Since the success of Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats’ three studio albums – Blood Lust, Mind Control, and The Night Creeper – the band’s first recorded foray, Vol 1, has become something of a Rosetta stone for fans. Originally released as a limited-edition CD-R, with what were essentially demo versions of a nascent form of Uncle Acid, these recordings have come to take on a mythical status.
Rescued from bootleggers and file sharers, Vol. 1 is now widely available. As displayed by Crystal Spiders, Vampire Circus and Wind Up Toys, the elements that made the band so seductive when they broke through – those Sabbath riffs, an innate ear for melody and Beatles-esque harmonies, and horror B-movie obsessions – are already firmly in place.
However, there is a caveat: these are demo recordings that will be more of interest to the completist than to the casual observer.
