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VARIOUS ARTISTS
Monster Party 2000 (MuSick)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
[We at Cosmik Debris apologize for the delay in bringing you this review. It is yet another one of the reviews lost in the dread virus that wiped our drives clean. We're catching up slowly but surely. And so we bring you this Halloween CD review in January.]
Halloween party compilation albums. Now that's a tradition I can sink my fangs into. It goes way back, how far I'm not sure, but there are a lot of classics that are hot items amongst record collectors, especially as October nears.Add Monster Party 2000 to the list of classics. This isn't a pick-em-n-tape-em source here. You can put this baby on at your party and let it ride. The energy is such that your guests will be drenched and exhausted at the end of the night. We're talking about primitive garage bones-on-skins rawk, high-energy surfin' vampires, hot-roddin' attitudinal corpses, and red hot guitars, amps cranked, soul-shakin' bleed-back morphing into the perfect riff. We're talking about the vibe that IS All Hallows Eve for those who understand it. The Hypnomen capture it so perfectly in "The Pendulum" that I want to freeze it or frame it or something, carry it with me so I can pull it out during conversations with people who don't get it and say "see, it's like this." If they still don't get it, I'll just shake my head and leave them to their Bing Crosby "White Christmas" record.
It's not just The Hypnomen. Evan Foster is all over this bitch. His Boss Martians contribute "Have You Ever Seen..." and another of his many bands, Cobrajets, kicks the nails out of the caskets with a Nugent-inspired rocker called "Roadside Cross." Rumor has it Evan's elsewhere on the CD, too, in unexpected places.
As is the tradition with MuSick Recordings' various artists projects, there aren't any weak spots. Deadbolt cracks us up with "Billy's Dead," an unsettlingly casual attempt to convince the listener that Billy is not among the living, set to music that unsettles further. The Woggles' "Dracula's Daughter" rocks hard but plants the frightening notion of having to meet your new girlfriend's dad when that dad is the living dead. (Side note: I think the Woggles could cover Bread's "If" and make it rock your balls off. I further think this to be a very good thing.) The Omega Men team up with Los Straitjacket Eddie Angel for "Frankie's Groovy Monster Boots," Freddy Fortune & The Fore Gone Conclusions bop n hop to "Dracula's Deuce," Satan's Pilgrims "Frankenstomp" all over the place, Los Straitjackets, Fifty Foot Combo, Space Cossacks, The Bambi Molesters... I mean, hey, are you diggin' the guest list at this party? My God!
How will your party end? Well, it ain't the last track (it's number 17 of 22), but Electric Frankenstein's "Already Dead" will cause your sweating, moshing, crazed partiers to blow the hell up in a puff of smoke. If ya gotta die, let it be from rockin' too hard, I always say. And what better night to do it on? I've got a soft spot for all of MuSick's compilation CDs, but this is the one that they'll never top, far as I'm concerned.
Track List:
Welcome To The Party! * Frankenstomp (Satan's Pilgrims) * Have You Ever Seen...? (Boss Martians) * Transylvanian Orbit (Space Cossacks) * Frankie's Groovy Monsters Boots (Eddie Angel & The Omega Men) * Dracula's Deuce (Freddy Fortune & Four-Gone Conclusions) * The Goon (Bleed) * Theme From 'Young Frankenstein' (Madeira) * Ghosts From Boot Hill (Hellbenders) * Nosferatu (3-D Invisibles) * The Pendulum (Hypnomen) * Daddy Long Legs (Tiki Tones) * (Theme From) Slaying Beauty (Bambi Molesters) * Billy's Dead (Deadbolt) * Evil Walks In (Fifty Foot Combo) * El Monster Surfin' Time (Los Pelegrinos Negros) * Already Dead (Electric Frankenstein) * Roadside Cross (Cobrajets) * Rockula (Los Straitjackets) * Dracula's Daughter (Woggles) * It's The Mummy! (Chimps) * Theme From 'Young Frankenstein' (Madelra)
© 2001 - DJ Johnson