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THE DRIVING STUPID
Horror Asparagus Stories (Sundazed)
Reviewed by Alan Wright
This has to be the stupidest CD I've received to review in a long time. That's a compliment, by the way, because these guys really were making "stupid music," which was actually quite brilliant! For years, and due to their inclusion on the legendary Pebbles, Vol. 3 - The Acid Gallery LP, they were steeped in mystery, many assuming they weren't even a real group, but simply a bunch of studio guys making "crazy music." That the original vinyl pressing of that Pebbles LP actually listed both sides of their lone single, "Horror Asparagus Stories"/'The Reality of Air-Fried Borsk," in the track listing, but only included the B-side made things even more confusing. It wasn't until the Pebbles Box Set released many years later in the U.K. that the song finally appeared on record again. The CD release rectified the mistake as well, and many '60s garage fanatics were intrigued by this completely insane song. Myself, I was lucky enough to have actually found a copy of the original 45 in a junk shop, and never failed to put on the A-side for many a stoned friend hanging out at my apartment. One of my old bands, the 14th Wray, even attempted to cover it at one point, but it never made it out of the rehearsal space.
Sundazed amazingly managed to track down former members, and came up with a whole CD worth of studio recordings by the band, which blows my mind. And once you hear this CD, your mind will indeed be blown. They remind me a lot of both the Fugs and the Gods, but with less amateurish playing as they were actually pretty tight, and completely insane lyrics! I don't even know how to begin to describe songs like "Hide The Lobsters" (actually about evil postmen not lobsters!), "We've Come To Take The Earth Away," "I'm Gonna Bash Your Brains In," "Happytime Springface & Flowers" and the amazing "Girls Got A Turtle." Since the band recorded different versions of most of the songs at two different sessions (including one at Gold Star Studio!), you get two (duh) versions of seven of the 19 tunes, but no matter, they're different enough to warrant listening to again anyway! Plus, since they were never released aside from the one single, they've been mixed down from scratch into really cool psychedelic stereo mixes. Although the band says they favored the original demo version of "Horror Asparagus Stories," entitled "My Mother Was A Big Fat Pig" - the record company made them change it so moms wouldn't be offended - I still dig the single version the best. This is great stuff.
© 2003 - Alan Wright