The one proper album the band released in its lifetime,
All Black and Hairy
is both perfectly named and perfectly performed -- if it's nothing but a revivalist approach at heart, it's such a damn entertaining one that there's no cause for complaint. With its title track taken from the appropriately goonball back catalog of
Screamin' Lord Sutch
and its general snot-mouthed attitude from every last
Nuggets
and
Pebbles
selection ever, about the only thing missing are the lava lamps and garage stink. Saying the band uses the right combination of fuzztone guitars and echo and heavy frug rhythms is a bit like saying the sky is blue -- it's just one of those things to be expected -- but the sheer energy and abandon present keep everything from simply retracing the past to no point.
Leighton
's credit is for "lead screaming," and that about sums it up -- he's not so much singing as pulling off the ultimate teen-wannabe-
Mick Jagger
performance, only even more aggressively snotty.
Ted Friedman
's lead guitar solos with the right rave-up spirit and
John Hanrattie
keeps the core melodies going, while the
Tom Ward
/
David Anderson
rhythm section aims to get rears shaking instead of sitting. The album is half split between inspired originals (check out the concluding
"Stoneage Stomp"
) and actual songs from the time, the latter resulting in fun versions of tracks like
the Uncalled For
's
"Do Like Me"
Larry & the Bluenotes
'
"Night of the Phantom."
About the only thing missing is the original studio recording of the band's best number,
"It's Spooky,"
but anyone wanting a quick blast of '60s
punk
thrills filtered through later years could do much worse than to dig this one up. Later CD versions wisely combined
with
The Mirror Cracked
for 71 minutes of lysergic energy. ~ Ned Raggett