Customer Reviews

The Further Adventures of Los Straitjackets

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The most recent readily-available, all-instrumental Los Straitjackets disc until now was Supersonic Guitars in 3-D , released in 2003. Oh sure, there was a 2005 internet-and-shows only disc called "Los Straitjackets Play Favorites", which featured cover songs of a mostly-instrumental variety, not to mention side projects like Daddy-O Grande in Mexico and Eddie Angel Plays Link Wray as well as Los Straitjackets' vocals-heavy dance craze and south-of-the-border excursions called Twist Party!!! and Rock En Español, Vol. 1. Nonetheless, it's been a while since we've gotten a "regular" disc from everybody's favorite masked instrumentalists.

"Further Adventures" provides just what you would expect from the modern heirs to the Ventures: a menu of 13 originals that hit on many guitar instrumental traditions while attempting to tread the line between retro homage and modern tuneage. There are clear nods to past guitar instrumental Maestros such as Link Wray ("Teen Beast", a reference to the stage name of their "new" drummer, Teen Beat, is clearly a mind-meld of the Link Wray songs "Ace of Spades" and "Fatback"), The Ventures ("Blowout" sounds like any number of mid-60's Ventures songs featuring the Fuzz-Rite pedal), and Duane Eddy ("Mercury" features the low-strings-and-tremolo sound of some of his later 60's adult contemporary material). There are a few decidedly-surf-sounding songs, such as "Catalina" and "Challenger 64" (an update of the song "Challenger" that was on Attack of the New Killer Surf Guitars), but there is too much variety here to peg this as strictly a surf disc.

In all, this is a brief, but well-done 2009 model of the nearly-extinct breed known as guitar instrumental rock. Many of these songs sound like they will be welcome additions to the fabulous Los Straitjackets live shows---keep an eye out for them; they are not to be missed in person, and "Further Adventures" sums up to a worthy addition to the Los Straitjackets catalog.

Los Sraitjackets are back, and they have nothing to say......and that's a good thing! I'll admit they lost me a tad after the last two albums which featured vocalists. Make no mistake, I enjoyed these albums, but I tought the guys were venturing(no pun intended) into new territories, leaving their instrumental sound behind. Well, that was a silly worry coz they have returned with a slab of instrumental rock like we've come to know from them. If you're already familiar with the band, it's the style we've heard on their first four albums-dashes of surf and 60s style rock with a nod to Link Wray and Davie Allan on a few tracks. Great stuff, but the album is just too damn short! Then again all of their albums certainly weren't epic length, but this one I believe clocks in at just shy of a half an hour.
The packaging is a snazzy digipak with a comic book theme, showcasing the band members in mini comic type scenarios. Plus, there are four trading cards of each band member and their stats. Cute and fun.
What can I say? If you're a fan, it's a must. If you're new, it's as good of an intro to the band as any of the first four albums.

It's been awhile since the masked men of guitar rock cut a straight-up album of instrumentals, and this one is a gem. You can hear links with many great instrumental guitar acts of the past, including the Shadows, Davie Allen & The Arrows, the Ventures, and Link Wray, but also Northwest grunge masters the Wailers, post-punk practitioners the Raybeats, and Americana greats the Sadies. Someone should pit Los Straitjackets against the Sadies in a cage match at a classic car show - everyone would win. The group's new songs have memorable melodies, pulsating tribal rhythms, and plenty of awesome guitar (both lead and rhythm) to slice through your brain like a fuzzy reverb knife. Anyone who loves the `60s surf `n' drag sound will dig these tunes, and if you squint just right you can imagine this as the soundtrack of a long lost AIP biker flick. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Los Straitjackets - The Further Adventures of Los Straitjackets.
As many others here have already posted, this is a return to form for Los Straitjackets. This has been my "go-to" album for the past few months, I've played it more than any other piece of music that I've bought recently. Every track on here is a real delight. The vinyl LP was mastered very well. It has excellent dynamics and the vinyl itself is very quiet. The purchase included a code for downloading 2 additional tunes (lossy mp3s), one is OK, the other is very good (I don't recall the track names right now!)

