ADAM WEST
In The Back of My Hearse b/w Find It 7" (Badass)
Ready Steady Adam West (People Like You)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

---

This is a great collection of stuff from this cult band from Washington, D.C. Adam West have a diverse sound and have covered much ground in their career, and survived numerous line-up changes with only the singer and drummer being the constants. Yet they manage to always create excellent guitar-based rock. Whether it's full-on fuzzed-out garage like "Vanilla" and "I Get A Sensation," '70s punk sounds like "For All I Care" and "Done Me Wrong" to stoner rock anthems like "Upside Down" and "Rocks Will Fall," these guys rock hard and loud. Singer Jake Starr has a full-throated style, and is probably as influenced by Otis Redding as he is Iggy Pop, Rob Younger or Bon Scott. This lengthy retrospective features songs from their first two and way out-of-print CDs, "13 Deluxe" and "Mondo Royale," various singles, comp. tracks and one totally unreleased tune. You get their great Stooges ("Search & Destroy") and Misfits ("Halloween," She," and "Cough/Cool") and even a bizarre take on the Ides Of March's horrid 1970 AM radio hit "Vehicle," replete with horns, which while better than the original, is probably my least favorite thing here. Still, there are plenty of fab originals to satisfy your R'n'R cravings!

On the Bad Attitude 7" release, they do a hep original on the A-side, but it's the flip that really blew me away. Ever since first seeing Russ Meyer's "Beyond The Valley of the Dolls" in 1992, I've been obsessed with the song "Find It," which the Carrie Nations perform in the movie. I've often wondered why no band has ever covered it, and as far as I know, Adam West are the first. They do complete justice to the song, making it their own while retaining the magic of the original. They raunch it up a bit, adding more of a hard rock edge but it's still a fantastic version that rocks your socks off!

[Pick the 7" up at www.bad-attitude-records.com/.]

© 2003 - Alan Wright