Straitjackets, Los – Sing Along With... – New LP

A huge departure for this masked, previously all-instrumental surf quartet, their fifth album is, as indicated by its title, augmented by vocals. But not just any vocals. Eleven out of the 13 tracks boast a different singer adding just the right touch to the disc's eclectic covers of rockin' soul (los Bravos' "Black Is Black" with the Mavericks' Raul Malo), British Invasion-styled pop ("Bumble Bee" with a rare vocal from Tom Petty guitarist Mike Campbell), good-time roots (Nick Lowe is guest lead bassist on his own "Shake That Rat," one of the disc's two instrumentals), weepy string-laden '60s ballads (Sixpence None the Richer's Leigh Nash gives a perfectly frail reading of Skeeter Davis' "End of the World"), Cramps-style high octane swamp (Reverend Horton Heat toughens up Roy Orbison's "Down the Line"), their usual twisted, twangy, hang-ten surfin' sufari (a husky voiced Dave Alvin sounds perfect on "California Sun"), and Link Wray-styled, reverb-laden scrappy punk (the Trashmen swing through a tight "A Huevo").