Sunday 19 May 2019

Shockabilly ‎– "Earth vs. Shockabilly" (Rough Trade ‎– ROUGH 48) 1983


This got a rave review from Edwin Pouncey/Savage Pencil in Sounds back in '83,so I figured I should track it down.
No sign of it in the racks at Revolver opposite Linekers fruit and veg stall in the market place ,St.Martins Records,or Ainsleys???....I know these names will mean nothing to you unless you come from Leicestershire,but these were our local record and tapes establishments back in the day.I'd given up asking for stuff as the staff would only give a confused and unhelpful response which usually involved a pained expression that shreeked "WOT?".
I did,however, find the Dawn Of Shockabilly EP, which was a stormer!
A few weeks passed and "Earth vs Shockabilly" appeared in the 'E' section at Revolver,and I calmly exchanged my dole/welfare cash for said disc.
Needless to say; it was disappointing when I got it home.As with the opposite sex, the thrill is nearly always in the chase.
Chadbournes silly guitar twiddling tends to get on ones tits somewhat,but alas,It's still superior to most mainstream alt-rock,even if it misses thatcertain 'X-factor'.
"City Of Corruption" stands out, and of their scrambled up cover versions of 'Rock'n'Roll' classix, "19th Nervous Breakdown" is the pick. Four stars out of five,rather than the Five Edwin gave it,and not a patch on the Shockabilly EP from the previous year.
There were more albums apparently,but I've never bothered to hear them.Further proof that most pop acts,or even avant_pop acts, should stick to one album then fuck off back to the obscure gutter that they crawled from,or in this case stick to one EP.

Tracklist:

A1 19th Nervous Breakdown
A2 Are You Experienced
A3 Psychedelic Basement
A4 Big Money Broad
A5 Tennessee Flat Top Box
A6 City Of Corruption
B1 People Are Strange
B2 Day Tripper
B3 Purple Haze
B4 Wrestling Woman
B5 Oh Yoko!


2 comments:

kevinesse said...

I know. It's none of my business. But the shockabilly lp "vietnam" is really really really good and feels like a missing butthole surfer's lp in a way. I can;t prove it though.

northern wind said...

thank you for sharing this!