CLASSIC PSYCHOBILLY ALBUMS
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Looking Back:
The Meteors - In Heaven
Island Records
1.In Heaven 2.Shout So Loud 3.Earwigs In My Brain 4.In the Cards 5.Attack of the Zorch Men 6.The Crazed
7.Get Off of My Cloud 8.Love You To Death 9.Teenagers From Outer Space 10.Maniac 11.Into the Darkness
12.Death Dance 13.Psycho For Your Love 14.The Room 15.Rockabilly Psychosis
This is where it all started. The release of In Heaven by The Meteors in 1981 was the equivalent to
the Big Bang for the world of psychobilly. Generally regarded as the first, and best psychobilly album
ever released, In Heaven is absolutely essential listening for every psycho fan out there.
Featuring the original Meteors line-up of P. Paul Fenech (guitar & lead vocals, Nigel Lewis (bass & vocals)
and Mark Robertson (drums), In Heaven would be the first step in establishing The Meteors as the undisputed kings
of psychobilly. This would lay the groundwork for many more albums to come.
Following the album-opening chant of "In Heaven, everything is fine," is the manic 'Shout So Loud'. The song kicks things
off in what would become typical Meteors fashion, telling the story of a mental patient
set free from his institution, only to find himself back inside before too long. The
raging rockabilly sound mixed with the punk energy and insane subject matter of
'Shout So Loud' would represent the formula employed by The Meteors to this day.
The remainder of In Heaven includes Meteors classics that have stood the test of
time, and are still featured regularly in their live set today. Highlights
include a manic cover of the Rolling Stones' 'Get Off of My Cloud', the defiant
'Maniac', and excellent highpoint of the album 'Psycho For Your Love'.
Plagued by poor distribution and a very small pressing when the album was
originally issued on Island Records in 1981, In Heaven has been re-released on
CD by Cherry Red Records as part of their Anagram Psychobilly Collectors Series.
This re-issue gives psychobilly fans a chance to hear the original recording
of this classic album, which was previously almost impossible to find a copy of.
If you don't already own The Meteors' "In Heaven" album, do yourself a favor
and head to your local record store to find a copy. This is absolutely the best
album that the genre has ever offered.
Frazer Johnson
punkrock@chly.ca
November 2006
Looking Back:
Batmobile - Self Titled
KIX4U label (subsidiary of Rockhouse Records) 1985
1.Frenzy 2.Scum of the Neighbourhood 3.Zombie Riot 4.Bat Attack 5.Transsylvanian Express
6.Love Disease 7.Bat Dream
Dutch psycho band Batmobile are one of the longest running bands on the scene and one of
the most prolific, with original albums now in double figures. The band formed when the
only rockabillies in Breda, drummer Johnny Zuidhof and singer and guitarist Jeroen
Haamers decided to start a band in 1983. Within a couple of weeks they started using
Jeroen's brother Eric on the double bass.
After impressing in local gigs they started to venture further afield. At one of
these gigs in 1985 they came to the attention of Rockhouse Records owner Bert Rockhuizen,
who signed them to his label. Accoring to Jeroen Haamers, "the first (mini) album called
'Batmobile' was recorded in a big professional studio in Holland. One day recording,
one day mixing. It was done very fast, but we knew that what we did was pretty cool.
After the mini-album was released, people started to call us from everywhere and
nowhere asking us to come and play. These were the days we first went abroad."
Well the album might have been recorded in a rush but there's no sign of it resulting in
a lack of quality. The album is a cracker with great songs and great picking all set to a
wild, relentless beat. Being their first album it veers heavily towards the rockabilly side
of psychobilly, with some obvious shades of the Stray Cats and the Blue Cats on display.
The albums kicks off with a manic version of the Screamin' Jay Hawkins classic, Frenzy.
To be able to make a SJH song more mad than the original is a feat in itself, I mean,
he wasn't exacted Pat Boone! I've always loved Scum of the Neighbourhood, peppered
with a pounding slap bass and reminiscent of the Blue Cats' Wild Night. There's not a
slowie on the album, it's frenetic, high energy all the way. Pick of the album for
me has always been Transsylvanian Express, galloping at a pace that the original
Batmobile would have struggled to keep up with. Zombie Riot is a neo-Stray Cats
classic with Eric again slapping the shit out of the double bass. Bat Attack,
Bat Dream and Love Disease (itch itch) are more of the same, pure unadulterated psychomania.
