Monster Club

The Groovie Ghoulies' Monster Club album is made up mostly of re-recorded versions of songs from the band's early singles and albums. They don't always capture the youthful exuberance the band had when it first began, but the new versions are always fun, funny punk-pop of the highest order. As usual, the songs are short, sharp stabs of loud guitars, snottily melodic vocals, and silly monster movie-inspired lyrics. The originals like "Blood Beach" and "Do the Bat" are cool, but the best songs on the record are the covers. Their version of "Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow" does a smashing job of recasting the Monkees tune into a punk-pop anthem. They also do fun things with Daniel Johnston's "Deviltown," the silly '50s rocker "The King Kong Stomp," and Herman's Hermits' "Don't Go Out in the Rain (You're Going to Melt)." The only cover that fails is their attempt at one of their main inspiration's songs. Then again "Pet Sematary" is one of the Ramones' worst songs anyway. The band surely only chose it because of the scary subject matter. This is a record that fans of the band will find to be a fun diversion, certainly not essential though real fanatics will want to have the one new song, the goofy "Lizard King." Listeners new to the band may find it to be a good introduction to the Ghoulies sound but would probably be better off getting one of their more recent albums instead.