Lost Soultastic

I said I was in a Lost Souls mood, didn't I? Well, I'm cheating a little bit...


Stage Frite - Island of Lost Souls (1989; Link)

1: Island of Lost Souls
2: Pink & Black
3: Noises (Ain't 'arf Weird)
4: One Last Dream
5: Bad Moon Rising
6: Black Magic
7: Slippin' In
8: The Ripper
9: Take the Money and Run
10: Searchin'
11: Let's Play House
12: Freight Train

Well, the album title is right, at least. Incidentally, the song is nothing to with the Tall Boys tune of the same name. It's not quite as good, either, but that's hardly a damning indictment, given the marvelosity of the Tall Boys. Indeed, the album as a whole is a juicy little slice of classic Psychobilly. Wider opinion seems somewhat split on Stage Frite, with one psychobilly site being somewhat less than entirely complimentary, citing "boring fillers" and "usual cover versions". I wouldn't be entirely sure if they were listening to the same album, if it wasn't for the fact that they get their track recommendations pretty much spot on, even if they do neglect to mention the rockin' and rattlin' good time that is "Let's Play House" under the highlight heading. Even the covers are generally pleasing, fitting the album well and hardly giving rise to thoughts of a band stuck for something to do and padding things out with half-arsed run throughs of other people's songs.

All in all, you can't go wrong with a bit of Stage Frite. It appears to have garnered itself some form of extended CD reissue, which you should clearly buy, but here it is in all its original vinyl glory (complete with the very original skip, sorry about that. Just adds to the charm, really). Be a good mutant and open up the comments and get clicking.

You'll have to wait for the actual Lost Souls - I feel an impromptu half day off coming on tomorrow, so you never know.