Remastered, with updated liner notes and photos and in a swank gatefold sleeve!
Back from the Grave, Volume 8 (LP), is the eighth installment in the Back from the Grave series of garage rock compilations assembled by Tim Warren of Crypt Records. It was originally released as a double LP on August 26, 1996.
In keeping with all of the entries in the series, and as indicated in the subheading which reads "36 Cuts of Utter Snarling Mid-60's Garage Punk," this collection consists of many songs which display the rawer and more aggressive side of the genre and are often characterized by the use of fuzztone-distorted guitars and rough vocals. Accordingly, the set generally excludes psychedelic, folk rock, and pop-influenced material in favor of basic primitive rock and roll. The packaging features well-researched liner notes written by Tim Warren which convey basic information about each song and group, such as origin, recording date, and biographical sketches, usually written in a conversational style that includes occasional slang, anecdotes, humorous asides. The liner notes are noticeably opinionated, sometimes engaging in tongue-in-cheek insults directed at other genres of music. The packaging also includes photographs of the bands, and the front cover features a highly satirical cartoon by Mort Todd depicting revivified "rock and roll" zombies who, on this occasion, target none of their customary victims (aside from an occasional prong from their devils' pitchforks), but instead have turned up at the "mosh pit" at a 1990s "Lolabigloozzaz" festival, delightfully holding up "mosh pit cookbooks" (i.e. suggesting that the sixties garage bands were the precursors of all this), while hordes of Prozac-dependent "rejects" slam dance in the mud-drenched melee below.
The set begins with the bongo-punctuated revved-up drive of "Alright," by the Groop, from Ohio, which was recorded at A&T Studios in Toledo, which is followed by "Can't Tame Me," by the Benders from Michigan. Adrian Lloyd then delivers a screaming vocal in, "Lorna." The Chancellors from Potsdam, New York sing sarcastically about traveling around the country in "On Tour." The Bojax, from Greenville, South Carolina released a single in 1967 on Panther records, "Go Ahead and Go," which is included here and was produced by Rudy Wyatt of fellow Greenville band, the Wyld, who perform the next cut, "Goin' Places." The Painted Ship, from Vancouver, Canada, appear on two tracks, "She Said Yes" and then, later in the set, "Little White Lies." The Merlin Tree from Austin, Texas also provide two songs: first the guitar-overdriven protopunk of "Look in Your Mirror," the later "How to Win Friends". "I Don't Want to Try It Again" was the debut single by the Dagenites, from Oxon Hill, Maryland, who shared the same manager with Link Wray. The Dry Grins from Lafayette, Louisiana sing the organ-infused "She's a Drag." Satyn's Children close the set with "Don't Go."
