Mummies Death By Unga Bunga!! CD

You've got to wonder if the apocalypse is imminent, or hell has frozen over, or some other such monstrous tear in the fabric of the universe has occurred -- here in the year 2003, the Mummies, whose legendary loathing of digital technology was second to none, have not only launched an official Internet website, but they've actually consented to their second CD release. Death By Unga Bunga!! pulls together 21 songs from the titans of "budget rock" that previously appeared on hard to find and out of print singles, and thanks to the marvels of digital mastering technology, these recordings sound marginally less screwed-up than they did in their original cheap-jack vinyl pressings (though a few appear to have been pulled straight from the turntable). Serving up high-octane garage rock so gloriously crude that they made Thee Headcoats sound like the Poppy Family, the Mummies bashed harder than anyone on the scene, and their records captured the glorious sound of cheap guitars and cheaper PAs being pushed into the red zone by four beer-drunk lunatics dressed in Ace bandages. Add to this tunes like "Doin' the Kirk," "Food, Sickles & Girls," "I'm Bigger Than You," "(I Should Better Be Lookin' For) Dangerman," and "(You Must Fight to Live) On the Planet of the Apes," and you get one of the most brilliantly stupid (and stupidly brilliant) rock bands to ever walk the Earth. With the original pressings of these 45s long gone and fetching big bucks from collectors, Death By Unga Bunga!! may not be the coolest way to check out this stuff, but it sure is convenient and cost-effective, and stretched out into one big nonstop blast, this disc only confirms the utter rightness of the Mummies' low-tech assault upon the senses. Listen and be amazed. ~ Mark Deming