Hot Rod Gang CD

This is one cool collection, maybe the greatest body of unknown car songs ever put together by anybody, and they're all loud, raucous songs that also, coincidentally, mix in sex, rebellion, and general delinquent behavior. Walt Benton gets things started hot and heavy with the hot rod/sex anthem "Big Wheel," which mixes the punkiest elements of Chuck Berry and Ritchie Valens' sounds. It's pedal to the metal time from there on, through Howie Stange's "This Old Bomb of Mine" (Stange put down his mandolin long enough to come up with a classic that just misses "Maybelline" status; not so the Berry Brothers' rocking instrumental "Hot Rod," which doesn't waste a note or an opportunity. Chuck Brooks and the Sharpies' "Spinning My Wheels" lets up on the intensity, but is such a cool example of '50s pre-punk bravado that it's as indispensable as anything else here, and that's not at all. Richie Deran's "Girl in a Hot Rod" falls short in the creativity and content departments, but then Jimmy Carroll's "Big Green Car" comes along with some overly (which is to say, nicely) amplified guitar and cardboard box drumming. Jan & Arnie's "Gas Money" from Arwin Records, may be the most familiar song here, and the least interesting, even if it is a lot of fun. Rocky Davis' "Hot Rod Baby" is an astonishingly frank meld of sex and cars, with double entendre scattered throughout. "Long John's Flagpole Rock" by Long John Roller is the funniest song here, and it has some of the best ensemble guitar playing, electric and acoustic, on this set. Howard W. Brady's "Hot Rod Boogie" manages to get an accordion into this kind of song fairly convincingly, but Woody Ball's "Robin Hood and His '56 Ford" gets us back into guitar territory. Johnny Bond's "A Hot-Rodder's Dream," cut by Ray Burden, is no match for "Hot Rod Lincoln," but it has its moments; Bob Williams' "Hot Rod Race" cuts closer to "Hot Rod Lincoln" in beat, lyrics, and spirit. Paul Simon may not have known "Brake Jake" by Mike Fern as a kid, but accident or not, elements very similar to its lyrics turn up decades later in one of his most famous songs. Bobby Fry's "Highway Robbery" is one of the very few blues numbers in the entire Buffalo Bop catalog, and makes for a refreshing change of pace. ~ Bruce Eder

remastered from the original 45's, w. Mike Fern, Howie Stange, Walt and the Gents, Chuck Brooks & the Sharpies+, 30 tracks from the 50's