...by Emma Jade Gunn
The Los Straitjackets' ¡Damas Y Caballeros! CD was recorded live in the summer of 2000 at the Foothill Tavern in Long Beach, California. The CD begins with the sultry voice of Mike Robbins admonishing us over an orchestral background to drink responsibly and buy official Los Straitjackets masks to give away as gifts. Next thing you know, you're slapped awake with Outta Gear. Woooooo! This is rock, baby!
- INTRODUCTION OF LOS STRAITJACKETS
- (music by Andy Paley) Smooth talkin', gentle musica, I'm confused. This is the intro for guys with wrestling masks and lightning fingers on the guitars and drums? Well, it's purty! That's for sure! Let's hear it for Andy Paley who wrote What Made You Change Your Mind and the Andy Paley Orchestra who performed it!
- OUTTA GEAR
- (Eddie Angel) Did you hear that run in the middle? Didja? Huh? Huh? Didja? Well, then, go back and play this song again. Wow, I can't believe anyone missed that!
- STATE FAIR
- (Danny Amis, Eddie Angel, Jimmy Lester) Sounds kinda like a TV commercial I used to dance to. Ah, but the spacey drum solos and use of the whammy .... sigh. Learn this song, all ye future drummers and guitarists, and you'll be perfect. AB-SO-LUTELY perfect!
- CASBAH
- (Eddie Angel) Uh, I flunked Spanish in high school. Heck, I can barely understand English and it's my native tongue, so to speak. If you didn't flunk, would you write and tell me what they said before they played this song? Or, do what I did, and promise to brush up on our sister language and then just listen to the fantastic tradeoffs on those guitars. Man, it doesn't get any better tradin' than this.
- CALHOUN SURF
- (Danny Amis) Drummer Jimmy is so solid I found my heart beating to his bass drum! Doesn't this guy ever miss a beat? I mean, really, this was recorded live so you'd think he'd mess up, right? And bends, not the kind like you get from diving too deep, but from you know who playing too, too cool on that guitar. Ahh.
- ITCHY CHICKEN
- (Eddie Angel) Okay, now I have it figured out. The whole show is in Spanish. So I just sat back and loved, loved, loved (did I say I loved?) Itchy Chicken which is, undoubtedly, gnarly enough to be the theme song for my Evil Twin Bambi who shimmies and shakes her booty in public. (I would never do that, no, not Lil Em! But Bambi loves this fast and hip Chicken!) Did I tell you I love this song? Did I tell you it should be the National Anthem for your misbehavin' self? The band can't even stop lovin' this song, slapping on an ending that's, well, ITCHIN'!
- LAST DATE
- (Floyd Cramer) Suck face music! Yep, it's that old stand-by all dressed up in a Mexican Wrestling Mask. Okay, get up and rub bellies, everybody! You aren't going to hear a better version of this tune.
- KAWANGA!
- (Eddie Angel) Aha, back to surf rock, huh? I like it, dudes, I like it a lot! Hey, this is a great song to work off a coupla enchiladas cuz if you dance through this you'll lose four-hundred twelve pounds. Honest. It's that fast. Really. Would I lie?
- I'M BRANDED
- (F. Wray, Sr.) Dark, deep, rich, delicious! He ain't heavy, he's my guitarist. Isn't this a Link Wray song? There is a really fab guitar sound right smack dab (almost) in the middle (more or less) of this song I would kill to be able to do or even listen to on an hourly basis. Wait! I have this CD! I can listen to it on an hourly basis. Ah, but life is good.
- MY HEART WILL GO ON (Love theme from The Titanic)
- (J. Horner, W. Jennings) WHAT? My Los Straitjackets played the love them from a (gasp!) Leonardo DiCaprio flick? A Celine Dion song? Uh, uh, uh, uh .... I'm losing my mind here. Okay, it's pretty and it's .... it's really awfully nice .... the drums, they're fantastic .... the guitars are breathtaking in their beauty .... I, I, I .... I'm in LOVE. My heart will go on.
- SQUAD CAR
- (Paul Johnson) CLASSIC! WOW! HUBBA HUBBA! Listen to that pickin', baby, oh, baby, listen! Drivin' down Highway 101, the Pacific crashing to your right, the mountains to your left, guitars sizzling and drums thumping to the beat of life at a billion decibels. All. In. A. Corvette. Stingray. Oh, my!
- ROCKULA
- (Danny Amis, Eddie Angel, Jimmy Lester) I know, you think this is going to be a hula song, right? Ho, ho! Nah! It's space man meets mummy, meets vampire beach bunnies who suck your breath away and make you see stars as satellites whiz over your head and drop fairy rain on your neck which is caught in your guitar strings and all that stuff. That's what it is. Yep. That's exactly what it is.
- TEMPEST
- (Danny Amis, Eddie Angel, Jimmy Lester, Scott Esbeck) I know there has to be a reason for this song other than to show how clever Los Straitjackets are on their instruments. But, to be blunt, isn't that enough? Twah! Twah! Thump, thump, thump! Whiiiir. Whiiir. Whiiiir. Twah!
- LYNXTAIL
- (Eddie Angel) Oh, I have died and gone to HEAVEN. Angels cleverly disguised as buff body-builders with dark tans and Pacific blue eyes are dropping grapes into my mouth. Quintessential surf sounds with an oh-so-fab bit of blues in the and a slice of B.B. King-esque guitar soloing in the middle of some of those most incredible bends and slides and drumming perfection, and, and, and, and..... Bye now. I have to take a break and ............
- PACIFICA
- (Danny Amis, Eddie Angel) This one reminds me of pina coladas, white sand, turquoise oceans rushing with frosted breakers to caress your bare toes under a glistening pearl moon. Amis and Angel stole my heart on an exquisite beat. Fall in love all over again to Pacifica.
- DRIVING GUITARS
- (Bogle, Wilson) Classic! Oh, and that run! Play it again, darlin'! Quick picking, thumping drums and just enough surprise licks and breaks to keep you driving!
- SING SING SING
- (L. Prima) Oh, Louis, what will you do now that Los Straitjackets let us hear their version of this Big Band standard? Hmmm? Drums to die for, to ab-so-lou-tiv-leee die for! Hey, I tell you, no clarinet (with apologies to Benny G.) ever took my breath away like those guitar leads do. If you can sit still with this on — you're old.
- SLEEPWALK
- (Farina, Farina, Farina) You have to own this song. I'm not kidding. Stop reading right now, pack up and ship your computer to me, go out buy Eddie, Jimmy, Danny and Pete playing Sleepwalk. Crawl in the back of your Woody Wagon, start the player, and never come out again. I'm serious. I'll know if you're depriving yourself of fantasma-freakin-tastic pleasure by whether or not my mailbox is filled with hard drives. I'll forgive you if it isn't. Once you know what I'm talking about, well, you won't forgive yourself, though.
- RAWHIDE
- (Grant, Wray) Whoa, Rock'n'Roll, baby!!!!!!!!!! The 4th of July, New Year's Eve and the first time you let a V-8 open up on the curves all in one! Play it again... gin.... gin..... gin......... WAHOO!
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2001 Los Straitjackets