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THE FUZZTONES – Salt For Zombies, CDSin Records (SIN 001) 2003 ‘Have you ever seen a psychedelic circus? Those innocent fun games
of the hallucination generation? The beatniks, the acid heads and the
Fuzztones?’ The Fuzztones have been one of my fave bands since many years and
their leader, Rudi Protrudi, one of my fave voices and attitudes too. I’ve
been waiting for this album since very long as The Fuzztones had announced
its release two years ago, if my memory serves me well, and I am really happy
to have it on my CD player right at this moment. Unfortunately this is a CD
release only as there is not any announcement or rumor for a vinyl release in
the near future. This is the first time that a Fuzztones album and even any
work of them that will not appear on vinyl and Rudi has to do something about
that as soon as he moves back home after the European Tour. It’s also strange
that the album is released by his own label, Sin Records, and not from
another label with better distribution. That simply means that if you want to
get “Salt For Zombies” you have to get in contact with their site [http://www.fuzztones.net/] and order it from there. The album begins
with the same vibrated sound that The Electric Prunes used on “I Had Too Much
To Dream Last Night”. The opening song is ‘My Brother The Man’ which along
with ‘Face Of Time’ was included in the Fuzztones 45 record that was released
by R.A.R.F. Records in 2000. ‘Face Of Time’ is also appearing in the new
album but differently performed and in my opinion much better than the
R.A.R.F. 45. Between theses two songs stands a song that you can listen to
the voice of Sky Saxon by The Seeds and it’s called ‘Get Naked’. Sky Saxon
isn’t the only guest in here as James Lowe by The Electric Prunes is doing
some vocals on ‘Hallucination Generation’, a song that as you can easily
assume is more on the psychedelic side. And this isn’t the only one in here…
‘Salt For Zombies’ is an album diving in Psychedelia; it continues the story
of The Fuzztones from just where ‘Braindrops’ left off. There are songs like
‘Idol Chatter’ (written by Andrea Kusten) and ‘A Wristwatch Band (originally
performed by The Boss Tweeds) that introduce us to that psychedelic side of
The Fuzztones but the album isn’t a psychedelic one. Songs such as ‘Johnson
In A Headlock’ (my fave one at this moment) and ‘Group Grope’ reminds us why
The Fuzztones became famous from the first moment. The album that contains 13
songs ends with ‘What Ever Happened To Baby Jesus’, a song that was performed
by Lincoln Street Exit in the 60’s and I first listened to it in The
Fuzztones live show in Athens two years ago and really amazed me. It’s really
great that they included that one in here. Generally the sound quality is at
high standards and how it wouldn’t be as The Fuzztones have been working on
that album since two years now. ‘Salt For Zombies’
is one great album that perfectly mixes psychedelia & garage,
hallucinations & voodoo! It is a mixture of ‘Ward 81’ & ‘All The
Kings Horses’. It is also dedicated to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, so you ‘d
better get it soon before any Hawkins voodoo spell possess you in the
night…and unfortunately you’ ll have to deal with the dead this time…BEWARE! The Fuzztones,
P.O. Box 782, Tujunga, CA., 91043, U.S.A. |
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THE FUZZTONES LIVE CONCERT 4 Oct. 2003, Athens,
Greece at Gagarin 205 Club. The place was packed by
1500 anxious people. It felt like ages since last March when The Fuzztones
visited Athens and now they were back to start for once again their
Europe-Tour from this haunted theater! Rudi Protrudi appeared on stage with
the exactly same bowl haircut and bone necklace that used to wear almost 20
years ago, which is responsible for the great Fuzztones reputation in this
town since the eighties. The place nearly went down
from the first notes of “Cinderella”, which was picked to perform first.
Jordan Tarlow was here too on guitar and second came “Action Speaks Louder
Than Words”. The Fuzztones nearly performed the whole new album and the crowd
loved it. “Johnson In A Headlock”, “This Sinister Urge”, “Group Grope”, “My
Brother The Man”, “What Ever Happened To Baby Jesus” etc. and also the Tones
classics “1-2-5”, “Strychnine”, “Bad News Travel Fast”, “She’s Wicked” were
performed by the band. Sometime in the middle of
the live, Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere And The Raiders appeared on stage and
took the microphone for a special live appearance with The Fuzztones in
Athens, in front of a crowd that nearly went crazy! They wouldn’t perform any
other song for the start but “Steppin’ Out”. They also played “Louie Go
Home”, “Kicks” and “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone” plus a couple more but the
greatest moment of this special appearance was “Louie Louie”! I got shivers
down my spine… The Fuzztones closed their live performance with “Ward 81” and Rudi announced that he had a dream that this was the night that he would meet the girl of his life… I don’t know if he did but the girls (and guys) did meet this long awaited new CD outside the hall for sale and they did vanished them all! Thank you Fuzztones! |
By Caveman
31 October 2003
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