King Kurt

King Kurt Ooh Wallah Wallah LP

Dave Edmunds got his hands on these guys and upped the ante plenty. From the rough weirdness of their debut EP, they’ve gravitated to a smooth big-time wall of sound. That’s both bad and good. The weirdness has been sacrificed, but their current variety of modern R&B/rockabilly is very powerful.

• Reviewer Tim Yohannan
• Label Stiff
• Issue MRR #13 • April/May 1984

King Kurt Zulu Beat / Rockin’ Hurt 7″

This is weird. “Zulu Beat” has conga-style drumming, XTC-type vocals, a bass run lifted from any number of ’60s psycho-punk songs, a restrained sax, and a couple of instrumental rave-ups. The flip pretends to be noisy rock ’n’ roll. Nothing to lose sleep over.

• Reviewer Jeff Bale
• Label Thin Sliced
• Issue MRR #3 • November/December 1982