I'm a Hybrid Kid

One of my favourites for many years is this track and album, Trouser Press say this about it

"Hybrid Kids (UK Cherry Red) 1979
What happens when Jah Wobble meets country clods the Wurzels for a raveup on Kate Bush's greatest hit? You get Jah Wurzel's version of "Wuthering Heights," zonked-out reggae with quizzical vocals in a back-country accent, that's what. Actually, this is Morgan Fisher, ex-Mott the Hoople keyboardist, pretending (with a dab of help from uncredited friends — he himself is billed as "producer/director") to be a baker's dozen different acts having a go at their fave tunes. What purports to be British Standard Unit takes a pretty amusing off-the-wall industrial-synth whack at "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy," but most of the rest of Hybrid Kids tends to be gratuitously high in the ozone, or tediously puerile (or both). Nice version of Sun Ra's "Enlightment" [sic], allegedly by Combo Satori, all the same."

And From Morgan himsself

The first album Morgan recorded in London’s Pipe Studios (actually a TEAC 4-track recorder set up in his Notting Hill bedsit). This bizarre album was originally conceived (with the collusion of Iain McNay, Cherry Red’s boss) as a spoof compilation album featuring a variety of 'bands' from Peabody, an obscure little town in Kansas (at that time American towns like Cleveland and Akron were viewed upon as hot-beds of modern rock music). When this concept was stated on the radio and in the press, quite a number of people believed it! In truth, it was all made by Morgan. The musical approach was to take songs and perform them in a way that was diametrically opposite to the original version. Here are the original artists who performed (or pre-formed) the songs, and the styles adopted for these recordings:

1. Richard Harris in the style of The Specials or two-tone.
2. The Sex Pistols in the style of Pinky and Perky (a BBC TV children’s puppet show).
3. Kate Bush in the style of Jah Wobble and reggae/dub.
4. Perry Como in the style of The Sex Pistols and speed punk.
5. Peggy Lee - actually done in a contorted version of her own style.
6. The Brotherhood of Man in the style of Devo.
7. Rod Stewart in a new wave/techno style.
8. Sun Ra - actually an affectionate and slightly twisted version of his own style.
9. The Beatles collaged with a hint of "My Life In The Bush of Ghosts" (Eno/Byrne).
10. The Stranglers in the style of The Residents.
11. The Righteous Brothers in the style of Suicide.
12. Squeeze UK in the style of, er, The Residents meet Pink Floyd? Then a segue into Mott the Hoople in the style of an old 78rpm record by the Palm Court Orchestra.

JahWurzel-WutheringHeights