No preamble this week, other than I’ve finished a new baseball setting horror story this week and the office is kicking my butt. Here are some of the tunes flying behind it all…

One: Reverend Horton Heat – “Big Sky” and “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’ ” Live in Phoenix, AZ 1994

The soul of the Twang Thang, Duane Eddy, never wholly left us. In fact, he splits-time his reincarnation through Brian Setzer and the Reverend Horton Heat, two holdout greaser punks who’ve long kept the torch for 1950s rock ‘n roll and in Setzer’s case, Big Band. The Reverend Horton Heat, real name, James C. Heath singlehandedly invented the underground punk movement called “psychobilly,” as in playing Fifties three chord nirvana at hyperspeed. Emphasis on swirling twang and inhuman rapidity on the slap bass, Jimbo Wallace in this band running a three-way tie for king with Lee Rocker and Kim Nekroman of the Nekromantix.

Psychobilly really took off in the late 1990s and 2000’s and still clings to life, rebranded through the horror leagues with a gawdy but fun cosplay of whiffle cuts and Bettie Page sculpts our parents and grandparents made fashionable. Today, sleeve tattoos and nasal piercings meet poodle skirts meets cigarette packs rolled up in Fruit of the Loom plain white tees. Some of the giddy creatures Reverend Horton Heat hath wrought are Nekromantix (whom you can count on showing up here on a future FTF segment), Koffin Kats, The Meteors, The Chop Tops, Tiger Army, The Young Werewolves, Swamptrash and HorrorPops.

I’ve seen Reverend Horton Heat play twice and had my mouth creaked open both times their entire set. Once with slick willy cowpunks Southern Culture on the Skids. RHH was only a click slower both times than the mayhem in this rowdy live clip from 1994. You won’t need your morning coffee to kick your day off with this stuff in-hand.

Two: Peter Murphy – “Cuts You Up”

This is one of my favorite voices in music, the baritone British Goth icon who fronted dark art neveau alt legends Bauhaus before staking an esteemed solo career. Peter Murphy sang in the background of many writing and lovemaking sessions throughout my life. I owe my old friend, Jason, and a one-time Goth girlfriend, Angie, for turning me on to Murphy. I was mesmerized me upon first greeting, especially with the exquisite “Marlene Dietrich’s Favourite Poem” and later, Murphy’s clever pep ditty making a song about the va-jay-jay sound like literati, “The Scarlet Thing in You.”

Though the bowstring being pulled across the bass to simulate violin sweeps from “Cuts You Up” is cringeworthy in this clip, the song is an infectious toe-tapper which stuffed my ears as readily as The Cure, Depeche Mode, Faith No More and Soundgarden in sophomore year of college during 1989. His later works are far more eccentric, much in the way he started with Bauhaus, but Peter Murphy’s voice remains endearing as ever. Prayers and well-wishes to Murphy, who has been bowing out in rehab stints to attend to his health.

Three: Ultravox – “All Stood Still”

UK new wave legends Ultravox at their sizzling, skritchy, zappy best, the sound of No Future London at The Heat Death of the Universe. Morphing from Tiger Lily to Ultravox! to Midge Ure’s revisionism, these guys went for broke from 1979 to the mid-Eighties and lit the new wave scene afire, ironically scoring their biggest hit with the lower-key exotica of “Vienna.”

Catch the brilliant ska strumming toward the final stanza of the bouncing elasticity of “All Stood Still.” See what I did there, lol? Even though bands on the long-ago British music show Top of the Pops seldom allowed their guests to play live, Ultravox’s energy makes you believe they’re having a real go instead of synching.

Four: The Flamingos – “I Only Have Eyes for You”

Back to the Fabulous Fifties and the greatest love jam of them all. Silky, lusty, moody, dreamy, subtly haunting, breathy, romantic beyond all the words given and implied in this doo-wop masterpiece. I reiterate; the greatest love jam of them all. Change my mind, I triple dog dare you.

Five: Latour – “Blue”

My first gig writing in the music scene was actually in electronic and Goth. I was already into 1990s techno as I’d begun exploring any and all genres outside of my core interest of metal, punk and rock. I remember seeing Basic Instinct in the theater and feeling jealous as eff Michael Douglas was getting shagged on and off the dance floor by Sharon Stone’s character, Catherine Tramell, and the way Tramell’s jilted lesbian lover was throwing Douglas eye daggers made it seem so unnervingly authentic.

This song spools behind the entire drama and I fell in love with “Blue,” unaware it was that same Latour goof who made people twitchy with his hysterical rave number getting mainstream play for a blip, “People Are Still Having Sex.” Latour’s self-titled album may sound dated compared to all that followed in the electronic scene and EDM partiers today might consider this trite. However, “Blue” absolutely pumps and when I’m in a Basic Instinct listening mood, I always pair off Jerry Goldsmith’s erotic tapestries (a repetitive score, yes, but so damned alluring) with Latour’s “Blue.” All part of the journey.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.