Rockin-On-'N'-Off

B. Bumble & The Stingers - Mashed #5
B. Bumble & The Stingers - Rockin-On-'N'-Off

Can't believe it's taken me so long, a matter of months, to post this -- one of my favourite recent vinyl acquisitions. If you're familiar with the work of B. Bumble & The Stingers, it's possibly through their biggest hit, a UK #1, Nut Rocker -- which was a rockin' interpretation of the most familiar part from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. This time the same group (read about them here and here) decided to take classical inspiration from Beethoven, with Mashed #5, and Rachmaninoff, with the ingeniously named Rockin-On-'N'-Off.

Released in 1962, for my money Mashed #5 should have been the A-side. Beethoven's Fifth just has that natural swing, something that didn't pass Walter Murphy by -- he turned it into a disco hit in '76. Prelude In C Sharp Minor on the other hand is a darker, more serious affair and this comes shining through on Rockin-On-'N'-Off. Anyway, if you love hearing rock interpretations of classical themes, you're going to dig both of these, a lot.