By Jim Rowland

Artwork for 16 Knockout Hits by King Salami And The Cumberland ThreeThe brilliantly named King Salami and The Cumberland Three were formed by a Japanese punk, a French punk, a Spanish punk and a Caribbean tennis teacher 20 years ago this year. With a fearsome live reputation, they have knocked out numerous releases over those years, and now they celebrate that 20th anniversary with ‘16 Knockout Hits!’, a compilation of many of the best tracks from their back catalogue.

Recorded ‘in glorious mono’, ‘16 Knockout Hits!’ is an irresistible and delicious taste of King Salami’s punk-tinged, high octane mix of rock’n’roll, garage punk, r’n’b and surf rock. Titles like ‘Goin’ Back to Wurstville’, ‘Pineapple Mama’ and ‘Oofty Goofty (Wild Man of Borneo)’, may indicate that there’s a high degree of fun and humour in this band’s outlook, but this is undoubtedly seriously rockin’ stuff.

Grooving high energy garage rock tracks like ‘Do The Wurst’, ‘The Pulpo Dance’ and ‘The Double Switch’, mix it up with equally high tempo r’n’b belters like ‘Just My Kind’, the superb ‘Shake It Wild’ and the Bo Diddley-inspired ‘Ma Juju Girl’.

As good as anything here for me are the belting, wild instrumentals like the grooving 60’s beat space-themed ‘Space Spy’, the wild sax-heavy ‘Itch!’, the American Indian-themed ‘Big Chief’, which is particularly brilliant, and the oriental-flavoured surf rock of ‘King Ghidorah’.

Wild, raw and raucous, ‘16 Knockout Hits!’ is an authentic and fun-packed slice of 50’s and 60’s-inspired rock’n’roll, garage punk and r’n’b guaranteed to get you moving, and serves as a brilliant introduction to the wild and whacky world of King Salami and The Cumberland Three.