The Pirates - Skull Wars

 

This second album by the reconstituted Pirates came out the following year ('78) and contained a lot more new originals, but still has their stamp of energetic R'n'B, although some of it is a bit slicker and more produced than Out of Their Skulls.

Certainly not nearly as frantic as the previous album, this opens with the original "Long Journey Home", followed by a cover of "Dr. Feelgood" (funnily enough, as the band Dr. Feelgood was mining similar territory at this same time), then a so-so original "All In It Together" (although it has hints of 999, of all things!), then back into their groove for Mick Green's homage to Chuck Berry in "Johnny B. Goode's Good" that blends into insanely frantic live takes of, of course, "Johnny B. Goode" and "I'm Talking About You" with the audience shimmying'n'shakin'n'sweating right along with them.

Flip the vinyl over for another live take, this time it's Fats Domino's "I'm In Love Again" and then more originals with the groovin' "Voodoo", an upbeat "Four to the Bar", a down'n'dirty, nasty-soundin' live "Honey Hush", a bit more laid back blues in "Diggin' My Potatoes" before ending with the heavy blues mixed with a bit of almost reggae rhythms and punk energy in a wild hybrid!

Out of Their Skulls is pretty damn indispensable and this one isn't quite up to that standard, but it has some fine moments, as well. If ya wanna explore more, pick this up, but only after getting the 60's records from Johnny Kidd and the Pirates!