February 24, 2004

By: Bob Campbell
Website: http://www.1st-in-cars.com

Hot Rods & Custom Classics: Cruisin' Songs & Highway Hits

Rhino celebrates the rapidly accelerating hot-rod culture with the release of HOT RODS & CUSTOM CLASSICS: CRUISIN' SONGS & HIGHWAY HITS, featuring a showroom's worth of songs about America's love affair with cars.

The culmination of 11 years of road-rage A&Ring by James Austin, Rhino's Senior Director of A&R, HOT RODS & CUSTOM CLASSICS: CRUISIN' SONGS & HIGHWAY HITS revs up 87 automotive anthems on four CDs. Mustangs, GTOs, Buicks, Cadillacs, and low riders, are among the various aspects of car culture represented on this custom-designed box set.

Many songs featured are long out of print and several are making their CD debut. The collection also includes snippets from car-connected films and television shows. Auto-related commercial sound bites and sound effects are also sprinkled throughout the box, including a rare James Dean PSA encouraging listeners to drive carefully.

Rhino's Grammyreg. Award-winning design team crosses the finish line with a package inspired by the classic Monogram, AMT, and Revell, model-car kits, complete with hot-rod illustrations by legendary car painter and pin-striper Von Franco. The box will include a key chain and minicatalog from MoonEyes a sheet of die-cut window-cling decals featuring the Rhino and MoonEyes logos, plus cool hot-rod icons; and a pair of fuzzy dice! The interior of HOT RODS & CUSTOM CLASSICS features jewel-cases that emulate hot-rod custom paint jobs.

In addition to in-depth essays about various aspects of the hot-rod lifestyle, the CD manual -- uh booklet -- will include Tom Wolfe's Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby reprinted in its entirety, custom rod photos, a special hot-rod testimonial by Jimmie Vaughn, and excerpts from interviews with Brian Wilson and Roger Christian, a former DJ at KFWB, KRLA, and KHJ radio stations in Los Angeles.

The liners notes also provide a crash course on the hot rodder's lifestyle, with recommended reading lists of books and magazines, contact information for hot rod and custom car associations, museums, Web sites, and annual events.

Whether you own a candy-apple-red custom machine or just admire them from your primered '78 Honda, HOT RODS & CUSTOM CLASSICS was created with the enthusiast in mind. The mechanics of this beauty were created by Rhino in tandem with well-respected custom painters and artists, parts manufacturers, photographers, and other authorities within the hot-rod community.

Classic cars from the '50s and '60s have left an indelible mark on American pop culture, and Rhino's souped-up collection of tunes will leave listeners yearning for the days of drive-in malt shops, street races, and cruisin' down the highway without bumper-to-bumper traffic.

About The Author:

Bob Campbell is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-cars.com.  Great car accessories and parts plus financing, insurance and leasing tips.