twinkeyz: alpha jerk

From Sacramento via outer space comes The Twinkeyz and their Alpha Jerk LP, restored to excellence after 40 years! During the sizzling hot summer of 1976, Donnie Jupiter, Tom Darling and Walter Smith decided to break out of their boredom with a band. The group was named after Pink Fairies drummer Twink, and influnced by the Fairies, Velvet Underground, Thirteenth Floor Elevators and other underground favorites. In 1977, The Twinkeyz recorded and self-released their classic first single, 'Aliens in Our Midst.' 1978 saw its followup, 'E.S.P. / Cartoon Land.' And in 1979, the album Alpha Jerk was released on the Dutch label Plurex, run by Wally Van Middendorp of the Minny Pops. Though the songs on Alpha Jerk were great, the final mix was botched and the mastering job flawed. What should have been a classic stiffed as one of rock 'n' roll's 'could have been great.' Now it is! In 1994, Anopheles Records' Karl Ikola decided to do The Twinkeyz right. Ikola got ahold of the master tapes and, with Jupiter and Greg Freeman, remixed the entire album. In 1997, he released the restored Alpha Jerk, along with abandoned single tracks, live songs and other tidbits, as a CD entitled Aliens in Our Midst. The collection and its vinyl companion Cartoon Land went out of print more than fifteen years ago. Now after four decades, S-S Records presents Alpha Jerk as it was intended, with the original cover art and the superior Ikola / Jupiter mix. This version has been mastered by John Golden and pressed in an edition of 500 copies.