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The Sharks
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Infamy [2012]
Western Star WSRC 057
House of Wax - A Tornado Called Smith - Holloway Road - The King Of London - First Men On the Moon - Control - Ship To Shore - Hell Riders - I Can’t Believe You’re Back - Breakin’ Bones - Luck O’ The Irish - Desert Diamond - She’s Fallen In Love With The Monster Man
The Sharks are back! After a 15 year hiatus Alan Wilson (guitar, vocals), Steve Whitehouse (super sonic slap bass, vocals) and Hodges finally got together again to record a new album. I must say that I was a little apprehensive when I put the cd in the player. Could the band match my high expectations, after all they had released some of the best neo/psycho billy album made in the 80’s (Phantom Rockers) and the 90’s (Recreationnal Killer and Color My Flesh). Recently released material on compilation albums and ep showed they were still in good shape, but could they make it on long distance? It took just one song to see all my doubts vanish. Not only the Sharks were good but they sounded better than ever, benefiting of 30 years of experience in term of producing, playing and writing songs. Most of all they managed to keep what make their identity and reinvent themselves in the same time. You don’t have a band of fifty year old men (or so) who run after their youth, trying to sound like they did in thirty years ago. They don’t come back by pure nostalgia but because they have solid songs to defend (mostly penned by Wilson with the exception of the First Men On the Moon co-written with Whitehouse and Lord Sutch’s She’s Fallen In Love With the Monster Man). Of course there are hot psychobilly numbers like House Of Wax (perfect opener with superb vocals from Whitehouse), A Tornado Called Smith (listen to this guitar solo, it kills!), Men On the Moon and Breakin Bones (already a classic alternating slow and fast parts). Next to this psychobilly gems you’ll find an instrumental mixing Surf guitar with Mariachi music (Hell Riders), 60’s country music with a Bakersfield feel (Desert Diamond), and a great tribute to Joe Meek in the form of a pop song (Holloway Road) featuring female backing vocals and Merv Pepler (Frenzy) playing some strange noises that would have pleased the producer of Telstar. Other real life character also have their own song like the notorious bareknuckle boxer Pretty Boy Shaw (The King Of london with plunking piano) and Ronald Biggs. That’s what I call a casting! More surprising is Luck’o the Irish sung by Doyley (Klingonz) with accordion and penny whistle for a full Pogues ambiance.
It was worth a wait of 15 years..
Comes in a nice digipack with lyrics included.
Fred "Virgil" Turgis
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Songs from the Sarcophagus [2011]
Western Star
She's Fallen In Love With A Monster Man - Draculas Daughter - Jack The Ripper - Monster In Black Tights
We've waited for years for it. Here it is, at last, a brand new release from those neo-rockabilly/psychobilly masters.
This 4 songs vinyl ep is a tribute to the late Screaming Lord Sutch and who was more designed to do it than the Sharks and Joe Meek specialist Alan Wilson? They manage to give their own rendition of these classics while staying true to Meek and Sutch versions.
A total, definite and absolute must have.
Fred "Virgil" Turgis
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Live In Japan
Crazy Love CLCD 64143
Deathrow - Bye Bye Girl - Cold Heart - Crazy Maybe - Dealer - Schitzoid Man - Love Bites - Morphine Daze - Side Show Freak - Between Two Worlds - Moonstomp - Surf Caster - Phantom Rockers - Charlie - Time Bomb - Ghost Train - Skeleton Rock.
The psychobilly scene counts very few solid live recordings. The reason can be found in the fact that the majority has been released in the mediocre Live’n’Rockin’ serie on Link records. But one can find some exception like The Quakes’ Live In Tokyo, Long Tall Texans’ Five beans In The Wheel (though it’s half fake), Live'n'Undead by the Nekromantix and on top of the list : "Live In Japan" by the Sharks.
This live recording has been captured on tape in September 1998 in Nagoya and Tokyo, during a successfull tour of Japan with the pair Wilson and Whitehouse (both on top form) and Carl Parry (guitar player for Frenzy at the time) on drums. Of course, I miss Hodges the original drummer, but Parry does more than a competent job.
The set spans the entire career of the band with "Phantom Rockers" taking the lion’s share. The trio gives a breath of fresh air – and even surpasses the studio recordings - to their classics like Love Bites, Charlie, Moonstomp and breathtaking versions of Skeleton Rock and Ghost Train. The songs from "Colour My Flesh" and "Recreationnal Killer" are well represented too here and the live gives a grittier sound than the well produced studio versions.
There’s a spirit of sheer joy (even with songs about vamires, psycho killer, electric chairs…) all along this hour plus of tight musicianship (remember we’re talking about Alan Wilson and Steve Whitehouse) that is highly communicative. In the end it’s more than a great psychobilly album, it’s a great rock’n’roll album (that deals with kids with chainsaw, girls from Transylvannia and so on, okay I know).
Fred "Virgil"
Turgis
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First and Last [1988 - reissue 2002]
Nervous /Crazy Love
Rock The Joint ~ Pink & Black ~ Tired 'n' Sleepy ~ Teenage Boogie ~ Tear It Up ~ Wildcat Rock ~ Sugar Doll ~ We Say Yeah ~ Deathrow ~ Moonstomp ~ Ghost Train ~ Crazy Maybe ~ Buddy Can You Spare A Dime ~ It's All Over Now ~ Phantom Rockers ~ Chainsaw Charlie ~ I Can't Stop.
This album captures two shows. The first one has been recorded by the trio at the beginning of their career and the second is the last they played just before they split in 1983, hence the title. It’s mostly made for fans and it’s surely not the best album to discover this great and highly influential band. But it remains very interesting as you can hear a band of teenagers evolving from a good rockabilly cover band (the first show: well played but nothing too exceptional) into a tight psychobilly unit, this time with self penned material and a sound truly of their own.
Fred "Virgil" Turgis
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