The Red Rippers "Over There...and Over Here"

(Paradise of Bachelors) We hope to have a full feature on this amazing artist and release next issue, but in the meantime, you need to grab this LP (and cassette on Burger!) of one Vietnam dude's rock n roll chronicle of what it meant to come back home after the war. With some fine fuzz sounds, near psyche guitar weirdness, country roots, and some great lyrics we learn how bamboo prisons and local papers calling you out as a baby killer bring about some profound Vietnam Blues. Edwin Bankston was a pilot in the Navy and wrote these songs by '73, released them in '83, and is finally getting the attention he deserves in 2013. If you ever talked to a Viet Nam vet who had that "thing" -- that look in his eye, that just-ain't-right vibe when he discussed his experiences -- this is the sonic equivalent of that very serious, very distinct "thing."