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Herb Diamante & Sun City Girls, "Mr. Lonely"
This download-only single combines a pair of Herb Diamante collaborations, the first with Sun City Girls and the second with the lesser known Diatric Puds. Neither song is particularly impressive, mainly due to the vocals but there is a quirkiness present that does make these two songs strangely attractive.
 
Diamante’s rendition of the Bobby Vinton classic "Mr. Lonely" sees his voice threaten to split in two as he forces a heavy vibrato onto his vocal chords to create an overly melodramatic take on a song already heavy with melodrama. The music for this song was originally released on the soundtrack album to Harmony Korine’s film of the same name and I feel it was much better without the addition of Diamante’s vocals. The hammy performance here destroys the beauty the Sun City Girls initially managed to wrangle from the song.
The second song on this single (is it really a b-side when it is two files on a hard drive?) is an original called "In New Moon’s Lull" recorded with Diatric Puds. The campy, ghoulish music is like a spacier version of The Cramps and sounds more like a novelty single from the '60s along the lines of "Monster Mash." Diatric Puds have tapped into the kitschy horror sounds of the 1960s horror soundtrack but, as much as I like the music, Diamante again puts me off. However, with repeat listening it is beginning to grow on me and out of the two songs, this is definitely the strongest.
 
