August 8, 2001
    YES!  ROCK!  ROCK!!  ROCK!!!
    God damn.  I say God damn!  There just needs to be more CDs like this one.  MuSick Recordings has done a public service by reissuing this 1993 album by Eddie Angel.  And to think that if it werent for MuSick, only the British would have heard this.  First you tax our tea, then you try to keep this all to yourselves!  Is this the thanks we get for saving you in WWII?
    Actually, if it weren't for the English, this CD would not sound as good as it does.  Recorded at the legendary Toe Rag studios, this CD contains 15 "needle scorching hits" by Los Straitjackets frontman, Eddie Angel.  Where do I even begin to talk about this CD?  Why don't I just talk about the exerience of listening to it for the first time.  The first thing you hear is a cover of "Thunder" (aka "Taylor's Rock" by Bob Taylor ad the Counts).  Right away, I was overtaken by how authentic this CD sounds.  In addition to playing like Link Wray, Al Casey, James Burton, or any other guitar player from the fifties I could mention, every song sounds like it was recorded in the fifties.  Credit for this, of course, goes to the Toe Rag studio.
    The album is largely originals with a few, very obscure covers that I even I had trouble placing.  There are also a few songs here like "Kawanga," "Itchy Chicken," and "Casbah" that would later go on to be inlcuded in the Los Straitjackets set lists, but I think work better here with an upright bass and vintage recording equipment.  I cannot stress how much this fucking rocks.  Why are you still reading this?  Go out and buy it already!
Trader Rick

Back to the Surf Archive