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(Nov 30, 2004)
Rocket From The Crypt: Group Sounds
Rating - ***
The Rocket From The Crypt page
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Readers of Big Lou's CD Reviews will know that Hot Snakes is Big
Lou's designated carrier of the alternative music torch, at least
for 2004. Being a historian of sorts, it made me wonder where Hot
Snakes got its start. Rumor had it that there was a tie-in with another
San Diego band, Rocket From The Crypt. This turned out to be the case:
the lead singer of Hot Snakes, John Reis, was the founder and lead singer
for RFTC as well.
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It is the general intention of this column to review only very new music, but
in this case an exception was made and we embarked upon a musical side-trip
back to the year 2001 in order to cast our critical eye on RFTC's second-to-last
release, Group Sounds. None of the 13 songs on this album ever got any
significant airplay, but then lack of airplay has more or less become a
necessary, if not sufficient condition, for a band to be worth listening
to. So it should come as no surprise that Group Sounds is very, very fine
alternative rock music. "Venom Venom," "SOS," and "Ghost Shark," are among
my favorites:
"And the villagers all knew of the forbidden ways of the Ghost Shark
And that they must answer to him... before anything else
The Ghost Shark ..... The Ghost Shark."
This song has a peculiar resemblance to the mid-90's Cracker
offering, Kerosene Hat, and if you like Cracker you'll probably
love Group Sounds.
So, was the rock torch passed from RFTC to Hot Snakes, or
from RFTC to another band, or from another band to Hot Snakes, or
did Big Lou take a journey earlier in life from which he never fully returned,
rendering all of this meaningless? You be the judge. But Group Sounds is
really an enjoyable listen, so don't pass it up. Thanks for indulging in this
brief sojourn into the recent
past - we'll come back to the present for upcoming reviews.
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