This Week in Strange Music - Episode 4

This Week in Strange Music - Episode 4 

1.) Song: "Peanut Butter Rock and Roll"
Artist: Hasil Adkins 

I first learn of Hasil Adkins from the zine, Go Cat Go, by a fellow named Fishpit. Adkins is known as the wildman of rockabilly, and now that I've listened to him a bit, I can see why. Man, oh, man, have I been sleeping on this dude! I should have known he was the real deal when I realized The Cramps were fans of his (they do a cover of the Adkins tune, "She Said."). Anyway, the song I've provided a link to here is a ferocious one-man jam full of hootin' and hollerin' and hot guitar licks. One listen, and you'll understand where the "wild man" moniker comes from. Dig it. 

"Peanut Butter Rock and Roll" - Hasil Adkins

2.) Song: "Dead Man's Stroll"
Artist: The Revels 

Speaking of The Cramps, I was poking around Internet Archive the other day and I came across an album, "Lux and Ivy's Favorites No. 11." I assume the "Lux and Ivy" mentioned here are Lux Interior and Poison Ivy of The Cramps, and based on the music one can hear on this record, who else could it be. All these songs have early (1950s) rock-and-roll vibe, but this one in particular has a rather creepy, sinister vibe. But hey, don't take my word for it. The website Way Back Attack, puts it this way:

The Walking Dead. That's one way, at least, to describe someone who's doing the Dead Man's Stroll! In 1959, The Revels recorded a song describing one of the most macabre musical scenes ever, starting with the toll of a tower bell, followed by an accidental discovery: 'Just got off from work, it was awful late, I had to pass the cemetery gate...I never thought I could see such a sight, a poor soul doing the dead man's stroll.' Wow! 1950s rhythm and blues meets Boris Karloff's 1936 film The Walking Dead, resulting in the deliriously great "Dead Man's Stroll." 

If that doesn't make you want to listen to this jam, I don't know what will. Check it. 

"Dead Man's Stroll" - The Revels 

Note: This album has 32 songs on it! I haven't sampled them all, but if you dig this, there's bound to be something else you're into on this record. 

3.) Song: "Generation"
Artist: The Jelly Bean Bandits 

Shortly after stumbling across "Lux and Ivy's Favorites No. 11," I found my way to "Mind Blowers Volume 1: Psychedelic Passages, another compilation of ... well, I'll just let the internet tell you:

This limited edition CD of the rare US Psychedelic Compilation MIND BLOWERS Volume 1 - Mind Expanded Edition (Dr Dream Ltd.13-2003) is the excellent compilation of the rarest of US 60's psychedelic bands originally released on vinyl in a limited edition in 1983. Featuring 13 of the 14 original LP tracks, this issue has been expanded with an additional 17 tracks of the rarest 45's of US garage/psychedelic bands of the 60's. 

Hot damn, there is so much cool stuff on this album I don't know where to begin. Somehow, I landed on the song "Generation" by the Jelly Bean Bandits. According to Spotify, the JBBs were :

Newburgh, New York psych-punks [that] formed in 1966. Singer Billy Donald, guitarist Jack Dougherty, bassist Fred Buck, keyboardist Michael "Mr. Addams" Raab, and drummer Joe "Laredo London" Scalfari originally operated as "the Mirror", regularly packing area nightspots like the local Trade Winds, Poughkeepsie's Buccaneer Nightclub, and Burlington, Vermont's Red Dog. In due time, they recorded a three-song demo reel that resulted in a three-album recording contract with Mainstream Records -- however, unknown to Mainstream, these three songs represented the sum total of the Jelly Bean Bandits' repertoire, forcing the band to write enough additional material to flesh out a full-length LP in the course of a week. Amazingly, their eponymous 1967 debut is excellent, a freakbeat cult classic distinguished by Dougherty's emotive guitar and some innovative production techniques -- all the more impressive, the album was recorded in a single 12-hour stretch. Mainstream hated the end result, however, and dropped the Jelly Bean Bandits just as they were commencing work on the follow-up -- only one song, "Salesman," was completed before the sessions were aborted. The group dissolved soon after, only to reunite in 1998 to finally commit to tape the songs that were written for their never-completed sophomore LP -- only Donald declined to participate in the project, released in 2001 under the title Time and Again. A vintage live date captured at the Buccaneer on September 3, 1967 was issued on CD the following year. 

I'll take Spotify's word for it, as I have no means of checking the veracity of these statements. Then again, maybe I'm just too lazy. Either way, do yourself a favor and check out this track (and some of the others) on the Mind Blowers record. 

"Generation" - The Jelly Bean Bandits