|
From the Vault...
06/28/1998
#583 |
|
info
The Trashmen
"Tube City! The Best Of The Trashmen"
© Sundazed Records
Year of Release: 1992
Rating:
|
track listing
Tube City
My Woodie
Surfin' Bird
Misirlou
Money
Kuk
King Of The Surf
Bird Bath
It's So Easy
Henrietta
Malaguena
Sleeper
Bird Dance Beat
A-Bone
Bad News
On The Move
Peppermint Man
New Generation
Whoa Dad
Real Live Doll
|
WSVNRadio Archives
The Trashmen related sites:
|
|
The Trashmen "Tube City! The Best Of The Trashmen"
What a better way to kick off Summer 1998 with a
band's music that is more appreciated to listen to in
the hot summertime. The Trashmen gained more
popularity as an instrumental band rather than a vocal one.
This greatest hits compilation, entitled Tube City! The
Best of The Trashmen features 10 instrumentals and 10
vocal songs. The Trashmen's music is probably considered
novelty rather than a rock band. Their instrumentals,
inspired by the surf era, is compared to such surf favorites
as Dick Dale, Duane Eddy, and The Chantays.
Their most popular hit was a vocal tune, Surfin' Bird.
The vocals here are so unique, from the nasal singing to the vocal
sounds that sounds like someone is throwing up, (sorry, but that's
the best way I can describe it; you have to hear it... Pardon any
horrid thoughts on that description...) this band has some very
interesting music. Bird Dance Beat was another attempt in
style of Surfin' Bird, that features the same vocal style,
with a regular singing vocal chorus.
The vocal songs in this collection do not stand out as the
instrumentals, yet they are good surfing songs to listen to.
These songs not only relate to the surf music sound, but they
also have an Eddie Cochran and/or Beach Boys style to them.
With the exception of their most popular vocal tune, Surfin'
Bird, the Cochran/Beach Boys style is there:
My Woodie, (Beavis & Butthead fans would
like that title, no doubt), Money (That's What I
Want), the remake Kuk, King of
the Surf, and New Generation.
Other vocal songs: Sleeper and A-Bone are Beach Boys-influenced songs,
that features a racing car special effect. (The Beach Boys sang about
fast/fun cars, didn't they?) A-Bone features that famous
Surfin' Bird nasal vocalist in some spots. Whoa Dad
is another typical surf-sounder, more in the style of Jan & Dean.
Real Live Doll is a Christmas song, again, in the style of
Jan & Dean. Both Jan & Dean-inspired songs are more of a novelty
nature, rather than an actual popular Jan & Dean composition.
(Anyone remember the Jan & Dean novelty song Popsicle?)
Buddy Holly's It's So Easy is done very nicely, I should
say, as the vocals are closely imitated, but never duplicated to
Buddy's. Henrietta and Peppermint Man has the very
early Beatles sound, as in The Beatles' Hamburg, Germany, Star
Club/Cavern Club years.
Miserlou is a Dick Dale remake. Malaguena is
a Dick Dale/Duane Eddy styled tune. The guitars featured on such
songs as Tube City, Bird Bath, Bad News, and On The Move,
stand out as true great instrumentals in the area of the surf.
And one thing about songs like Bird Bath and Bad News,
is that these songs are instrumentals, yet they have brief breaks
where the name of the song is "sung" in the fashion as if you
disguise your voice as if you are belching, and taking your index
finger and flipping it against the lips, like a little kid. Surfin'
Bird also features this.
Bad News and On The Move are personal favorites of mine,
as I used to have this 45 rpm single. Playing the heck out of it,
both songs features great guitars, and the vocals in between each
verse of Bad News features the "belching" song title, hoops
and hollers, and the lip-flipping.
The Trashmen represents surfing music, but a different kind of surf.
This compilation features some great novelty songs (mostly the instrumentals),
likewise their regular vocal tunes are both in novelty and standard surf
songs. All in all, this band represents another group of musicians that
equally defined the sound of the music of the early Sixties: Surf Music.
They also stand with their most fellow counterparts in Surf Music: Jan & Dean,
and The Beach Boys. Obviously The Trashmen may never have been as famous
as these counterparts, but like the summer, their music will make you feel
warm all over.
© WSVNRadio.net. All rights reserved.
Review or any portion may not be reproduced
without written permission. Cover art is the
intellectual property of
Sundazed Records
and is used for reference purposes only.
|
|