Saturday, March 5, 2011

Artist: Florida Razors, Album: Beat Music, Song: New York Screamin'

"Made me want to dance and it made me want to shout, New York screamin' when the lights go out!"  The Florida Razors were a rock band from Hamilton that started recording in the early to mid eighties.  They were Tom Wilson, Jason Avery, Greg Cannon and Carl Keesee.  They erupted out of a very cool scene that included bands like Teenage Head and The Shakers (featuring Dave Rave - see blog 10/19/10).  They recorded an EP in 1985 entitled, Half A Rock 'n' Roll Record, which included this track, New York Screamin'.  They later re-released it as part of their first full length, Beat Music, in 1986.  Their material was almost solely produced at the Lanois brothers' (Daniel and Bob) studio on Grant Avenue in Hamilton.  The band was very popular regionally and did tour but failed to attract enough attention.  They eventually broke up in 1987.  Tom would go on to greater fame with his new band, Junkhouse.  Later, he would re-invent himself as a folk rock troubadour with the band, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings as well as most recently, LeE HARVeY OsMOND.  New York Screamin' is a dirty little rock tune that blends golden era rock and roll with punk attitude.  Bullseye Records re-released the album with some extras in 2000 but they have since gone out of business.  Thus, the album is trading on the second hand market at the moment.  Ebay and Amazon had copies trading between $5 and $50 at the time of this blog.  You can hear the song, New York Screamin', on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgP6iYdpOAU).  You can follow Tom Wilson at http://www.tomwilson.net/.  Thanks for reading and enjoy!