UFO's and ET's presented by Brad Steiger

Just the intro folks, the rest is on Youtube from some other user

The Barbwires and Royal Pendletons have new albums outish!

Ever since the Barbwires put "Playa Del Muerto" on their Myspace I've been checking obsessively for a new song from or at least a release date on their new album Searider. While that wasn't announced until recently (December 4th... but hold on about that) they did mention a CD release party in Sweden... with legendary New Orleans garage combo The Royal Pendletons, who I had assumed to be a done group since they hadn't put anything out since the 90s and all.

Well whaddaya know, last night I caught the Pendletons opening for King Khan & BBQ. The Pendletons were a little before my time, especially the time that I would end up appreciating garage rock, and it was all great. Not only them: King Khan & BBQ, and DJ Pasta, it was all great. It's comforting to know that though the 90's garage rock revival has come and gone and now Garage Rock has become Garage Punk, but New Orleans retains one of those that still revere Rock & Roll in the proper sense... especially now that I'm not in 6th grade and can appreciate them, whereas I thought I would never have a chance to see them.

It turns out they're not just back though, they've released a new album! It's all live material, but most (all?) songs are new and sound great live. Well, I guess you'd expect that from a live album. Anyway, it's great, just listen to one track (not sure if it's my favorite yet, I've only listened to it 1.5 times so far).


So I was kind of hoping to have a quick chat with one of them about the Barbwires, their new album Searider and all that. Well, I couldn't find them when I went to look for them after the show but it turns out that's OK because Wild Records didn't wait for that whole December 4th thing and I found myself with a copy of Searider the next day in the mail. I think I ordered it like 3 days before that.

Well I've only had it for a little more than 24 hours now, but I can pretty squarely say that despite how obsessed I was, checking Myspace every day for friend updates from the Barbwires, my anticipation was well warranted. This is a FEAT. Not for the small surf scene, not for garage rock today, I mean this is a MEAN surf album. Extremely ambitious, beautifully produced (from what I understand they have friends in The Hives that gave them a hand) and all-around impressive from any standpoint. Previously I was a fan of their 7"s over their last LP "...Sounds Like Trouble" because despite Trouble's impressive musicianship and variety in instrumentation, the 7"s were better songs with better feeling. Searider's got them both. And unlike other big-budget big-sound multi-instrument albums from surf bands (such as Laika's Global Warming) this is definitely certainly surf rock by anybody's definition.

OK I don't really want to write a full review but I'll leave you with this: this is an album that can put surf back on the map. Not like North America on the map in terms of popularity, I don't think Surf can achieve much more than something like Madagascar, but with our dear Laika & The Cosmonauts calling it a day, the Barbwires are worthy enough to take that place.

Since the Barbwires have been sooo secretive and only putting Casa Del Muerto on their Myspace, as a sample I'll stick with what Double Crown put on a compilation, but I don't even think this is one of the best songs. So you've got the song on their Myspace, this song and my promise that other (all, really) songs are just as good... BUY THE ALBUM GO GIT IT

The Lifeguards - C'Mon and Swim

So there's Bobby Freeman performing his 1964 hit, apparently written by Sly Stone and... some other guy named Thomas Coman. And this post is about The Lifeguards' 1964 album starting with a nearly identical song.

So what's the deal here? I have no idea, this is just some album I found and the internet isn't helping me. I can't find any references to original writers or even band members on this album, all I've got is Wynecote Records. But if the Lifeguards are ripping Bobby Freeman off they're putting a lot of effort into selling this new dance craze of theirs. All 10 songs here include the word swim and more than one are describing just how to do this dance. And more importantly, they're actually pretty catchy and energetic, to the point where I really don't have a preference between this version of "C'Mon and Swim" or Bobby's (assuming it's a different band). The rest of the songs, while not matching that single, are all pretty worthy, especially Slow Swim

My copy's in pretty good condition, though there's some pretty loud crackles between tracks for whatever reason. But I'll give you a present: while it's downloading, listen to this excellent cover of C'Mon and Swim by The Flakes. And wonder what "Licorice Swim" could be about.

The Lifeguards are here

And the Flakes:

Dr. John - Zu Zu Man (Trip Records)

There are a ton of Dr. John albums named Zu Zu Man, I believe all of them unauthorized. Allmusic alone lists five... not including this one that I found in a flea market in Connecticut. To quote a guy from the bomplist I found on Google

Trip Records certainly lives up to its name. They also did a Dr. John album,
"Zu Zu Man," that overdubs scrapped instrumental outtrakes of his
with...somebody IMITATING Dr. John on lead vocals, singing cheesy New Orleans-themed
lyrics passed off as the real thing. If you're a fan, it's pretty hilarious.
And if does of course feature a photo of him as he looked at the time.

I'm not sure whether that's true at all, although at times I thought the voice DID seem a little off. Sometimes on target too. Sometimes clearly female. As with everything I throw up here it seems, the cover is misleading; this isn't really Night Tripper-Gris Gris psychedelic stuff so much but it's pleasantly funky, especially Della I think.

