Wooly Bully

Album review

Old-timers will know this, but Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs was one of the best rock bands from the '60s. Domingo Samudio was such a nice guy, and didn't even think he could sing rock & roll, thus the reference to a sham, a mockery, a deceit in his adopted nickname. He wrote a song about his pet cat, not a typically rock & roll thing to do, and came up with an all-time rock classic, one of the most popular songs ever created in the genre. "Wooly Bully" proved his rock singing was no sham. It was the hit behind this debut album, which is superior in quality to the efforts of similar bands when it was their turn to create a debut LP. Whatever he thought of his singing abilities, Sam the Sham was an expert bandleader in the old-school style, keeping the beat cracking like a whip while creating an atmosphere both raucous and friendly. The sounds are a lot like Doug Sahm, and the two of them are responsible for getting Tex-Mex beats played on the '60s hit parade. Even the cover versions of tunes such as "Shotgun" and "Long Tall Sally" are good, which is a lot more than you can say about covers of these or similar songs used to pad out albums by Tommy James and the Shondells, Paul Revere and the Raiders, or other party bands of that ilk. The highlights here, besides the obvious "Wooly Bully," include the equally fun "Haunted House," which, as the band's previous indie hit, led to theMGM contract. "Go Go Girls," written by band bassist Dave Martin, is a boogaloo which needs no further description than its scintillating title, while "Juimonos (Let's Went)" is another Samudio original and a Tex-Mex cooker to boot. Elsewhere the boss shows his savvy of rhythm & blues, covering both Johnny Guitar Watson and Jackie Wilson. Pennypinchers should be advised: this album does not exactly have generous playing time.

© Eugene Chadbourne /TiVo