Holy Crap! Talk about being late to the party. This record is ten years old! Let me give you some background:

In the mid-1980’s, I discovered what are still my favorite bunch of bands, ones that are nearest and dearest to my heart: The Neighborhoods, The Outlets, The Godfathers, and - from Australia - The Screaming Tribesmen. The Screaming Tribesmen were formed and led by Mick Medew on lead vocals and lead guitar. Their first two ep’s included songs like “High Time,” “Igloo,” “A Stand Alone,” “Ice” and “(I Wanna) Mess With You.” Every one of those songs continue to be some of my favorite songs ever. After those initial ep’s, albums followed, and some of them (Top of the Town, Bones & Flowers) were truly excellent, but as time moved by they seemed to become less awesome. By the time they put out Blood Lust in 1990 and Formaldehyde in 1993 they really weren’t feeling like the same band to me anymore. At that point I guess I lost touch. Wikepedia says Mick Medew took a sabbatical from the music industry at about that time.

My ticket stub and a guitar pick from the first and possibly only Screaming Tribesmen U.S. tour.

(Thirty-one freakin’ years ago!)

I took down a poster off the wall at the 9:30 club and went down to the basement dressing room after the show to get it signed. The band members were good dudes.

Fast forward to 2008: Mick Medew forms a new band called Mick Medew and the Rumours. They released the record All Your Love in 2009. I totally missed it. Never hit my radar screen at all. I assume it was more well-known in Australia, but not over here in the States. I was thinking about my love for The Screaming Tribesmen the other day, so I looked up Mick Medew. (The internet is awesome, isn’t it?) Anyway, I found this record readily available to listen to on YouTube. There are nine songs here, one of which is a cover of “Another Girl, Another Planet” by the Only Ones, which happens to be in my top ten favorite songs of all time. It’s a fantastic cover. It’s close enough to the original, but different enough to be interesting. The other eight songs are just absolutely excellent. They all sound like vintage Screaming Tribesmen tunes, which for me is the best I could have hoped for. This will be my favorite record for a couple of weeks, I can tell already. I cannot believe it’s been around for ten years. There is a more recent effort by Mick Medew called The Mesmerisers which is decent, but it’s not close to All Your Love by Mick Medew and the Rumours. I encourage you to check it out no matter what, but if you ever liked the Screaming Tribesmen and you haven’t heard this, then you’re in for a treat.

    “Ice” by the Screaming Tribesmen

     “Igloo” by the Screaming Tribesmen

   “Another Girl, Another Planet” by Mick Medew & the Rumours

     “Spinning Wheel”  by Mick Medew & the Rumours

Ricki C. and JCE (John, to his friends & family) first bonded over their shared mutual love of Boston's Finest Sons - The Neighborhoods - and everything extended out from that rock & roll ripple.  JCE lives in Culpeper, Virginia with his wife & daughter, and he & Ricki are STILL waiting for the long-rumored NEW Neighborhoods record to be released. Maybe in 2019.