Friday, February 15, 2008

The Chimes of Freedom!



The Barracudas - Live at the West Side Club, Lyon, France (2/1/83) Part 1
The Barracudas - Live at the West Side Club, Lyon, France (2/1/83) Part 2

I like The Barracudas because for a brief time in the early 70s my friends and I used to say "That's 'cuda, man!" which was short for "That's barracuda, man!" which was, I guess, shorthand for "That's so cool!" I also vaguely recollect a movie about killer barracudas that was a playground discussion sensation for a while and may been the genesis of this phrase. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend trying to resurrect this particular and very obscure catchphrase, kids. "Where's the Beef?" has a better chance.

As far as music goes, to return from Neverland, this is a fierce live show that forever stomps the notion that these guys couldn't rock, a bizarre notion I've heard expressed too often over the years. Great originals, great covers (love the Donovan!) and the sound is very good for the time. Guitars chime, snarl, burn and explode here, kids! Yeah!!!

Like The Barracudas, there were a lot of bands in the early 80s rediscovering the primal joy of the guitar and the beauty of melody coupled with a rockin' garage beat and I'd like to thank them all, wherever they are, because they made my life better then, inspiring me, rocking me, and they still keep me searching for the next musical fix today.

Go Bomp-shit crazy and buy some 'Cudas, man!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cheers for this great recording, like yer blog, I'll stick a link up to yours on mine, which incidently has a couple of Barracudas live shows from 1981 up for grabs.

http://nuzzprowlinwolf.blogspot.com/

gomonkeygo said...

Thanks, man - love yr blog, too! Been there before but it's all red now and used to be white, right? I'll link you up too. I'm still building up my links. Half the one's from my old blog are dead, I think.