Customer Reviews

Out to Hunch

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Holy crap! The best 50's rock 'n' roll I have laid my ears upon. Imagine if Green Acres has a character who was a backwoods rockabilly artist who played both guitar and drums at the same time and recorded himself on a lame reel to reel tape recorder. This is by far one of the most played out of hundreds of CDs I own). This guy sings about doing a dance called the Hunch, how he wants to chop his girl's head off so she can eat no more hot dogs, and eating peanut butter on the moon. Like Black Monk Time, the story behind the artist on this album is just as insane as the music itself. One of the best compilations in my collection. Give Norton Records some dough so you can pick yourself up this goshdarn primitive rock 'n' roll classic.

There is some music that needs to be heard, and certainly the work of Hasil Adkins is one of them.

I suppose the best description of him is that of a "rockabilly madman", but this doesn't quite do justice to a man who composes a song about cutting off a woman's head to hang it on the wall because she eats too many hot dogs ("No More Hot Dogs"), presented in a primitive rock-n-roll fashion, chugging guitar and a simple drum beat. What makes this so impressive though is that Adkins recorded all the parts (vocal, guitar, drums) simultaneously, using pedals to trigger the drums. The material on "Out to Hunch" is drawn from home recordings, some of which saw release on 7", in the '50s and '60s by Adkins. Admittedly, this causes the sound quality to be degraded at times, but the music does shine through in its primitive brilliance.

His songs range in topic from bizarre relationship stories ("She Said", "Turn My Coat Tails Loose", "You Don't Love Me"), thinly veiled sexual metaphors ("Teenie Weenie Waddy Kiss", "Do It To Me Tonight", "Chicken Walk" and "The Hunch"-- the latter being non-existent dance crazes. Oddly enough, the songs about women and hot dogs appear to be sincere rather than metaphorical), a couple covers (an oddly straight cover of "Rockin' Robin" being the notable of these) and no less than three songs about decapitating women ("No More Hot Dogs", "We Got a Date", "I Need Your Head"). "We Got a Date" is probably the best example of Adkins' music-- a primitive guitar and drum line over which Adkins grunts, growls, mumbles and vocally imitates a chainsaw that certainly caught my attention when I first heard it (and inspired me to dig up this piece).

Is this genius? In its own way, I think so. This is certainly not the kind of music that everyone, even rockabilly fans, could listen to. But I suspect that anyone whose tastes are a little weird can find something intriguing about this, certainly I have.

Pure unbridled individualism, letting insanity run wild, playing all your instruments yourself without multi tracking, recording it in a wood shed behind your mom's house and putting the blood and dirt in the music that is the pure essence of Rockabilly. Elvis is not the king in my eyes Hasil is. He is the great artist that was on a wavelength different from everybody elses'. In "She Said" he talks of trying to make it with a girl whose face looks like " a dying box of commodity meat", then in a insane voice that gives me goosebumps he talks about chopping off his girlfriend's head and putting it on the wall. I'm thinking what got in to this guy did he channel a demon while recording? Is he a schizo with multi personalties? Then he goes on to talk about a dance called "The Hunch" about the ancient dirty deed not the usual 1950's lyrical fare. No wonder none of the majors ever picked him up. If you like your music RAW and REAL you don't get better Rockabilly then the Haze.

this is by far the best of the available Adkins CD's. Not much has been done in the way of transferring his vast (over 7,500) amount of songs to CD, but if you're looking for a starting point, this is it. It contains his most famous songs- No More Hot Dogs, The Hunch, and Chicken Walk among others. But, EVERY song on this disc is a true classic in its own right. It can't really be described as classic rockabilly music, but the man is very eclectic, unique, and he definitely has a way with words. A wonderful slice of Americana! The song quality is very primal (it was recorded on a home tape recorder with Adkins doing all the instruments himself).
The liner notes provide a good bit of info, and there there are also some great photos.
(since Amazon has no product image, this is the one with the orange and blue cover).

Out of the 1950's backwoods of west virginny comes some of the most solid, awe-inspiring, rock 'n' roll of the last 100 years. This guy is the rill thang; an unadorned, unadulterated jerry lee lewis, little richard, and chuck berry. Feel the power.

Great price, fast processing/shipping, and packaged well for mail. Iwent too many years without "the haze"!

This cd came way faster than I expected, didn't even take a whole week which is good because I wanted it before my birthday. I love Hasil Adkins and I'm glad i purchsed this cd used for the great price that I did, it was all worth it!

This whole album is great with the exception of the last track on side A and B.
I highly suggest picking this up if you are a fan.

The quality of the recording is awful. This really is in desperate need of a remaster.