current garage bands featuring Thee Milkshakes ,The Prisoners, The Sting-Rays and The Tall Boys and this ep was released by Big Beat to coincide with it . You can't go wrong with Thee Milkshakes with the mighty Billy Childish at anytime for me , but the real highlight for me on re-listening is The Prisoners with their psychedelic Hammond organ and trash guitar sound .A lot of the , er "madchester" sort of bands must have been taking lotsa notes . They passed me by at the time but gonna definitely investigate further . Here is the EP.

And here is the whole sequence , thought I'd never see this again . I bow down once again to the miracle of YouTube and the saints who have been digging up all their old VHS and maybe Betamax and Philips 2000 tapes so we can gawp and sometimes cringe at this stuff again .

Oh and look out for Tracy Enim bouncing around , who was Billy Childish's partner at the time leading to his name being featured in her artwork "The Tent"

The Stingrays - Dinosaurs

The debut album from The Stingrays released in 1983 , probably owes more to psychedelia and prime 60s' Nuggets type garage than the psychobilly scene that that they were often lumped in with.It still retains a frantic rockabilly beat on some tracks especially "Blue Girl" complete with great slap bass playing . "My Flash On You" and the sly " Joe Strummer's Wallet " are particular highlights on this very diverse album . The last track on the album "Ah What! " stands up really well, it sort of reminds me of Love and is probably my favourite on the album at this moment in time .

Psychobilly was mostly ignored or briefly mentioned with a snobby attitude by the music press of the time , so I am not holding out for any articles in any of the retro music mags anytime soon , am getting pissed off with repetitive Beatles , Stones , "how great the 60s' were " type articles and endless 50 best of whatever lists content of these mags at the moment. They must be taking us for fools . And I subscribe to one of them . And I have just renewed it and got a free CD wallet . Hold on ! Oh well, it's something to read on the bog .

Vinyl Dinosaurs here .

The Meteors Live

Legendary psychobilly album,well at least in these parts, released in 1985 of The Meteors recorded live in Glasgow for a local radio show although I'm not sure if all of it or a heavily edited version was broadcast as P Paul Fenech is at his sarky and arrogant best ,who's between song banter is worth the price of admission alone . An absolutely storming live album nearly all performed at breakneck speed with a couple of slowies to get your breath back .Highlights for me are "Lonesome Train","Ain't Gonna Bring Me Down","I Don't Worry About It" and "These Boots Are Made For Walking" but it's all really worth a listen in one go for the full effect.Will post more psychobilly posts again soon.For now ,as Mr. Fenech says "Swing it Ginger".

Rockabilly Psychosis And The Garage Disease

Just listened to this again for the first time in near on twenty years and am now a total convert to the track I initially hated on first listening all those years ago on a C90 tape , The Legendary Stardust Cowboy's "Paralysed" . Not sure if its a work of total genius or complete insanity ( I like to think both ...) but it puts a smile on this particular face . An absolute outsider music gem along with Hasil Adkins' "She Said" , another track included on this compilation issued on Big Beat in 1984.The first side has 60s garage classics - The Trashmen's " Surfin' Bird" , The Sonics' "Psycho",and The Novas' "The Crusher" . The second side has tracks by Psychobilly greats The Meteors , The Sting-Rays, The Guana Batz and a rare recording by The Cramps backing Jimmy Dickinson - "Red Headed Woman ". Also included , maybe a little out of place , "Jack on Fire" a track from The Gun Club's storming classic debut album . A very influential compilation at the time which led to an oubreak of flat tops , quiffs ,spikes and horns all perched on top of shaven heads (and that was just the girls ! boom boom !). Sure still sounds good to me . As this is a CD rip , I have included "Love Me" by The Phantom (Taken from "Songs The Cramps Taught Us") as this was on original vinyl issue and omitted from CD reissue along with cover scans and sleevenotes. For "The Most Devastating Trip Into The World's Most Warped Musical Minds " go here ......

Here is a clip of The Legendary Stardust Cowboy being mocked by a popular American comedy duo in the 60s' , I guess they'd never come across the likes of The Cowboy at their members only golf club .