The Reverend Horton Heat: 25 to Life

Updated:

September 28, 2018 10:12 am

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The Reverend Horton Heat
25 to Life
(Yep Roc)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“Psychobilly Freakout” wasn’t just a track from Heat’s 1992 debut, but a philosophical blueprint for his career, at least for the next 25 years (and counting). The guitar slinging Reverend (aka Jim Heath) has taken side excursions into gritty Cash-styled country, a primarily instrumental organ trio and even a Christmas set, but it’s the high octane combination of the Cramps’ twisted punk 60s aesthetic mashed with the edgy rockabilly of Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran that has fueled his frenetic shows and albums. Heath, along with doghouse playing shotgun rider Jimbo, has carried the torch for this undeniably American music which nobody performs quite as passionately or for as long. All the proof you need is here in Heat’s first box set commemorating his silver anniversary as a recording artist. There’s an informative DVD documentary with lots of beautifully shot live footage and great interviews, a rollicking 2010 concert CD, a 23- track single disc of studio highlights (the first ever to span his entire catalog) and a 53 page book, all paying tribute to a unique psychobilly freakout act who shows no signs of slowing down heading into its second quarter century.