Ok..some more psychobilly again.. that highpowered and subsequently colourful lifestyle-without the big bucks or press mosquitos..as such it is powered by the internal drive, with highly infective results....
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The Legendary Stardust Cowboy has been known to make people do strange things. Like sign him to a recording contract. Major labels aren’t receptive to weirdness; they’re in business to make money, not scare customers. Yet it was Mercury Records who propelled the Legendary Stardust Cowboy (a.k.a. "The Ledge") into the marketplace. In 1968, the label released his 45 rpm single, "Paralyzed" -- a blast of Texas no-fi wreckage, two-and-a-half minutes of Indian whoops, rebel yells and caveman cretinism -- that forever staked this unforgettable vocalist’s claim to fame.
The perpetrator of the feral "Paralyzed" is a relatively mild-mannered pussycat. Before he adopted the guise of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, he was Norman Carl Odam, born September 5, 1947, in Lubbock, TX, to Carl Bunyan Odam and Utahonna Beauchamp. He was a shy youngster; he says it took his kindergarten teacher six months to get him to talk. One of his earliest recollections is that at age 7, he knew he "would like to go to Mars instead of the Moon." In school, he distracted himself by scribbling poetry and short stories.
At some point in his teens, Odam merged two great obsessions -- the Wild West and Outer Space -- and decided "The Legendary Stardust Cowboy" suited him better than "Norman." He spray-painted the name -- preceded by "NASA presents" -- in big gold and black letters across the side of his new Chevy Biscayne. He couldn’t get gigs at local clubs, so he obsessively sang in public: at frat houses, outside the Dairy Queen, in the parking lots of the Hi-D-Ho Drive-In and the Char-King. His makeshift stage was the roof of his Chevy.
With $160 in his pocket, the Ledge aimed his Biscayne at New York. His goal: the Tonight Show. He had no manager and no demo tape. He also had zero business smarts. He pit-stopped in Forth Worth, 300 miles east of his hometown. Two vacuum cleaner salesmen, headed out to a local club, spied the Ledge's graffiti-blessed Chevy in a parking lot, they knew the club owner, so they invited Odam along to perform. After witnessing the musical demolition derby that is a typical Ledge showcase, they whisked him to a nearby recording studio, where he auditioned an original song for a young engineer named T-Bone Burnett.
They spooled up a reel of tape and hit "record." T-Bone leapt to the drumkit, the Ledge grabbed a mic, and "Paralyzed" was born. The Ledge’s aboriginal shrieks and freewheeling bugle brays were underscored by Burnett’s furious, not quite-metronomic drumming. That was in the morning, in the afternoon the above situated radiosatation had already recieved positive feedback on their playing the recoding tape. Immediately 500 copies were pressed and not much later was sold to Mercury Records for national distribution. It cracked the Billboard Top 200. It brought the sagebrush spaceman instant fame, if not fortune.
Lubbock’s most eccentric export had launched a chart-climbing record and caused pandemonium on the nation’s top-rated TV show. Offers quickly followed for appearances on American Bandstand, The Joey Bishop Show, and Ed Sullivan. The "legendary" part of his name seemed assured; the "star" part was imminent. Unfortunately, within a short while, his dreams were "dust." Just as the Ledge was set to collect dividends on years of dues paying, a musicians’ strike imposed a network ban on live music. Because he'd played guitar on national TV, the Ledge was categorized "union." The variety show offers were postponed. By the time the strike was over, so was "Paralyzed." It was off the charts. Two followup singles flopped. Doppler-like, the Ledge zoomed off the nation's cultural radar as quickly as he’d arrived.
During his stay in Las Vegas, he met DJ-entrepreneur James Yanaway, who had a new label, Amazing Records, for which he recorded the Ledge’s first full-length album, Rock-It to Stardom (1984). Unlike the skeletal instrumentation on his early singles, this recording (and all his later waxings) employed a band -- a cookin’ crew. Technique remained parked in the lobby; spontaneity was the prime directive. Some of it turned out all right, considering the chaotic conditions it was recorded under. The album includes a new version of "Paralyzed," recorded in 1981 with the LeRoi Brothers. As re-makes go, it’s nearly as vigorous as the original.
