Los Straitjackets
Sing Along With Los Straitjackets
Yep Roc Records YEP 2028

by William Michael Smith

After four albums, Nashville's Los Straitjackets have carved out a reputation as one of the elite instrumental rock bands on the national scene. Performing in their trademark Mexican wrestling masks has added color, excitement, and a touch of the bizarre to their full-out, upbeat, high energy shows. What began as an interesting side project in 1994 has become a cult phenomenon of sorts. With virtually no radio support, Los Straitjackets have developed a nationwide following of diehards ­ without ever singing a note.

The band still hasn't sung a note, but for their fifth album, Sing Along With Los Straitjackets, they've invited an array of talented vocalist acquaintances from across the musical spectrum for cameo appearances fronting the band. With their considerable musical prowess and a masterful touch at arrangement, Los Straitjackets have provided us with an album filled with music that stays true to the original songs but that is without a doubt a Los Straitjackets album. Like any Straitjackets recording, it flat rocks.

Unlike many folks my age (early 50's), I have zero tolerance for "oldies" radio stations and I seldom pull out the old Cream or Big Brother and The Holding Company albums from "back in the day." But I do like tasty covers, fresh interpretations that show a song in a new light or simply faithful renditions by a band that plays the song in their own style. Sing Along With Los Straitjackets is filled with instantly recognizable hits like Roy Head's monster "Treat Her Right" and Skeeter Davis's country crossover success "The End of the World," as well as with little obscurities like "Bumblebee" or "Down The Line" that will only be familiar to collectors, aficionados and trivia buffs.

Credit Los Straitjackets and producers R.S. Field (Nashville sessions) and Mark Linnett (California sessions) that every track comes across as a worthy composition. A prime example is their rendition of Davis's "The End of the World." Davis's version is one of those oldies that we can't seem to ever get away from (it makes me cringe and hit the radio button whenever I encounter it), but Sixpence None The Richer's lead singer, Texan Leigh Nash, and Los Straitjackets seem to have done the impossible, breathing new life and vitality into a tune that has been so over-played that it has become a stale oldies radio cliché while remaining essentially true to the original production (how did they do that?).

There isn't a weak track on the album, but there are plenty of highlights, especially the jumping Spanish language covers by El Vez and Big Sandy. Sandy's "Chica Alborotada" (a.k.a. Freddy Cannon's "Tallahassee Lassie") leaves a vapor trail behind it and is as good a track as Sandy has ever recorded. Whether one understands a word of Spanish, El Vez, a Mexican national who has created a following on both sides of the border with his Elvis act (he's not an Elvis imitator or imposter, he's an interpreter, a keeper of the true flame), re-energizes "Rey Criollo" ("King Creole"). With Los Straitjackets behind him, he infuses it with more drive and hutzpah abandon than the mainstream-conscious King ever could.

While matches between singers like El Vez and songs like "King Creole" or Maverick Raul Malo's spot-on cover of Los Bravos' "Black Is Black" seem obvious once the tracks begin, the album contains any number of aesthetic surprises and twists. Deep-voiced roots rocker Dave Alvin's version of the surf classic "Warm California Sun" finds Los Straitjackets in the musical territory they cover best and they simply explode. There is a tone in Alvin's voice that says he's just having fun covering a track that would be unimaginable on one of his albums. It is also unimaginable to have a guitarist of Alvin's stature not playing on one of his tracks, but Los Straitjackets are just like Greyhound and Alvin leaves the driving to them.

Other highlights include Nick Lowe "on lead bass" covering his own instrumental surf composition, "Shake That Rat," X's Exene Cervenka doing an unlikely but perfect country-billy cover of Bill Anderson's "I'll Go Down Swinging," Allison Moorer and Lonesome Bob's torchy-but-rocking duet on Jessi Colter's "I Ain't The One," and Heartbreaker Mike Campbell's rockabilly romp, "Bumble Bee" (who knew Campbell can really sing?). Big Sandy surfaces in Spanish again on "La Suegra" (a.k.a. "Mother In Law") and Reverend Horton Heat scales down his usual over-the-top delivery on a scintillating version of Roy Orbison's (co-written with Sun's Sam Phillips) cool-cat rockabilly number, "Down the Line."

How cool and musically tuned in are Los Straitjackets? Cool enough to locate and record The Trashmen and Mark Lindsay on this album. Lindsay, the former singer of the '60's costume band, Paul Revere and The Raiders, jumps all over Roy Head's "Treat Her Right" as Los Straitjackets add a strong dose of Kinks brash in-your-face guitar that supercharges an already great song. Lindsay also contributes a cooking sax solo.

Bursting on the surf rock scene out of the unlikely surfside metropolis of Minneapolis, The Trashmen were the hottest thing going for about ten minutes in early 1964 with their smash novelty hit, "Surfin' Bird," which remains a staple of oldies radio today. Unfortunately, their timing was terrible and, just as their superstardom seemed assured, they were steamrolled by The British Invasion. But here they are 37 years later laying down a blistering track, "A Huevo," recorded at the Flower Pot in Minneapolis with four of Nashville's heaviest roots rock hitters to close out the album. Now that's cool!

Behind Los Straitjackets' anonymity-providing Mexican wrestling masks are some of the most accomplished roots rock players in the country. Drummer Jimmy Lester has a reputation for metronomic precision and steamhammer energy and is a Nashville session regular. He played with Webb Wilder for years, has recorded with Billy Joe Shaver, and recently toured with indy phenom Scott Miller's new band, The Commonwealth. Bassist Pete Curry (actually, he is a guitar collector who can play about anything with strings on it) is a founding member of Halibuts, a legendary surf band from L.A. that has been in continuous operation since 1982, and has played in several important surf ensembles as well as producing. Together, Lester and Curry form what may be the drivingest, most competent rock rhythm section in Nashville.

Beyond this solid rhythm base, the Straitjacket sound is clearly built on two battling guitars. Eddie Angel cut his teeth in rockabilly and roadhouse bands, including an extensive stint with Dallas legend Ronny Dawson. Danny Amis not only is responsible for the Straitjackets' wrestling masks (he has a massive collection), he was a member of The Raybeats, another early '80s surf band with cult status. Between them, these guys cover the rock instrumental waterfront from Link Wray and Dick Dale and the Ventures out to the borders of spaghetti western and trippy sci-fi theme music. Suffice it to say that with a Fender endorsement and their photographs splashed across Fender ads in the trade magazines, these guys know what to do with a guitar machine when they plug it in.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say Los Straitjackets could hire out as a backing band to almost anyone. Whether it's California surf-pop, genuine rockabilly, Elvis's greatest hits, the Sun sessions, or 60's radio rock, they can nail it and nail it good. Thanks to Los Straitjackets, it's now safe to go back into the oldies water again. Viva Los Straitjackets.

* Filled with energy and loaded with fun, Sing Along With Los Straitjackets is currently being tested by the FDA and numerous drug companies as a substitute for Viagra, Ritalin, Tylenol, Benzedrine, Novacaine and a wide assortment of anti-depressants. If you'd like to be part of the testing sample, pick up your trial pack at www.redeyeusa.com. To find out more about the medicinal effects, check out www.straitjackets.com or www.yeproc.com. Side effects may include excessive grinning, jitterbugging, and an increased aptitude for fun and games. Certain trial subjects have shown a tendency to wear Mexican wrestling masks in public or to air-guitar incessantly. Fine Print: Warning - do not use Sing Along With Los Straitjackets as a contraceptive.


Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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