Friday, August 22, 2008

ALVIN CASH & THE CRAWLERS - Twine Time / The Bump - Mar-V-Lus - 1965

This record is pretty cool. I first heard 'Twine Time' on The Arrows' 'Apache '65' record and it really stood out (which is saying a lot, since that record is basically flawless.) So when I learned that it was originally recorded by Alvin Cash & The Crawlers, I started looking for it, and actually found it pretty easily, and cheap.

The Crawlers' version of the song is rad. It's a bit more of a tradional instrumental than The Arrows version, with some horns and such, a sparse vocal, and a stupid sax solo that I surpringly don't hate. I might actually even enjoy it, somehow. (What happened to me?) On certain days I would actually prefer this version over The Arrows'. Strange how that works..

The flip, unfortunately, isn't another instrumental, and really not as good. At first I REALLY didn't care for this song, but it's grown on me with some time. Nothing great, nothing horrible. 100% meh.

I've been a bit torn about looking for other Alvin Cash records. It seems he re-recorded 'Twine Time' later on, and that version sounds like shit. (modernized. gross.) Also, I have a feeling that 'Twine Time' may have been a bit of an anomaly, and worry that the bulk of his songs lean a bit closer to 'The Bump.'

However, he did release a Muhammad Ali tribute record, and I'm curious to know what that's all about. If anyone knows something about that, do tell.

"Let's twine, baby."

PsychedelicElvis

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

you shoulda been a 60's child, my friend. You know way more than me about vinyl in that era. I grew up with my older brother's listening to all that, so I've heard alot! Steve C

Testify said...

i like Alvin Cash. Can't think of a bad track to be honest. Alvins Boogaloo is my fave but The Charge and the Ali Shuffle are both great. When DJing I always follow with Jerry O.