Famous Monsters - In The Night

While Rob Zombie (before his delusions of being a cutting-edge horror movie producer) pulled the classic faux pas of thinking that he could be White Zombie without the rest of the band, Sean Yseult decided to do something ORIGINAL with her music career and enter the realm of crazy-cool chick-trio music. While Cake Like had the kitsch of Kerri Kenney's background on The State, and The 5, 6, 7, 8's have Quentin Tarantino at their back and the Japanese thing to boot (like Shonen Knife, but with more emphasis on retro-rock than food), Famous Monsters went to the realm of surf rock and its tributary, monster-movie shlock. Playing in the personas of Devil Doll (Yseult), She-Zilla (Carol Cutshall) and Vampire Girl (Brijitte West), the humor quickly becomes a little thin in songs like "Bloody Mary," where each band member declares her favorite drink (which do you think declared her favorite the title drink?), but there's enough oddities among the predictable stuff to keep this album interesting. The playing? Oh no, it's not virtuoso stuff, but virtuosity is not the end-all, be-all of what makes music good –i.e The Ramones. This is all very surf-oriented garage rock with a 50's-era horror movie feel (take THAT, Rob not-such-a-Zombie!). "Hairy Eyeball" is a masterpiece, and the opening 2 tracks definitely promise a lively spirit. The album as a whole doesn't live up to the energy completely, but the surprises that keep the shtick from getting too old are the Cheap Trick cover ("Clock Strikes 10") and the cover from Groovie Ghoulies, just to make sure that we see the monster routine as a little childish and not necessarily out to be ground-breaking. This band seemed to last for only two albums, which is a shame, since this album alone makes a far more creative effort that the rest of Rob Zombie's entire career, but this one is definitely worth having--at least for inclusion into a good file shuffle. A lot of potential booty-shaking going on here. If you're looking for SERIOUS music you're definitely looking in the wrong place. Go check out Tales from Topographic Oceans or A Love Supreme. But if you're just looking for all out fun and have a thing for girls dressing up like rejects from a bad horror film- this will definitely hit the spot.

1. Murder Beach U.S.A. 2. In The Night! 3. Lone Wolf Massacree 4. Destroy Puny Earthlings
5. Bloody Mary 6. The Haunting Of Planet Earth 7. Hairy Eyeball 8. Outerspace Deathrace #13
9. Satan Sends A Rat ! 10. Vampire Cosmonaut 11. Oui Monstre, Oui
12. F Is For Fiend 13. Clock Strikes 10 14. International Monster Presentation
15. When I Grow Up

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