So go download it already

The Road

Here's a little thrift store gem I found. I had never and still haven't heard mention of the band, but saw their stylin' leather jackets, swanky hairstyles, cool attitudes, cheesy use of Robert Frost quotes and choice of covers and thought I'd be in for a good dose of Mersey/Pop-psychedelic sound. And I was correct! Although considering all these factors and the intro track, I expected more of a concept album experience than all the covers and dance numbers they play.

Only two of these songs are written by band members but the covers are high energy and fun, sometimes mixing them up. The most notable example being the song that starts out as Dance To The Music, which reminded me of Mitch Ryder's excellent combo of Devil With The Blue Dress and Good Golly Miss Molly. The Road don't really approach anything quite up to that caliber, but Mitch Ryder doesn't have the occaisonal psychedelic touches that The Road have.

According to the back cover this album is exclusive to ITCC stereo tape cartridges and cassettes, making this vinyl rip a complete paradox. Considering it doesn't exist and despite the cover condition it's not a bad rip. Enough little pops to let you know it's vinyl, but not much more. Oh and ignore the tracklist on the back cover, it's totally wrong. The album label is more accurate although still a little tough to deciper considering the medleys. It Goes something like

Side 1:
(brief intro)
1.She's Not There
2.Love Is All
3.Love-it-is (or Loveitis)
4.A Taste of Honey
5.I can Only Give You Everything
Side 2:
1.Dance to the Music (shotgun)/Never Gonna Give You Up
2.Mr. Soul
3.In Love
4.See You There
5.Rock & Roll Woman/The Grass Looks Greener On The Other Side
3.In Love

Here's Your Link

Tonight

The Rock & Roll Hoo-Ha What What, though it hasn't been demonstrating it much, is a funk friendly internet place. Tonight at Midnight Eastern I'll be doing a live funk show streamable at wtulneworleans.com

I'll update this posts with playlists when I have them. 

Hopefully it'll be a show of victory

edit:

Nice one dumbass, you live in CENTRAL time, not Eastern. Anyway, Obama won, my show was great, they apparently played me in some bar

here's the setlist:

Curtis Mayfield - We Got To Have Peace
Cane and Able - Who's Gonna Take The Weight
Cliff Nobles - Love Is Alright
Ike Turner - Gettin Nasty
Major Lance - I Just Can't Help It
Ebony Rhythm Band - Don't Get High
Billy Preston - Space Race

Meco - Star Wars
Fred Wesley & The JBs - Damn Right I Am Somebody
Chet Poison Ivy - Poo Poo Man
Clarence Carter - Funky Fever
Golden Toadstools - Silly Savage
Tom and Jerrio - Boo-ga-loo
The Emperors - My Baby Likes to Boogaloo
Kashmere Stage Band - Do You Dig It, Man?

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Baby How Long
Spanky Wilson & The Quantic Soul Orchestra - Waiting For Your Touch
Rufus Thomas - Push and Pull pt. 1
Eddie Bo - Hook and Sling pt. 1
Dyke and the Blazers - Funky Broadway Pt. 1
Mandrill - El Funko
The Gaturs - Wasted
Budos Band - My Girl
Brothers Johnson - Come Together

Femi Kuti - Sorry Sorry
Karl Hector + The Malcouns - Debere
Afrique - Hot Mud
Fugi - Jo Jo
Ofo & The Black Company - Allah Wakbarr

The Bamboos - Step It Up

Mustang Lightning - Guitaro Loco

I often accidentally leave Mustang Lightning off my quick list of New Orleans surf bands. Possibly because even their myspace lists them in two other places as well and I've never seen a concert listing for them. While I'd picked up an old copy of their more recent album Texas Voodoo Surf it didn't grab me, though checking out their myspace again and listening to this album I think maybe it needs another listen.

So I don't really know much about them or about this release and all I could find was that it was meant as a sort of Dick Dale/Link Wray tribute, though they certainly do a little more than that considering stuff like the Astronauts and Good, Bad and Ugly covers. But those covers are good! This band is hardly the first to cover that old...uh... Clint Eastwood classic (according to the CD), but this is certainly in the upper ranks of those that I've heard. The whole album is really quick and aggressive but with some playful touches and a personality of its own. For instance one track features a banjo solo that doesn't sound too out of place.

If you can judge by that CD cover right up there, this is pretty rough quality. I don't necessarily mean lo-fi, I mean sub-par engineering (but not that bad), sub-par packaging and a crude attitude: they finish off their thanks with "This disc is Dedicated to ALL the HOT Bitches from South fo the Border That Love to Dance until they Droo" (I think the P is cut off). But crudeness plays well with Rock & Roll. I don't know whether this is a demo or just a plain old "LIMITED EDITION CD", I just saw it today at the Mushroom and thought it was good enough to throw on here.

Here's a tracklist (as listed on the CD)

Our Side

1. Speed Crazy
2. Barbwire
3. El Toro Diablo
4. Boys Ranch
5. Slow Walk

Their Side

6. Thunder (Jodie Reynolds)
7. Banzai Pipeline (The Astronauts)
8. The Good, The Bad, and, the Ugly (Clint Eastwood)
9. Ghost Riders (traditional)
10. I'm Dead (Western Waste)

and the 11th track is some sort of interview and outtake thing that's still worth listening to. 

Download it HERE