February 25, 2006
All or Nothing
Previously King Kustom & the Cruisers (The All Leather Stomp Band), parts of them later became the Mofos. Some say they’re still at it. If you don’t know the Hypstrz, then all this dry-sounding Minnesota historical background stuff will give you no hint of the glories I am about to impart. (Even with the aid of Web searches and liner notes and various rumors, the research stage is the most tiresome part of writing. Why can’t I just pull facts out of my ass instead of striving for accuracy?)
The Hypstrz were a 1960s garage revival band, one of the first (this stuff was recorded in 1979). What’s more important, they’re one of the best. After decades of mere mythology, Bomp Records has finally reissued the official Hypstrz releases on one beautiful CD, Live at the Longhorn, and boy, is it. Live, I mean. And fast. With a pounding, hyper attack, the band commences to steamrolling through a loud, crowd-pleasing, drunken dancing set of mostly covers. You can practically smell the fresh sweat being tossed around in the beery heat; don’t slip in that puddle of puke. This is the quintessential party album.
About those groovy covers: A lot of them may seem like dead obvious choices to kids spoiled by unlimited access to Back From the Grave and 2-3 decades of collector-hyped obscurities, but the way these guys rocked the (now standard) ’60s-punk/R&B hits like “96 Tears” and “In the Midnight Hour” - with balls-out, total commitment - leaves no doubt that they were helping invent a new genre. I’m really glad they did.
Check out their version of “I’ll Go Crazy” - it’s like the Hypstrz realized they could never match JB’s Famous Flames in terms of funk or precision, so they just decided to blast their way through. On the skipped beats, it sounds as if the drummer and the guitarist are racing against each other to the finish. (Maybe they were in a hurry not to miss that last call for alcohol.) And the Small Faces‘ “All or Nothing” - whatta kickass song! I hereby deem Minneapolis to be Soul Central.
This girl called the Hypstrz “an American amphetamine version of Dr. Feelgood” and that sounds right to me, except with more bombast… although maybe that’s implied with the amphetamine part, eh? I dunno, it’s been quite a while since I speeded. Does doing speed make you roar like the mighty lion? If so, then go get your meth on, and crank this motherfucker up.
The Hypstrz - “All or Nothing (live)”
The Hypstrz - “I’ll Go Crazy (live)”
The Hypstrz - “96 Tears (live)”
Rick at 7:11 pm
2 CommentsÈ
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shouldn’t that be “quite a while since I sped”?
Comment by wi11iam13 Ñ February 26, 2006 @ 1:59 pm
The Brothers Batson and co are 100% responsible for forming my tastyes in rock and roll. As an underage kid who didn’t drink they let me be thier “roadie”, trading my amp humping for night after night of balls-out rock and roll partying. They still play about once every 3 months, sometimes as the Mofos, sometimes as The Hypstrz, and once in a great while as King Kustom. Whatever name, whatever style, whatever songs they play be it covers or originals, a fun time is guaranteed whenever they grace a stage. Makes me proud to live in Minneapols!
Comment by Ollie Sench Ñ March 4, 2006 @ 4:47 pm