The Screws "Shake Your Monkey" 2001

The Screws were mainly based in L.A. and already having one album under their belts "12 Hate-Filled Classics", the group decided to make another for In The Red Records. Only this time, the rest of the band picked out the tracks and pre-recorded much of the music. Mick Collins was then flown in to overlay his guitar and voice. - By Justin LegShake Your Monkey finds the Screws coming together as an entity. Rather, it finds leaders and consistent members Mick Collins and Terry Wahl working as a wicked 1-2 blues-punk punch. Shake Your Monkey is an album of all covers, and as such, the Screws' influences shine through more so than on Hate Filled Classics. Nowhere is the Screws' new wave vs. blues conflict more apparent than on the consecutive tracks "Flip Your Face" (Chance) and "The Storm" (a Jagger-Richards number). The album peels out from "Flip Your Face"'s herky-jerky meowed vocals (as voiced by Wahl) and cut-and-paste composition to "The Storm"'s languid delta riffage with smooth down-home vocals provided by Collins. The two meet on the next track, "I See You, Baby," and show how strange and persuasive the Screws can be when worlds collide. Throughout the record, Wahl and Collins swap vocals and vocal counterpoints, providing the one center this mixed trick bag of an album offers. Wahl and Collins are joined by drummer Mike McHugh and guitarist-bassist Jimmy Hole (of the Necessary Evils), and bring a refreshingly flexible rhythm feel to the proceedings -- skittish at times, fluid at others, rollicking when called upon to do so. The result is an album that careens from soulful to nervous unpredictably, but with its unshakeable roots in blues and rock. Of course, Shake Your Monkey doesn't stray too far from the post-rock-blues ultra-lo-fi aesthetic too much, but when there's so much else to capture your attention, who needs hi-fi. - by Chris Handysidetrax:
01 Story 16 02 Keep On Lovin' Me 03 In Case You Need Love 04 Flip Your Face 05 The Storm 06 I See You, Baby 07 Ramona Say Yes 08 Betcha Can't Kiss Me 09 Shake It, Baby 10 Strange Things 11 If Loving Is Believing 12 I'm Yours and I'm Hers 13 Monkey Doin' Woman 14 I Ain't in the Mood