Play Chess＜限定盤/Yellow Vinyl＞

The Morlocks have been keeping the flame of garage band rock alive for some 26 years now. The band is based in L.A., where it has a small but rabid cult following. The band has no illusions of fame and fortune and hews steadfastly to the lo-fi, murky production quality of the mono recordings of the late '50s and early '60s. As you probably guessed from the album title and the cover art, which mimics the distressed cover of a beloved LP that's been taken down from the shelf so many times that you can see the record showing through the cardboard cover, this is a collection of tunes made famous by the artists who called Chess Records home, and a few that didn't. John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" first came out on Vee-Jay, and helped lay the foundation for rock. The Morlocks perform it as a big, rumbling rave-up that owes little to Hooker or the Animals, the band most youngsters copy when the play the song. Chuck Berry's "Promised Land" dumps all the Berry-isms from the guitar work and sounds like the Ramones backing the Beach Boys, with singer Leighton Koizumi snarling like the young Iggy Pop. Berry's "Back in the U.S.A." gets deconstructed into a grungy groove that almost dispenses with the melody in favor of a big, thundering wall of rhythmic sludge. They introduce Sonny Boy Williamson's "Help Me" with the opening riff from the Who's "My Generation" before dropping into a measured, back-alley grind. Little Milton's "Feel So Bad," later a hit for Elvis Presley, gets a forceful performance marked by Koizumi's almost unintelligible vocal and Bobby Bones' unruly guitar. ~ j. poet