Review by Olaf Mad House Jump CRAIG SHAW & THE ILLUMINATORS I Believe b/w Twist N Bop (Wild Records 7 inch) I always was a big fan of the Bop Shack Stompers sound and even a bigger fan of the Zipgun Hoodlums. Specially the Zipgun Hoodlums been a kind of direct pre- Excellos, so the line-up came close to what the Excellos are today. All bands have one thing in common, Craig Shaw on guitars, vocals, songwriting etc. . Along with the Excellos (and some other outfits) he also run The Illuminators (great name by the way) since a while. To say they are similar to the sound of the Excellos is an absolute wrong description. For sure they have this heavy bluesy beat, but the Illuminators go a few steps further, so their compact sound is more influenced by the early 60‘s bluesshouters, with a good soul-ish bang in the sound. „I Believe“ is still straight forward Blues, with a far more agressive punch and the heavy harp-mic vocals are the 100% topping on that uptempo blaster. B-Side struts straight with a heavy 60‘s influenced monster „Twist N Bop“ ... great Sonics-a-like Rocker meets the very early Animals and similar. I hear some people say that will bring the late Hot Boogie Chillun back to their minds. Maybe not that wrong but Craig Shaw & The Illuminators are more bullet proofed-trust me... That‘s the real deal!!! Fantastic twinspin!!! GET IT!!!