Ultra Swank “22 Bands 28 Tracks” - Cacaphone. In the liner notes to this rockin and rollin gem of a compilation, Jeff Smith, on of the label partners talks about growing up in a bit of a dysfunctional family, and seeing American Hot Wax for the first time - exposing him to Alan Freed, Chuck Berry and the gang. I was exhausted the first time I saw this flick, but by coincidence, that was pretty recently on late night tv. Despite my weary state, I couldn’t turn the idiot box off. I figured there would be some rockabilly tunes on a disc with a cover this cool - rock and roll babes with antique microphone and laser gun, and I was right. It wasn’t till the second pass that I recognized the Lustre Kings, a band a happened upon live one evening in Coxsackie Riverside Park along the Hudson. For the same reason that Chuck Berry will always hold up to fresh ears, the entire Cacophone line-up should too. It’s alive, vital, and really does rock. Smith is right when he says some of the 28 tracks won’t be for everyone. There are a half-dozen or less that I would pass on if programming the disc player appealed to me, but it’s really not necessary. Like a commercial, they afford you a trouble-free chance to fetch a drink. If any of the tracks honestly made me laugh out loud it was Rocky Velvet’s musically predictable “Beer Belly Boogie” which was lyrically brilliant - “She did the beer belly boogie till all the beer was gone. … Spittin’ and cussin’ and sleep on the bar. Have another drink and hop in the car. Cop pulled us over, I thought that was it. My baby whined ‘Ocifer, my seatbelt wouldn’t fit. …’ Perhaps most incredible of all is that this epic length recording sells for just five bucks.