Martin Cerf on Thundermug

Thundermug
AFRICA (B. Durst-J. DeAngelis)
Produced by Greg Hambleton
Big Tree 154 time: 3:21
Flip -No Information Available
By Martin Cerf - Phonograph Record Magazine - 45 revolutions Per Minute Column.

It was a rainy, shitty night -on U.S. 23 drivin' down from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Just finished attendin' this college radio convention, Christ, these kids get it on better than their old men attending those annual Gallencamp Shoes get togethers in San Francisco where side-burned, tweeded out head horn-toads score for the first time in twelve months...So, just out of Lansing it starts to blast over the Budget Rent-A-Car shoddy Impala speaker, the perfect proving ground where singles make it or break it. HOT STUFF.

It's like The Immigrant Song taken to the extreme, none of that pseudo stuff like Crazy Horses. The distortion here is stiffer than the AUDIO FIDELITY STEREO CHECK OUT track which'll take you up to 40,000 decibels...lt's guaranteed to rip the finest of speakers.

I was certain it was either the new Alice Cooper or Roy Wood, couldn't be anything else. Then the slutty sell-out voice didn't even mention who these dudes were, no, he went right into that Johnny Rivers voter registration, public service record...For shame, that's like gettin' a cashier's check tor eight grand drawn on the Bank of Managua, like it was no use. Certainly I'd never hear it again. Then a reprieve, a local Detroit personality, Bo Clifford (no relation to Cliff Richard, Clifford Brown, Boax Gentry, boa-constrictor, Clifford Coulter) got wind of the side again and got word to us, fortunately. Thank goodness.

OK, there is very little known about the group. Most probably a studio act. It's a UK record, and will unquestionably be very hard for you to find. But those who had the opportunity ta catch Do Ya by the Move, Some Sing, Some Dance by Pagliaro, or Little Willy by the Sweet, well you'll not be able to justify your existence till ya hear this. There might be some possibility of locating it in one of the major retail record stores specializing in singles, 'cause it's on Big Tree. This is an incredible label; buy every record you can find on Big Tree. They've had fifty-seven singles so far (I've got 'bout 50) and the first twenty-five are already worth two bucks apiece. The label has (has had) stuff by Lobo, Dave & Ansel Collins, Neighborhood, April Wine, The Magic Lanterns, James Vincent, the Sugar Bears, Brownsville Station, The Happenings...How could you pass up records with titles like the pleading I Need Love or the nostalgic Working My Way Back To You or the intellectual Rock With The Music ...no way...and Africa is the definitive Big Tree record...The fellas at this label know how to pick 'em...Not a bad one in the lot and Big Tree is responsible for bringin' us over 58% of the novelty records produced today, definitely a company to be reckoned with...Thundermug are the greatest since Bull Angus and Sir Lord Baltimore...good gosh...