After exploring different directions, `The Further Adventures of Los Straitjackets' is a return to familiar ground for the band. Featuring 13 surf style instrumentals, the music is not as varied as or spunky as their classic debut `The Utterly Fantastic and Totally Unbelievable Sound of Los Straitjackets' (1995), or as experimentally creative as `Supersonic Guitars in 3-D' (2003), which dabbled deeply with minor tonalities. On `Further Adventures' the band delivers a mostly solid set of tunes, that while not breaking any new ground for the band, should probably please most of their fans, and those who appreciate traditional Ventures style surf rock. Unfortunately, the album runs just 30 minutes.

`Cal-Speed' and `Blow-out', are great up tempo rockers. `Nocturnal Twist' and `Fortune Cookie', are cool bouncy change of pace numbers. `Minority Report' with its discordant notes, and Beatlesque melody, sounds like it could have been written in the mid 60's. `Sasquatch' is classic old school surf rock, with a structure so elementary that it kind of seems beneath a band of this caliber. Nothing wrong with imitation, but `Teen Beast' is a derivative that doesn't seem to offer much new. Featuring the sax, `Tubby' sounds like something Sandy Nelson might have done back in 1966. `The Wild Mouse' and `Kapt`n Krunch' are driving tunes featuring the classic Straitjackets sound, if only they were a little longer.

While it is great to hear from Los Straitjackets again, and see them return with a new set of instrumentals, adding a few more songs, and displaying a little more originality would have made for a much stronger showing. `Fortune Cookie' is currently available at Amazon as a free MP3 download, so get it while you can.

I really want to rave about this CD because I like this group a lot. But I can't because it's just good, not great.

Bottom line
This is a good CD that's technically excellent for engineering, recording quality and the guys are, of course, excellent with the instruments. No complaints there. The issue is simply that this CD lacks the excitement Los Straitjackets normally bring to the music. As a result, if you're a fan, it's worth getting but don't expect another dose of "The Velvet Touch."

New to Los Straitjackets?
This isn't the CD to discover this group with. Go get "The Velvet Touch" or maybe "Viva!" Both are stronger and there's a lot more excitement there.

"Further Adventures" is a 13-track collection of instrumental rock right out of The Ventures playbook. Now that's not entirely a bad thing--if they set out to create a Ventures-tribute they succeeded in the sense that you could put this on vinyl, label it as 1963 Ventures and fool some folks. Indeed it would fit easily on the LP--only one track breaks the 3-minute mark while 3 are under 2-minutes. The tunes are okay individually and many have some interesting ideas in them but they're not developed well, they just don't seem to have the energy to go anywhere. To my ears there's too little variety inside the track and across the CD. There's almost a formula-like feel to the tunes which was a valid criticism of The Ventures in their turn-out-10-albums-per-year period. That is NOT typical for these guys and I can't quite figure out what happened here.

So all bad? No, not at all. The tunes are decent and I like this music, so I don't have any trouble listening. Disappointing maybe but not bad. Let's hope the next one maintains the quality engineering and gets an infusion of the kind of energy I associate with these guys.

If you are a fan of instrumental rock you probably have some of this band's output already. This is a fine addition to any collection of fun and innovative early '60s surf inspired go-go tunes. There are thirteen tracks that all feature the trademark Los Straitjackets sound and some cool artwork by Jorge Alderete and Jeff Mellin wherein Danny Amis, Eddie Angel, Pete Curry and new kid on the block (relatively speaking) Jason Smay are portrayed as cartoon action figures. Comes with four bubble gum baseball card style inserts with the secret identities, powers, etc. of the group. Ya gotta have it!

This is what they do best.Strait on surfing rock'n roll.But don't get caught up on the surf thing,other influences find there way into the mix.The album is well paced and the songs are all original. With repeated listenings it does'nt get old,it just gets more interesting,intricate and catchy.If you have the chance to see them in concert-Do It!

For me, this would have to be LS's best studio effort since Velvet Touch. I was happy to see them get back to what they do best, write and perform instrumentals. There are no vocals on this album, just classic surf. They are an incredible live act. Aside from seeing them live, nothing can touch their live album. But this is an awesome album.

Has one listenable track: Catalina. The rest are either dull, repetitious eight-bar rock, or mostly tuneless tracks lacking in energy, lifeless, and listless. As a long-time fan of this group, I rate this album a zero.1. Not worth the price of admission. Sorry, dudes, but you set the bar too high on your own earlier work for this one to even catch a glimpse of in passing.