Album Review: Various Artists - "The Urban Voodoo Machine's Friends And Family"

Now a decade and a half into their career, the Urban Voodoo Machine have very much become an institution of the British alternative music scene in recent years. Their style of throwing everything from New Orleans ragtime to East European folk influences into the melting pot really does mark them out as a one-of-a-kind band and their legendary Gypsy Hotel club nights in North East London were a regular haunt of this writer during his first year or two living in the capital.

Indeed, if anything, this tribute album to the UVM is a fond throwback to those long wasted nights at places like the Lexington near Kings Cross or Barden's in Dalston watching whoever the Voodoos had decided to book this month. The Great Malarkey (always a personal favourite) get things off to a fine start with a suitably chaotic tear through Orphan's Lament followed by Jim Jones' swampy blues take on Killer Sound and the Future Shape Of Sound (another band whose last album really deserves a look if you haven't already) putting a soulful strut on Help Me Jesus. Dr Will and the Wizards' take on High Jeopardy Thing and Son Of Dave's cover of Bucket of Blood suggest bands influenced by Tom Waits and Screamin' Jay Hawkins (both of whom you could definitely count among the Voodoos' influences as well) respectively while elsewhere the album swings from fired up r'n'r (Big Boy Bloater's rip roaring version of Captain Of A Sinking Ship), stripped down Sun-style rockabilly (Jordan Louis and Ruki'v Bryuki's skeletal take on Heroin Put My Brothers In The Ground), raucous psychobilly (the Broadway Twisters' fired up Cheers For The Tears representing the other end of the greaser scale) through to doo-wop (Slackers frontman Vic Ruggiero teaming up with Jory Kinjo for a good take on Alone In The City).

A few other famous names show up with TV Smith doing a relatively faithful run through Goodbye To Another Year albeit with updated lyrics to reflect the shitshow Britain finds itself in in 2020 and Katherine Blake of the Medieval Baebes and Miranda Sex Garden turns in a haunting stripped down folk-led take on Loretta's Revenge. And just in case you're thinking "yes, but does it have any Mariachi death-surf on it?", I can tell you that Los Plantronics do just that on a cracking run through Theme From The Urban Voodoo Machine.

The Voodoos turn up themselves at the end with a speeded up take on Heroin featuring Wilko Johnson on guitar (the only previously available song on here) before teaming up with the Inmates' Peter Gunn and Tony Oliver for a blast through the old Standells favourite Dirty Water (as also covered by the Inmates back in the day).

For anyone out there unlucky enough not to have been acquainted with the Urban Voodoo Machine yet, I obviously can't recommend their four albums enough, all of them are brilliantly original and deserve your attention. For long time fans though, this is a good tribute to the band which puts a slightly different spin on several of their classic tunes and I'd definitely give it a solid recommendation.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌖🌖🌖🌖🌖🌖🌖🌖🌑🌑 (8/10)