(Birdman) www.birdmanrecords.com
Sure, there's "JAWS" and
"Halloween", but this side of Hollywood, has there ever been a
more memorable movie theme than the creepy two-note kettledrum death drone
of "Blood Feast"? Sheep guts king and exploitation pioneer HG
Lewis not only dragged the rotting meat and Karo syrup gag out of the
gutters of German performance art and onto American drive-in screens with
nothing but pocket change and an eye for shameless opportunism on his
side, but he also did it all to the cock-eyed rhythms of his own
hillbilly-skewed compositions, and if the self-penned liner notes on this
amazing collection of songs from the abyss is any indication, than
on-the-fly songwriting was one of his favorite parts of the trip.
"Eye Popping Sounds" encompasses a vast array of his film music,
from the aforementioned faux-Egyptian human sacrifice tunes from Blood
Feast to the immediately recognizable ("Yeehaw!") redneck
hoe-down mutant bluegrass of "2000 Maniacs". Herschell's son Bob
even gets in the act with his high school buddies in "Get Off the
Road", a ramshackle slice of 60's fuzz pop from "She Devils on
Wheels". Elsewhere, ultra-obscure rockers Faded Blue perform the
hilariously dated "Blast Off Girls" theme, and there's plenty of
Lewis penned C&W and incidental tracks, as well as a few choice radio
spots and dialogue snippets. If you're looking for actual good soundtrack
music, well, you're in the wrong place, Jack. But nobody ever looked to HG
Lewis for good, anyway. He's always been about cheap, fast, and out of
control, and there's plenty of that action here. For fans of Lewis'
notoriously sleazy world of trashfilm, or of cheap thrills in general,
this collection is as about as mandatory as they come.