THE BELLRAYS
Raw Collection (Uppercut Records)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

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This is a pretty cool collection of 7" and comp only tracks from this fab "punk soul" band that features the mighty vocals of Lisa Kekaula. It's not a complete singles collection, as only some A and B sides are included. You get "You're Sorry Now," a song from their three-song Wall Of Soul EP from 1995, back before they decided to amp up the sound. The first evidence of that was their take on the Saints' "Nights In Venice," originally released as a split single with Adam West. The version here is actually the one from the Saints Tribute CD and features a keyboard intro thing missing on the 7" version. Then there's the excellent and quite pop sounding "Half A Mind," one half of a single on Revenge. The next three songs were all on the now-scarce Flapping Jet 8" (!) release. "Mind's Eye," "Swastika" and "Gather Darkness" are all good rockers. Two Pinball-themed songs from the Multiball fanzine comp. CD, Extra Ball, are fun. "Suicide Baby" and "Chemical" are from the No Tomorrow single, and then there's two of their four songs from the split CD with the Street Walkin' Cheetahs on Coldfront. Kind of curious why they show up again here considering that CD's still in print. "Rude Awakening" comes from an EP that came with Carbon 14 mag, and the last two songs are from two different Poptones CD singles. "I Lost The Feeling" and "The Same Way" are cool, but I wish they'd also thrown on their wickedly good version of Cheap Trick's "Dream Police" from the same one that had "The Same Way" on it. Anyways, this is cool, I just wish it had more stuff on it!

© 2003 - Alan Wright