A crew of San Francisco-based musicians undertook the honor of backing the Ledge in his Bay area debut in early 1986. Later that year they joined him in the studio to record the album Retro Rocket Back to Earth for Spider Records. The repertoire is largely first-take, sloppy but spirited, with no overdubs. Our lost-in-space cowpoke betrays his Luddite leanings, proclaiming in one song title, "I Hate CDs," though it’s perhaps less the technology than certain personalities associated with it. "I hate those CDs that Bruce Springsteen put out," the Ledge howls, "He’s the number one reason why I hate CDs." The same entourage recorded The Legendary Stardust Cowboy Rides Again, but they couldn’t find an American company that would touch it. (The album was released on France’s New Rose in 1990.)
Nowadays, the Ledge lives in San Jose and works in Santa Clara for defense contractor Lockheed-Martin as a security guard. "Got a top secret clearance," he revealed. "They designed the Pathfinder spacecraft that landed on Mars." Odam's a meteorology freak -- his TV is constantly tuned to the Weather Channel. Despite his hatred of CDs, he bought a deck, primarily to listen to his favorite singers: Barbra Streisand, Dinah Washington, and Barry Manilow. "And don't forget Sinatra," the Ledge advised. "He's #1." He rarely performs in public anymore. And despite his loyal following, the Ledge will always be a taste some folks never acquire.
Legendary Stardust Cowboy -Rock It 2 Stardom (84 ^ 80mb)
01 Paralyzed-'80's
02 I Walk A Hot Wind
03 Radar
04 Fly Me To The Moon
05 I Took A Trip
06 Cast Iron Apron
07 Cactus
08 Shadow Of A Tiger
09 Who's Knocking On My Door
10 Brass Rainbow
11 Shootout On A CB Channel
12 Mr Songwriter
13 Dynamite
14 Crack Of Dawn
15 Rock- It To Stardom
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25 Years Of Rockin’ & Wreckin’
For fans of psychobilly, that insane subgenre of punk and rockabilly developed separately and simultaneously by the Meteors in England and the Cramps on the North American side of the Atlantic, this contains tracks of pure, power-driven, horror film-imaged psychobilly. It contains virtually every other act produced by the genre and some songs by bands -- like the Tailgators -- not normally associated with it. The Guana Batz are here, as are the Termites, the Frantic Flintstones, the Gazmen, just to name a few.
VA - This Is Psychobilly 1 (148mb)
01. The Meteors - Mutant Rock (2:23)
02. The Guana Batz - King Rat (2:35)
03. The Deltas - Heart Attack (2:22)
04. The Ricochets - Hit Man (2:20)
05. The Sharks - Charlie (2:06)
06. The Meteors - Johnny Remember Me (3:10)
07. King Kurt - Road To Rack & Ruin (3:10)
08. Torment - The Source (2:45)
09. The Pharaohs - Blue Egypt (3:42)
10. The Frantic Flintstones - Bedrock (1:56)
11. The Krewmen - Night Of The Living Dead (2:35)
12. Sugar Puff Demons - Mask (1:59)
13. Stage Frite - Island Of Lost Souls (3:01)
14. The Termites - Shout It Out Loud [(3:06)
15. The Tailgators - Godzilla (2:41)
16. The Meteors - Eat The Baby (3:18)
17. Sugar Puff Demons - Dance With The Dead (2:21)
18. The Radiacs - Hellraiser (2:21)
19. Stage Frite - Bad Moon Rising (2:30)
20. Batfinks - Raisin' Hell (2:18)
21. Mad Sin - Ride This Torpedo (2:42)
22. The Guana Batz - Shake It Up (3:12)
23. The Frantic Flintstones - Billy Overdose (4:50)
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