The Psycho Daisies
It's No Fun To Be Paranoid
(Suspicious Hallucinations)
www.psychodaisies.com
Not only are The Psycho Daisies one of South Florida's most criminally underrated outfits but Mr. Johnny Salton is no longer with us. The bastard cancer ate him like it has eaten many. I can only hope his guitar work continues to fuzz out and reverberate for many years to come. He was a skinny-jeaned motherfucker, quick on the switchblade and the six-string better and with more comeuppance than the average mother.
We've lost a good one here but we can take solace in knowing that he suffers no longer. This album, an album title that for many years now I've taken as an esprit de corps relating to the paranoia certain local musicians try to mimic is (was) technically the magnum opus of a man that was beseeched by his fellows to make! Paraphrasing from keyboard wiz Bill Ritchie: it's been more than a decade! The world needs Salton solos and even better, longer jams!
I always pay my dues autobiographically and here's no different... I bought this CD from an online source when it came out and the bizarre swirly pattern on the cover with the mannequin torso gave me a hard-on. That's what you want rock and roll to do. If rock and roll doesn't get you motivated sexually, then rock and roll has failed.
On this 11-track romp we have our sorely missed brother Johnny Salton on guitar and left-field vocals, the always amazing Jill "Jillie-Baby" Kahn on bass, Bob "Boom-Boom " Gold on drums and the casual and pyrotechnic keys of even-keeled Bill Ritchie on keyboards and synths.
This album hails from 2001 and it is a marked return to form for Salton in the manner that his mates let him give the world extended versions of his string work. I did not know that until Mr. Ritchie messaged me via the Facebook earlier tonight and good lordy lord does it make sense; some people have all the questions.
I don't have any answers. I purchased this back in 2001. It is good. Johnny Salton is gone. We can't change that. But we can have his guitar cruising through our speakers. My "understanding" neighbor stopped knocking on the walls an hour ago. Do your job, Johnny will get his wings the louder we blast his music. There's nothing wrong with that.
All hail Johnny Salton! All hail the KING!
"New Black Dress," "Death Letter," "Swamp Song" and the rest... let he psycho swirl guide. All hail! All hail!
