Hipsters, Flipsters, Finger-Poppin' Daddies!

by Jason AnkenyLike the previous Hand Clappin' Foot Stompin' Funky-Butt…Live!, Hipsters, Flipsters, Finger-Poppin' Daddies captures Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band in their natural environment, delivering high-energy, hip-shaking soul and pop classics in front of a wildly appreciative live audience--there's no pretense or guile to this music, just a bar band par excellence tapping into the indefinable essence of what constitutes a transcendently good time. As always, the source material is all over the stylistic and geographic map, covering crowd-pleasiers spanning from the Beatles' "Day Tripper" to the Troggs' "Wild Thing"--the most pronounced influence is Memphis soul, in particular Stax classics like "I Can't Turn You Loose" and "In the Midnight Hour," and the music's gritty authenticity fits Washington's rough-but-right vocals to perfection. BMG's 2007 reissue adds ten unreleased tracks, including "She Shot a Hole in My Soul" and "Different Strokes."