The Meteors' fourth studio album,
Monkey's Breath arrived hot on the heels of what had to be their finest 45 yet, a rabid deconstruction of
Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising," and it quickly proved that the energies that coursed through the single still had a long way to run. The opening "Do the Demolition Rock" could not have been better titled, as it chases the band at hyperspeed through a celebration of psychobilly itself -- it's "a gift from hell," the lyrics insist and, in the hands of a band that has the chops to match the attitude, it's hard to disagree. Any number of future
Meteors classics piledrive from the disc. "Hogs and Cuties" is featured in both its LP form and as a fabulous 12" remix; the live favorite "Alligator Man" captures the band in its darkest, swampiest temper; while a cover of
Johnny Burnette's "Sweet Love on My Mind" snaps the music back to its roots, at the same time demonstrating just how far the Meteors were traveling. There's another glimpse of the band's progress as "Just the Three of Us" emerges out of the 1982 demo found on the
Teenagers from Outer Space reissue to become one of the Meteors' all-time finest, while the bonus tracks also round up that seething demolition of "Bad Moon Rising," to round up the sound of the group at its most swaggeringly dangerous. [The CD was also released with bonus tracks.] ~ Dave Thompson