12 Super Duper Extraordinary Girl Trouble Rock ‘n’ Roll Tracks – Bang Bang Band Girl (Voodoo Rhythm)
First, the whinge. This is one of those cases where you’re left wondering what might have been if the contents matched the cover. A one-lady band from Chile via the Netherlands, Bang Bang Band Girl, has great taste in covers but the sum of its parts make this album not so much unhinged as mildly off-beat and muffled.
The one-sheet for what's almost an album full of covers promises a “spaced out wall of fuzz, theremin, reverberation and a warm, dangerous yet sweet voice” and there are elements of all those, but they’re sometimes buried by so-so production.
BBGB produced the album herself and you gotta wonder if that was the best approach. The cover of “Call Of The Wighat” is a case in point; the murky mix doesn’t allow do BBBG (or the theremin) justice.
Production quibbles to one side, there’s a lot to like about “12 Super Duper Extraordinary Girl Trouble Rock ‘n’ Roll Tracks”, not the least of which is her choice of songs and determination to mix things up.
BBBG is actually Chilean vocalist Sheri Corleone, who has a string of recording credits to her name in her home country and is now a resident of the Netherlands. Being a one-lady band might make economic sense but standing out from the crowd is a challenge if you don’t set out to tip things on their head.
BBBG does. How many albums do you know that jump from Hasil Adkins to Motorhead in the space of a few tracks? The creeping garage space rock version of Wanda Jackson’s “Funnel of (Trash) Love” is wonderful and you’ll never think of The Drfiters in the same way after hearing her take on “Up On The Roof”.
If Hasil Adkins had been in the Ramones, “No More Hot Dogs” might have gone a little like this. The lady can sing - and how - ranging from a mewling croon to a full-throated vocal assault. Cher’s (and later Nancy Sinatra’s) “Bang Bang” gets a suitably swirly, swampy treatment.
The sound of a car crash cues “Heartbreak Hotel” and apart from the theremin it’s not a million miles away from the original. A faltering “Blue Moon Baby” ups the ante on the Cramps’ version in the fuzz pedal stakes, “All By Myself” misses Jerry Nolan’s stellar drum-work but is a credible shot.
There is one original; The smoky “Trulo-V” is all bent notes and reverb vocal ,with minimal chording sparingly strummed, that hints at BBGB’s previous output.
1/2
