Sharkey's Machine Let's be Friends Shimmy Disc (1987) So, this LP is nowhere to be found. Shimmy Disc has excised it from their catalog, so you either on your own or you can deal with me.

Originally known in the NYC area as Killdozer and then Killdozer 85, the name change (from one to another bad 70's movie title)occurred after the Killdozer from Michigan were signed to Touch and Go (more about them in the future). Both cultivated similar post-hardcore type grooves although Sharkey's Machine never went beyond this album and as such veered more towards the 150 mph jams. Still, one can tell from such tunes as "Lock and Dam" and their interpretations of "Big Boss Man" and "Stray Cat Blues" that there was potential.

Finding out what happened to the band members has been fruitless except for Mike Edison who went from the Raunch Hands to his own band, Edison Rocket Train (available at Steel Cage Records). The biggest flaw in the album is that it is kind of lazy, kind of hazy, like they spent more time into Shimmy Disc owner Wayne Kramer's ganga stash than they did in the studio. Still, for every throw away cover of "Blue Moon" there's a "Lear Jet", a speedy tribute to Lauren Tewes (c'mon, you gotta remember HER??) who, we are told, "fucked up on valium and tawny port/she grabbed a Checker to the airport." "Road Hawg" is a rockabilly h-core piece that more than makes up for the incomprehensible "Motor City Madness" which we are told was co-written by ted nugent/andrew lloyd webber and additional lyrics by Aliester crowley, Exekiel and Sharkey's Machine. This is a swansong but makes you wonder what they coulda done had they kept on going. Byron Coley writes a damn good epitaph here. (the album is in VG+ condition in case you want it).

And for the next seven days:

Lock & Dam

Stray Cat Blues