Cream of Cat Soup

I made that. Which is why it isn't anywhere near as good as the proper art on here. Anyway, let's take a whirlwind run through the remaining volumes in this curious series...


Various Artists - Cream of the Cats Vol. 02 (1991)



A1: Poor Boys - Move Baby Move
A2: Fireball XL5 - Rocking Shoes
A3: G Men - One Woman
A4: Teen Kats - J'en ai Marre
A5: Poor Boys - My Baby Don't Agree
A6: Dancing with the Rebels
B1: Wampas - Wampas
B2: Men from Uncle - Charlie
B3: Men from Uncle - Scratching My Way Out
B4: Men from Uncle - Man With the Ray Eyes
B5: Men from Uncle - Bad Trip
B6: Men from Uncle - I Can't Get Enough


Would you look at that for a compilation arrangement. The words piss and poor spring to mine (no reflection on the content mind, just the ordering). What happened there? "What are we going to do? We've got plenty for the neo side, might even put a bit of effort into keeping the Poor Boys songs apart - only a bit mind, not a lot of effort, working out how to properly space three songs in a list of six is a bit taxing for my tiny mind - but what about the psycho side? We've really made a rod for our own back here" "Well, I've got that Men From Uncle tape - let's stick all them on!"

I'm pretty sure that's how it went, y'know.

Anyway, they could have made more effort to keep the Poor Boys apart - they could have pushed at least one of them off the album. They aren't the greatest and lend the neorockabilly side a lukewarm and anaemic feel, one only enhanced by the not entirely welcome return of Fireball XL5. They bring absolutely nothing new to the table, preferring instead to leave with the cutlery, place settings and a leg each. The G Men do their best to save the side, and are more than partially successful. Ably assisted by the jaunty French bop of the Teen Kats (who appear to be singing about Johnny Marr), they manage to make a success of the side. Those two alone are worth the entrance fee.

Things really pick up on the second side, where a brief blast of Wampas (who seem to have pinched the tune from "Dear Abby" off of Dead Kennedys "Bedtime for Democracy", which is a bit weird) is followed by the aforementioned slab of Men from Uncle. "Charlie" isn't a cover of the grand old Sharks song, rather it is a curious sequel, charting Charlie's release from Borstal (where he was presumably put for chainsawing everyone to bits in the first song). Reasonably clever semi-appropriation of elements of the original make it interesting enough, slapping along pleasingly enough. "Scratching My Way Out" is possibly the peak of the side, a proper psycho high speed rip with rolling drums, a supercharged chorus, and jaunty lyricising involving coffins and being buried alive. How things should be, in other words. The other songs do little to let the side down, veering in and out of rockabilly, psychobilly and mid 80s indie stylings. File under curious and enjoy letting your ears travel through the less travelled avenues of 80s psycho/neo.


Various Artists - Cream of the Cats Vol. 03 (1991)



A1: Stingrays - Slap Bass Boogie
A2: X Invaders - Storm Boys
A3: Boppin' Kids - Fire My Soul
A4: Stringbeans - I'll Cry Instead
A5: Outer Limits - The Chase
A6: Colbert Hamilton - Wow
B1: Boppin' Kids - Go Wild
B2: Colbert Hamilton - Long Black Shiny Car
B3: Stingrays - Radiator Rock
B4: Stringbeans - Total Jerk
B5: X Invaders - Lover Boy
B6: Outer Limits - Tell Me


Don't get excited - it's not those Stingrays. Rather, it's the jazzy, swinging, big bandy bunch from the record label that brought you the Lambrettas, Judy Tzuke and Elton John. In short, they aren't very good and have a distinct tendency to the boogie woogie, raising the grim spectre of Jools the no-necked monstrosity Holland. But things very quickly pick up X Invaders and Boppin' Kids, blowing the previous approach of one side neo and one side psycho out of the fetid waters in which it was previously languishing. A distinctly better approaching to song distribution on show, too. Stringbeans and Outer Limits maintain the below the radar psycho rumble before Colbert rocks up with a more than typical straightahead neorockabilly revival that tries far too hard and achieves very, very little. I know that to some people I might be blaspheming, but Colbert Hamilton leaves me cold. Simply not trash enough, really.

Side two messes with the order of the first side, dispelling any notions that the series had changed to having medium grade psycho bookended by overly earnest hollow revivalists. Not as strong as their other entry, it nevertheless clicks along and easily overshadows one of the most obvious covers in the history of covers from Dilbert Hamilton. Putting the next Stingrays effort straight after makes it easier to move the needle along to get to probably the best three songs on the album, closing with a reasonably storming stomp from the Outer Limits. Ignore the names, go for the lesser lights and you won't be disappointed.


Various Artists - Cream of the Cats Vol. 04 (1991)



A1: Stingrays - Don't Break Down
A2: Roughnecks - The Fly
A3: Fireball XL5 - Prison Walls
A4: Boppin' Kids - Love Me Like a Stone
A5: Colbert Hamilton - Ice Cold
A6: Rochee & the Sarnos - Sarno Dictionary
B1: Colbert Hamilton - Long Blonde Hair
B2: Fireball XL5 - The Man With no Name
B3: Roughnecks - Dope Rider
B4: Boppin' Kids - Tainted Love
B5: Colbert Hamilton - Love Me
B6: Rochee & the Sarnos - Sarno Fever


DO get excited, it IS those Stingrays, tearing out of the blocks with one of their finest, catchiest trashabilly pop songs. Makes you wonder if the compilers simply got a bit confused on the last one. Lord knows how they could have thought the two sets of songs were by the same band. An element of the cementhead on show, I feel. It's impossible to dislike the song, and there is a heavy punishment for trying.

The Roughnecks keep things rocking along, and even Fireball XL5 up their game to join in, driven along by a bass that motors along nicely. Boppin' Kids maintain their form from the last instalment, stomping along and keeping the torch burning brightly before Dilbert Hamilton pisses on it and chucks it in the sea whilst it's raining. Still, it's only a minor blip as Rochee comes to the rescue with his Sarnos, taking a gloriously demented and very nearly musical meander through spelling. S for traffic warden, a for antelope, r for rock'n'roll, n for naughty nighties, o for ost-er-ich, s for sometimes, put them altogether and what have you got? SARNOS! S for sarno, a for sarno, r for sarno, n for sarno, etc. I could carry on, and to be honest it would be more fun than having to type about Dilbert and his next effort. O for sarno, s for sarno. Skipping right along.

Fireball XL5 happily continue in the vein of the other side rather than the other album, Roughnecks chip in with a solid little rocker, and the Boppin' Kids launch into a surprisingly worthwhile cover of "Tainted Love" before Dilbert stinks the place out for a third time. A lesson in how and what to cover is handed to Dilbert on a plate by the Boppin' Kids, along with his arse and his dignity. Once more Rochee is called on to save the day, something he and his Sarnos do in fine style. Having previously reinvented spelling, they show that there really is no end to their talents by reinventing the concept of singing. It really is something for your grateful ears to behold.

So, four albums in, they'd just got the hang of how to arrange a compilation, they'd hopefully discovered that sometimes more than one band can have the same name, and they packed in. It's probably for the best really, but there really are some often overlooked slices of good old fashioned trash to be had on these albums. The stuff you know, you know, the stuff you don't may just give you a happy surprise (unless it's by Dilbert, of course). Go on, be a gambler, click in the comments. At the very least you'll walk away with a stormer of a Stingrays song and a lesson in spelling from Rochee.