Recorded in 1981 but not released until 1987 on Restless Records with an assist by Steve Wynn’s discerning Down There label, Pigus Drunkus Maximus by Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs is a key punk-blues document. Neck deep in inspired covers, the record kicks like the Blasters circa their second album crossed with The Doors at their leanest and meanest, and with a full injection of guitar snarl. A long-overdue remastering and reissue is now available on vinyl and for the first time on compact disc, January 16, through Blind Owl Records.
Although their fanbase was wide-ranging, there’s no denying that the biggest portion of Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs supporters were aligned with the punk scene. For listeners amenable to the sounds of X, The Gun Club, The Flesh Eaters, The Plugz, The Cramps, The Blasters, and Los Lobos, it was very likely that a copy of Pigus Drunkus Maximus, either on LP or cassette, was close at hand.
Reinforcing the durability of Top Jimmy’s threads in the early 1980s, Cali-centric roots punk weave was a fair amount of overlap with the bands listed above. Fronted by, naturally, Top Jimmy (aka James Paul Koncek, who passed in 2001), the core band as heard on their sole LP featured guitarists Dig The Pig (Richard Aeilts) and Carlos Guitarlos (Carlos Ayala), bassist Gil T (R. Gilbert Isais), drummer Joey Morales, and saxophonist Steve Berlin.
Having played with The Blasters, Los Lobos, The Plugz, and The Flesh Eaters, it’s Berlin who’s the common bond. Pianist Gene Taylor of The Blasters joined in for the album, and D.J. Bonebrake of X (who also played with The Flesh Eaters) sat in on drums for the majority of the session.
In the context of all these connections, the Pigs worked up a fairly distinctive sound that was heavy on covers. This focus on interpretations over original material was reminiscent of The Blasters, although Pigus Drunkus Maximus offers a considerably harder-edged attack in closer stylistic proximity to the punk milieu that surrounded them during their approximate decade of existence.
Top Jimmy also branched out a bit farther for their cover choices, as the album includes inspired versions of Dylan’s “Obviously 5 Believers” and “Ballad of a Thin Man” and Hendrix’s “Spanish Castle Magic.” These tracks surely helped to grab the attention of more classic rock-inclined blues listeners alongside the advocacy of higher-profile musicians such as Tom Waits and David Lee Roth.
The decision to tap into honky-tonk country with versions of “11 Months and 29 Days” by Johnny Paycheck and “Workin’ Man Blues” by Merle Haggard prefigured the vogue for old school C&W by more than a few years, though the Pigs give both tracks a proper blues battering.
Those cuts fit in very nicely with the early ’60s R&R-ish “Homework,” originally recorded by Otis Rush, and a pummeling workout on “Do the Do” by Howlin’ Wolf. There’s also a wild take of “Framed,” a Leiber and Stoller song first recorded in 1954 by the Robins and sometimes credited to The Coasters, that really dials up the ’50s-era Andre Williams raunch.
Of the album’s three originals, all penned by Carlos Guitarlos, the opener, “Dance With Your Baby,” sounds like Asleep at the Wheel on horse steroids. “Hole In My Pocket” saunters with blues-rock verve, and “Backroom Blues” is an up-tempo instrumental that keeps the confidence from spilling into gratuitous flash. And as a singer, Top Jimmy avoids overemoting across this set. It’s one of rock’s great one-shots.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
