msp-100 "Smash Radio Hits LP"

Reviews

Rolling Stone
Viva L'American Death Ray Music “Smash Radio Hits”
"Memphis' Death Ray have made a fantastic recordd of manic echoes: the vocal acid of Lou Reed; Jerry Harrison's churning garage organ in the early Modern Lovers; Andy Mackay's sequined, squealing sax in Roxy Music; the crusty fidelity of old Sun 45's. With fun like that, who needs radios?(David Fricke)

Rolling Stone
Viva L'American Death Ray Music “Smash Radio Hits”
* * *
"Sexy rock chic from Memphis with a touch of Let It Bleed-era Rolling Stones and White Light White Heat Velvet Underground

Southeast Performer
Viva L'American Death Ray Music “Smash Radio Hits”
"Eventually every generation remembers the power that rock and roll has. Despite a generation of crowds that prefer to stand around with their hands in their pockets or around their beverage of choice, something makes people want to get up and dance, have fun, and explore the more libidinal side of music. Unfortunately the divisions in our culture have created a gigantic rift between rock music and dance music.
American Death Ray is the type of band that helps you forget that such a line exists. When they play in Memphis, it's a full band - guitar, bass, drums, organ, horns, back-up singers, dancers onstage and in the crowd. This is music that revels in the fun of rock and roll, hearkening back to Bluff City's rock and roll roots and to the glam splendour that David Bowie spread around liberally in the early '70s.
Nick Diablo has been serving time in 68 Comeback for years, as one of Jeffrey Evans mainstays since migrating from Iowa, but the caustic, lo-fi hedonism of that band is replaced here by an extraordinarily well produced album.
"Miss America" storms out of the gate quickly getting rooms full of sedentary crowds into a dervish-like dancing frenzy before the chorus strikes. When "Arms So Long" simmers, the saxophone turns up the heat while Diablo sings with an accent that would make you start thinking about maybe going out to purchase both the new Bowie and Brian Ferry albums with hopes that maybe there was something of this caliber to be had.
Flipping it over, the second side reveals more of the great fun that was locked in the grooves of the first. "Baby Lightning" seems like a song waiting in the clouds for a negatively charged person to strike and bring them around to the party. "Roller Coaster Ride" rides up and down, breaking into a Phil Spector drum-beat with female backing "ooh-ooh ooh-ooh aah-aah's" that stick with the song until the real end comes along. - Jeff Breeze