Fred Cole is a veteran singer, guitarist and songwriter based in Portland (Oregon) whose career started in the 1960s with the Lollipop Shoppe (one album in 1967), then evolved through punk-rock (with the Rats) and finally achieved nirvana with the Dead Moon’s lo-fi garage-rock. Dead Moon’s albums tend to be little fun except for the players, who do a lot better on covers than on original material.
In The Graveyard (Tombstone, 1988) was the debut album, featuring Graveyard and I Hate the Blues. Unknown Passage (Tombstone, 1989) contains his best known anthem, Unknown Passage. Defiance (Tombstone, 1990) is a disappointing collection, despite Walking On My Grave.
The anthology Thirteen Off My Hook (Music Maniac, 1990) and especially the Live Evil (Music Maniac, 1991) crown his early years. Dead Moon Night (Tombstone, 1990), Stranded In The Mystery Zone (Tombstone, 1991), Strange Pray Tell (Tombstone, 1992), with Fire In The Western World, Crack In The System (Tombstone, 1994), Nervous Sooner Changes (Tombstone, 1995), with Diamonds In The Rough and Psychodelic Nightmare, Destination X (Empty, 1999), Trash and Burn (2001), Alive In The Unknown (2002), Dead Ahead (2004), are the stages of a saga that is high in coherence and pride but low in artistic quality.
