RED RIPPERS, THE - Over There... And Over Here

Paradise of Bachelors presents the first-ever reissue of the previously obscure 1983 LP by the Red Rippers. Written and recorded by Navy pilot Edwin Bankston, the albums nine battle-scarred country-boogie dispatches chronicle the experiences of Bankston and his fellow vets in Vietnam and back home. Scarce and seemingly inscrutable, the sole recording credited to the Red Rippers has long captivated and mystified record collectors. When we first encountered Over There... and Over Here, we were fascinated by the prescient, genre-dredging synthe- sis of Waylonesque honky-stomp with early 80s new wave production values and eerie, out-of-time psychedelic guitar leads, weirdly reminiscent of the Blue Öyster Cult and the Meat Puppets at their most desert-drunk. We were intrigued by the records ambiguous provenance (Oracle Records?) and moved by its complex, apparently deeply personal articulation of an enlisted mans efforts to break on through his fear, anger, and disillusionment during and after the Vietnam War. -Paradise of Bachelors.