Twist, Shake, Rock'n'Roll … They Do It All!
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170606085700im_/https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-51UsTGbfJfU/WLVFwTwi7nI/AAAAAAAAs18/SeY3UHr0Q64DJkQim3CxXdJnMTV1mbQagCLcB/s400/fleshtones-skin-1.jpg)
Cheesy keyboards, harmony vocals that don't quite align (but work anyway) and determined rhythm guitar frame the earnest vocals of Peter Zaremba, and if there were a better way to indoctrinate a newcomer to the beauty that is "garage", please tell me. For alongside The Skeletons and the late, lamented Del Lords, the Fleshtones stand tall among the best American rock bands to cruise the aural turnpike. As the eloquently state in their liner notes, "no LA-type session cats have been flown in to play the Fleshtones instruments for them on this recording". Amen, brothers!
There's nothing complex about "Laugh It Off" or "Anywhere You Go" or the eloquently raucous highlight "God Damn It" - it's three chord rock and roll sung with passion and fire, the key elements missing from most of the crap that passes for music on your radio. Assuming you've had that life-changing moment, can you remember that spine-tingling body vibe that made you grab your air guitar or simply dance like a person possessed? Do you remember rock and roll? Well these Fleshtones do, and they've taken it upon themselves to document that chill, record after record, as undesignated Ambassadors of the art form.
Drummer Bill Milhizer and guitarist Keith Streng are the other two-thirds of the current nucleus (Streng and Zaremba share the workload of the songwriting) and fellow believers in the Church of Turn It Up. There's fourteen tracks here and you're in and out in just over half an hour. That's fine - it will give you a chance to play the whole damned thing again, as I guarantee you'll do many, many times. Play it loud and open the windows - by track three there will be a party at your house. Oh yeah - "Blow Job" is an instrumental. But it does feature oral sax. REVIEW: Bill Holmes
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170606085700im_/https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y20ZqNsfq1E/WLVFw56tE6I/AAAAAAAAs2I/K-08Or3f5-cF4EoZ5ihbZhH2KAlgUb4CACLcB/s400/fleshtones-skin-2.jpg)
1. I'm Not A Sissy 2. My Love Machine 3. Laugh It Off 4. I Wanna Feel Something Now 5. Gentleman's Twist 6. Smash Crash 7. Dig In 8. Blow Job 9. God Damn It 10. A Hand For The Band 11. Dance With The Ghoulman 12. Anywhere You Go 13. Medley: My Kindy Lovin' - The Crossroads Are Coming 14. Better Days
"Up-Front" EP 1980
Up-Front's five-song menu includes a fake surf instrumental and a jumped-up account of the Stones' "Play With Fire." Zaremba's humorously tough approach comes through loud and clear, but the recording's cleanness borders on aridity. - from trouser press
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170606085700im_/https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qRykbtXtj34/WLVFwj_kFWI/AAAAAAAAs2A/zjywARV142YzlmKL4F-miO-_zVEKJSQ0ACLcB/s400/fleshtones-upfront-1.jpg)
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20170606085700im_/https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rpkqX_ZEO6U/WLVFw-6crbI/AAAAAAAAs2E/N6q6wP6R-6YWmJwW68LLYmMR5Ia7Q0W3QCLcB/s400/fleshtones-upfront-2.jpg)
Bill Milhizer, Jan Marek Pakulski, Keith Streng & Peter Zaremba.
traxfromwax:
1. The girl from Baltimore 2. Cold, cold shoes 3. Feel the heat 4. Play with fire 5. The theme from "The Vindicators"