Wall of Voodoo “Call of the West” 1982. Today, April 5th, is Wall of Voodoo singer/frontman/sprechgesang enthusiast Stan Ridgway’s birthday (b. 1952). Call of the West is Wall of Voodoo’s third album, honestly the only one I was aware of, and contains their ‘83 hit “Mexican Radio,” which made it to #58 in the US and #64 in the UK. Ridgway and guitarist Marc Moreland were inspired to pen the track, complete with mariachi-styled harmonica, by listening to high-wattage AM Mexican radio stations from their homebase of Los Angeles. The spaghetti-western flavor of “Mexican Radio” is present on the rest of the album. One of the other album highlights is “Tomorrow,” a catchy ode to procrastination. There is also an element of experimental science-rock to Call of the West, like “Look at Their Way,” which has a crazy, creepy fun-house feel and is reminiscent of some Oingo Boingo songs – so it was not surprising when I read that in ‘83 Wall of Voodoo opened for Oingo Boingo. I also really like the instrumental “On Interstate 15,” a lilting jam that could have fit onto the soundtrack to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, if only Clint Eastwood was really into new wave keyboards.