The Comprehensive Cub Koda

 

Here's a terrific addition to our Gnarly Guitarists series of six-string slingers. 

The Comprehensive Cub Koda opens with Cub's version of "I've Had It", which listeners like me will recognize from the Alex Chilton album Like Flies On Sherbert.  Cub also covers "Cadillac Walk" by Moon Martin, "Round And Round" by Chuck Berry, and a host of other great tunes.

Cub formed his first band (The Del-Tinos) in 1963, at age 14.  He became famous in the 70's as the frontman for Brownsville Station.  Cub was also an obsessive record collector and professional music writer.  In the words of Tiesco Del Rey, "Mr. Smokin' In The Boy's Room was passionate about American music, preferably the raw, wild, lunatic-fringe variety."

As the members of Brownsville Station saw it, "rock 'n' roll had taken a left turn straight into hell. We thought that concept albums, drums solos, and wah-wah pedals were a spit in the face of our musical forefathers." Instead, they took inspiration from the blues, early rock and rockabilly, and from the loud volume and brash style of their Detroit contemporaries.  "The ground breaking work by Motor City bands like Mitch Ryder and the MC5 upped the performance ante in our neck of the woods; standing up there and pretending to be a Beatle just wasn't enough." 

The two dozen tracks on Stinky's compilation include nine by Brownsville Station (two of them live recordings that give a hint of his manic Motor City stage presence).  Brownsville broke up in 1979. The self-titled debut by Cub Koda & The Points came out in 1980, and his first album fronting the Houserockers was released in 1982.  Those bands are also represented in this compilation, as well as Cub's self-recorded solo material (on which he plays all of the instruments!)

Stinky and I learned a thing or two about Cub while he was compiling this set.  For example, I didn't know that Cub Koda  played harmonica on Blackfoot's popular 1979 song "Train, Train" until I started writing this post today.  Stinky was not aware that Cub "played" sax and "sang" on the decidedly less popular records by King Uszniewicz & His Uszniewicztones until I asked if they would be included.  According to this detailed article, Cub's first instrument (which he taught himself) was the drums.  But it's as a guitarist and vocalist that he really shines, and the depth and range of his musical interests are evident on The Comprehensive Cub Koda.