Pushing Up The Daisies – Psycho Reptiles
In 1988, the Psycho Reptiles gave us the marvellous album, ‘Have Beans Will Travel’ which contained such great tracks as ‘Monster From The Bog’ and ‘King Of The West’. That same year the wonderful compilation, ‘The Flying Circus’, came out featuring some of the lesser known SA alternative bands, but also included ‘Pushing Up The Daisies’, a Psycho Reptiles track that did not appear on the Reptiles’ album.
The track is a cover of one by UK band The Colourfield which featured Terry Hall, the ex-lead singer of The Specials. The Colourfield’s version had been released a couple of years earlier and featured very little of the ska sound Hall had been associated with in The Specials. Being a ska-punk band, Psycho Reptiles set about rectifying this as their version is decidedly more ska than The Colourfield’s. From the start there is an organ sound that gives it that feel. A repetitive bass underpins this while the beat, although not completely ska, does lean towards this. It is a mixture of punk, rock, ska and rockabilly, that the Reptiles dish up.
And then just as you are getting into your groove on this track, James Bond suddenly parachutes into the track as a snippet of the famous theme tune momentarily weaves itself into the music. It is a kind of cheeky interlude that doesn’t last too long but leaves you smiling for some reason.
The Psycho Reptiles were a fun band, injecting humour into their music but in this case the track is a generally serious affair, the James Bond bit gives it that lighter edge. It has more pace than The Colourfield’s version which is a somewhat darker, gloomier (almost Cure-esque) version. Sadly, just when we thought the Psycho Reptiles were flowering nicely, it wasn’t long after this that the band (although thankfully not the individual members) was pushing up the daisies.
Where to find it:
Vinyl: The Flying Circus – Various Artists (1988), Umkhonto Records, FLURL8
Video: