The Nitros – Nightshades/Stompin’ Beat
CDM Psycho 78 [2009]
Cat With 9 Lives / Deadly Nightshades / Saigon Baby / Misery / Crazy Crazy Crazy / Medusa / Get Off My Wagon / Well Now Baby / I’m Doing Fine / What’s Gonna Come Of Me / Stompin’ Beat / I’ll Cry Instead / Scrapin’ The Barrel / Crazy Little Thing Called Love / I Ain’t Mad / Gotta Pay / Rockin’ All Night / Dying Day / Devil’s Ship / Swingsville / Running Out Of Time / All I Can Do Is Cry / Midnight Special
This well-deserved reissue gathered the Nitros’ first two albums, only available on vinyl until now.
Tracks one to eight features their debut mini-album released on Link with the first line-up (O’Malley, Swain, Attrill.) It contains excellent modern/neo-rockabilly with powerful slap bass, some blues influences (Well Now Baby), and even a touch of Psychobilly (the dark Misery.) Most of all, this is the instant revelation of a talented guitar player mixing the influences of Cliff Gallup, Mark Harman, Carlo Edwards, and jazz players like Django Reinhardt to create his own style.
The following twelve tracks come from Stompin’ Beat, the band’s second album released on Nervous with Gary Day (Frantic Flintstones) on slap bass and Richie Taylor on drums. It’s another killer release, and though it lacks the freshness of their earlier recordings, it benefits of a tighter and cleaner sound. O’Malley also shows more of his jazz influences with the fantastic Swingville. The covers are very well chosen too, coming from the catalog of Queen (Crazy Little Thing Called Love), the Beatles (I’ll Cry Instead) and the Polecats (Rockin’ All Night.)
The last two tracks are bonus tracks (All I Can Do Is Cry, and the jazzy/Stray Cats influenced Midnight Special) that will be later recorded for their third album.
The booklet features a story of the band (written by yours truly), but more importantly, it also contains a lot of rare and previously not seen pictures of the group.
Too bad that, probably for license reasons, Anagram didn’t include songs like Echoes of Love, Destruction Road, Taxi Cab, Running out of Time, and previously released on compilation albums.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
The Nitros – Something’s Gotta Give
Mental Disorder Records – MAD006
Somethings Gotta Give – Teenagers Mother – Running Out Of Time – I Wont Worry Any More
Another slab of excellent Neo-Rockabilly from the Nitros produced by Boz Boorer.
Something’s Gotta Give is in the true Nitros style. It’s a fast and bouncy neo-rockabilly, with John O’Malley’s guitar style recognizable among all, mixing the virtuosity of Cliff Gallup, the speed of Mark Harman, and the inventiveness of Django Reinhardt. The group then surprises with their cover of Bill Haley’s Teenager’s Mother, featuring Boz Boorer on saxophone. The tempo is seriously accelerated compared to the original, and Gary Day, inspired by Al Rex, gives it his all. On the B-side, Running Out Of Time is a mid-tempo in the same spirit as Midnight Special or Stray Cat Strut, which allows once again O’Malley to deploy a solo of which he has the secret. I Won’t Worry Anymore alternates between slow, captivating passages and neo-rockabilly explosions.
The four tracks were later reissued on CD on the compilation album Five Inches Of Pleasure (Mental Disorder (MAD CD 005).
The Nitros – Something’s Gotta Give!
Rockout NITLP001 [1993]
North’n’South – Love ‘Em ‘N’ Leave ‘Em – Something’s Gotta Give! – One For You – All I Can Do Is Cry – I’ll Get Mine – I Ain’t The Giving Kind – I Won’t Worry Any More – Big Sandy – What It Worth? – I Wrote My Baby A Letter – Midnight Special
The Nitros – North’n’South
Rockout NITEP001 [1993]
North ‘n’ South – I’ll Get Mine – Wrote My Baby A Letter – Midnight Special
The Nitros – Stompin’ Beat
Nervous NERD 049 [1990]
I’m Doing Fine – What’s Gonna Come Of Me – Stompin’ Beat – I’ll Cry Instead – Scrapin’ The Barrel – Crazy Little Thing Called Love – I Ain’t Mad – Gotta Pay – Rockin’ All Night – Dying Day – Devil’s Ship – Swingsville
See review of the cd release.
The Nitros – Nightshades
Link LINK MLP 062 [1988]
Cat With 9 Lives – Deadly Nightshades – Saigon Baby – Misery – Crazy Crazy Crazy – Medusa – Get Off My Wagon – Well Now Baby
See review of the cd release.
