| CD REVIEW Frantic Flinstones |
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Band: Frantic Flinstones This British band (and excuse me véry much for my mistake about their origins as mentioned in the As Diabatz review) was formed back in 1986 by mainstay Chuck Harvey (whom did indééd move to Curitiba in the Spring of 2008 after spending a couple of years – 14, actually – in Germany), and has been a stapple band in the Rockabilly/ Psychobilly scene ever since, thanks to the slew of albums they’ve been able to release over the years (including some “best of” releases, an EP compilation, live albums? and a couple of albums with material coming from weird sources, I’ve counted some 25 in all!). Over the years, Chuck has had several flirtations with Death (from which he obviously came back alive), spent some time isolated from the outside world in one of Her Majesty’s closed-door institutions, and seen his band go through more line-up changes than he can (possibly) remember. FF has never been a band to get stuck musically, taking different additional influences with each of their albums! This “tactic” has seen the band get a loyal following, known as the FF Muh Posse Worldwide, which has branches in all countries the guys ever played, and beyond! If I ain’t cross-wired my info sources (and lucky enough I was to find what I did), Psycho Samba My Way is the FF’s first full-length studio album since 2003’s Champagne 4 All!. I’ve no idea whom plays on the album besides Chuck, but the album cover shows him with 4 bandmates (most probably all of Brazilian origin). Of the 14 tracks on the album, no less than 6 are covers (HankWilliams’ “Cheatin’ Heart”, “Mambo Sun” originally from T-Rex, the somewhat Lounge Jazz flavoured “Cast Iron Arm” from RoyOrbison, “You Can Have Her” written by a guy named Cook…and sorry about not exactly knowing which band first performed it, “My Way” was of course popularised by Frank Sinatra…and Sid Vicious, and eventually FF also give the theme song to the Hannah Barbera strip series The Flinstones their own twist with the more than apt album closer Yabba-Dabba Family – mind the changed lyrics). Obviously, the band’s own songs oft have to do with drug-related themes (always a favourite with the Chuck!). Musically, the band occasionally flirts with Hard Rock (“Hypodermic”, even if it hàs got some Folk elements with that added fiddle, and a real weird ending as well – was that recorded in a church during a liturgy in Latin, or what?), but overall the Rockabilly/ Psychobilly elements prevail! That fiddle clearly being a returning instrument on other songs as well (not necessarily bringing in a Folk influence for that matter, though), and other “classic” instruments being the banjo (check out “Mambo Sun” for a definitive Country flavouring)! To get a whiff of the new album’s material, I’m afraid you’ll have to check out the on-line sale outlets (try amazon.com, for instance) for some samples, because at Myspace, neither of the two “official” pages I found (the older myspace.com/franticflinstones and the more recent myspace.com/flinstonesfrantic) contain any new material…at least when I last looked. However, to get sóme idea of what the FF have been up to in the past, these pages certainly will provide the interested music fan with the necessary material! 80/100 Tony. |