FINGERS LEE & THE UPPER HAND - MIDNIGHT RACE

This is a record that I had wanted to feature during the original run of this blog, but it wasn't until after I had ended things here that I managed to score a copy.

The intimidating dude on the picture sleeve is Freddie 'Fingers' Lee, most known in the UK as a rockabilly revival artist throughout the 70's. However, on this record, there's absolutely no 'billy' but a downright overdose of 'rock'. Freddie spent the early 60s as both guitarist and pianist with UK legend Screaming Lord Sutch before striking out on his own around 1965.

In just under two and a half minutes, Freddie and his killer band, The Upper Hand, lay out one of THEE most unhinged freakbeat tracks ever cut to wax. If the fuzzed out riff don't get ya, Freddie's wild vocal leaps most definitely WILL. Musically and lyrically this track is flat out incredible.

While I drive a Honda Hybrid that's nowhere near as cool and certainly doesn't have 'high compression cylinder heads' that Freddie's driving here, I've found myself accidentally speeding over 90 MPH when this song comes on during my regular drives up and down California's I-5.

Freddie recorded only two 45's with the Upper Hand before he went completely in the rockabilly bag. His intensity didn't slow down; there's clips of him destroying pianos with axes and chainsaws on unhinged UK TV appearances.