Dusty Shelves Melodies Volume 1 LP (vinyl)

Dusty Shelves Melodies Volume 1 LP (vinyl)

Many rock 'n' roll and rockabilly bands around the world have an unreleased history of recordings made in their formative years that remain stashed away in drawers and attics never to be heard.
Rockabilly bassman Mick Wigfall is no exception - but his early history is more colourful than most, as this 21 track collection of raw rockin' rarities shows.
The album kicks off with 4 tracks by The Mad Rats, a band that Wigfall formed with Stuart Osborne and Johnny Tomlinson.
The Mad Rats would evenually become The Guana Batz after several line-up changes, and these songs would later re-emerge after being re-recorded and released by The Batz.
Notably, original singer Johnny Tomlinson would become known as Skully, leading The Orson Family.
The Mad Rats are only part of the story as this collection illustrates.
Rabbit Action are of partiular interest, being fronted by Phil Connor who went on to be singer with Klub Foot psychobilly favourites Skitzo, and featuring future Nitros' guitar-ace John O'Malley.
And then there's Solid Smoke, featuring Carlo Edwards of The Blue Cats on guitar and Les Curtis of Darrel Higham's Enforcers on drums.
This limited edition (only 200 copies!) vinyl release presents several pieces of early 1980s rockabilly history which could well have never seen the light of day.