I'm not they ever sounded this rockabillyish again, which is a shame, coz this is album was
a riot, and still sounds as fresh today as it did in the heady days of 1985. Whilst the world
was rejoicing in Dire Straits, there was healthy portion of us Europeans on board the Batmobile,
screeching down the Transsylvanian Express with Gotham city quivering in the rear view mirror.
Shaun Mather
shaky@shaunmather.wanadoo.co.uk
June 2006
Looking Back:
The Sharks - Phantom Rockers
Nervous Records
1.Moonstomp 2.Skeleton rock 3.It's all over now 4.Crazy maybe 5.Take a razor to your head 6.Death
row 7.Love bites 8.Short shark shock 9.Ruff stuff 10.Phantom rockers 11.Charlie! 12.Slipped disc
13.I can't stop 14.Electrifyin' 15.Ghost train 16.We say yeah
When I bought this wonderful album in the mid-80s I had no idea who the band were.
I'd never heard of them and had never seen a review for the album, but I was attracted
by the cover and the back photos of three sharp rockabillies with leopard skin kit
and the basic line-up, double bass, giutar and snare drum. I thought the cover
would look good on the wall even if the music was crap. Fear not, the music
contained within, is the best psychobilly album ever recorded - to these ears anyway.
Members Alan Wilson (guitar), Steve Whitehouse (bass) and Paul Hodges (drums)
developed from a typical rockabilly revival band into one of the neo-rockabilly/psychobilly
movements premier bands. Recording for the genre's leading label, Nervous Records,
they produced the brilliant Phantom Rockers in 1982. The album was recorded in just
a few days with most of the songs written on the way to the studio.
The album kicks off is stunning style with the frantic Moonstomp, my first taste
of Wilson's crispy clean guitar style and the equally brilliant slap-bass playing
of Whitehouse. Others in the manic, breakneck psycho style are Charlie and Ghost
Train. Ghost Train is an astonishing gallop with all three playing their instruments
like no other psycho band has done before or since. The drumming and bass pound a
massive beat at hell for leather speed and Wilson again demonstrates his prowess.
The pick of the hole lot has to be the wonderful story of Charlie, the chainsaw
wielding 12 year old schoolboy who decaps the teacher before "He butchered all
his classmates/and just to make his day/He smeared blood on the blackboard/saying
'Charlie rules OK'. His parents would surely disapprove so "The headmaster sent a
letter home/telling of what he done/'I know he is a lively lad/but this is not my
idea of fun./You must point out to Charlie/that what he did was bad'/But Charlie
doesn't care because /he's killed his Mum and Dad". Classic psychobilly, in fact,
the best pyschobilly track ever, no question.
Ruff Stuff is pretty much a straight forward rockabilly record (they actually sound
like the Polecats on this) as is their version of Sir Cliff's We Say Yeah. Short
Sharp Shock is neo-rockabilly of the highest order as is the free bit of haircut advice,
Take A Razor To your Head. Skeleton Rock, Electrifyin' and Death Row are great numbers
and again show off the prowess of all three. Their sound is so clear and the guitar
notes are so pure that to me they just stand above the rest. I think it's like comparing
Gene Vincent's Blue Caps sound to some of the obscure garage bands you hear on
the Collector label.
On the slower end of the scale the best must surely be Love Bites. It's gentle
and hypnotic and much surley be the greatest psychoballad ever. I've sang this
song to myself for twenty years now and it still sounds fresh (their version not mine!).
"my baby is a vampire and she's not much good for you / my baby is a vampire and
she'll suck the blood from you, / When you meet her at night times, and you love
her charms/ But don't give her a cuddle coz then, you'll die in her arms".
The only tracks that don't really do much for me are Crazy Maybe and their cover of
the Stones' It's All Over Now. Apparantly, the record still sells well in CD format,
and over the years has even been issued on coloured vinyl and picture disc.
It's aclassic which you should own. Why not buy it from Nervous Records, after
all, it's thanks to them that we got it in the first place.
Shaun Mather
shaky@shaunmather.wanadoo.co.uk
June 2006
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