The excavation of an entire album's worth of unreleased material by the Driving Stupid must have excited some die-hard garage-heads, though the result proved to be somewhat less thrilling than might have been imagined. The exact sources of each specific track are undocumented, but they're taken from their 1966 demos in New Mexico and the unreleased album they did in Hollywood the same year. Both sides of the "Horror Asparagus Stories"/"The Reality of (Air) Fried Borsk" single are included as well, naturally. But the reality of the Driving Stupid is that this particular brand of horror/science fiction/comedy rock isn't too funny or clever. Imagine a bunch of teenagers who barely know their way around their instruments, fueled by a steady diet of surf rock, Mad magazine, and monster and outer-space films, half-improvising songs in their suburban basement. That's what this sounds like, and though some might interpret that as a high recommendation, it's not. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention these guys weren't, though those who get enormous kicks out of kitsch might enjoy songs about postmen putting spiders in mailboxes and the like, backed by the most rudimentary of riffs and over-excited sung-spoken vocals. They did actually try to get "serious" on a couple of occasions with the romantic ballad "How Do You Tell a Stranger?" and the deliberately Lovin' Spoonful-like "Happytime Springface and Flowers," and not memorably so. For those enamored of the "Horror Asparagus Stories"/"The Reality of (Air) Fried Borsk" single (which admittedly did include their best songs), rawer versions of each of those songs are here, along with an interview with lead guitarist Roger Kelley that does much to reveal the mysterious story of the group. ~ Richie Unterberger
They came careening out of New Jersey, where else? In the summer of '66 and released one fabulously rare, incredibly insane 45 that instantly became the stuff of legend, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. But unknown to all, they also recorded an entire album, which has lain dormant...until now! Few 60s groups were this raw, this untamed, this...just plain weird! Sundazed. 2002.
Includes liner notes by Mike Dugo.
The Driving Stupid: Roger Kelley, Richard Ehrenberg (vocals, guitar); Jeff Hildt (vocals, guitar, drums); Dwight Harris (vocals, bass).
Driving Stupid - Horror Asparagus Stories Album Track Listing
Trk
Song
1
My Mother Was a Big Fat Pig
2
Hide the Lobsters
3
East City!
4
Reality of, The (Air) Fried Borsk
5
We've Come to Take the Earth Away
6
Green Things Have Entered My Skin, Glady's
7
I'm Gonna Bash Your Brains In
8
Water My Doing Here?
9
Girl's Got a Turtle
10
How Do You Tell a Stranger?
11
Happytime Springface and Flowers
12
Greensleeves (The TWA Corbies)
13
Fast City!
14
I'm Gonna Bash Your Brains In
15
We've Come to Take the Earth Away
16
Reality of, The (Air) Fried Borsk
17
Hide the Lobsters
18
Green Things Have Entered My Skin, Glady's
19
Horror Asparagus Stories
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