The Mummies- Death by Unga Bunga! (Estrus)

Now, before you get too excited, no, the Mummies are not back together. I’m still not sure how a buncha thousand year old dead guys wrapped in bandages ever got together to form a rock and roll in the first place, but their fate is still sealed (ha!) or maybe just under wraps (again!), and no reunion has been announced. And since two of ‘em are currently (un)dead, I doubt they’ll be resurrecting (!) their career anytime soon. However, Mummies or not, the reigning kings of budget rock need dough just like you and me, so they’ve sold out their “Vinyl only” ethos completely here, and present to you, the Mummies-hungry, with a 22 song compilation of impossible-to-afford singles tracks, rare stuff, and a previously unreleased song. And man, is this dusty ol’ stuff good. Honestly, I know the garage-rock revival has been great in bringing raw, savage rock and roll to the masses, but the White Stripes and the Hives have failed completely if they can’t convince the kids to dig in deep and unearth (!!) the hidden gems under the Mummies filthy rags.

If you’ve never heard these creatures before, well, how the fuck did that happen? They rocketed from the crypt in the late 80’s, released one jaw-dropping single, EP, and album after another of pure 60’s trash, then disappeared somewhere around 1994. I mean, as far as anybody knows. They dressed up like Mummies after all, so they could still be around, and we just wouldn’t know it. Your next door neighbor could be a Mummy. Hell, so could Jack White, for that matter. Anyway, they were the greatest garage-punk-slop rock band since Poison 13, at least. They very nearly out-Sonic’d the Sonics, and influenced countless bands- still do today, even. And they scared children, which was another plus. They were big with staying pure to the trash rock aesthetic, so they made sure their records sounded as shitty as possible, and they released ‘em all on wax, because CD’s were for nerds. Which is still true, by the way. Record collector scum being the…well, scum that they are, all the Mummies vinyl skyrocketed in price, so only rich kids have listened to them for the past ten years, which is fucked up, man. Luckily, they got desperate enough, and Estrus waved enough long green under their rotted nostrils, and here we are. It’d take forever to tell ya what song came from where, but suffice to say that classicks like “Stronger than Dirt”, “I’m Bigger than You”, “I’m Gonna Kill My Baby Tonight”, and “Doin’ the Kirk” are all here, as well as their immortal cover of “Zip A Dee Doo Da” (yeah, the one yr thinking of) and that nameless, super-secret 22nd track. The hype sheet says they cleaned these tracks up, but they still sound pretty fuckin’ raw to me. And really, how can stereophonic sound possibly improve on the psychotic perfection of “(You Must Fight to Live) On the Planet of the Apes” ? It can’t, really. This has got to be the easiest money Estrus will ever make. I don’t pay for anything, but if I did, I sure as hell would lay my cabbage out for this one. Absolutely essential.

Click to buy Death By Unga Bunga from Amazon for $14.98