written by Brian Setzer
This song dates from the 90’s. It was planned to be recorded for “Let’s Go Faster” and went as far as the demo version (one can hear it on the bootleg album featuring those demos) but didn’t make it on the album.
It was only performed once by the Stray Cats in Sao-Paulo in 1990.
Years later, it resurfaced on Brian Setzer’s solo album “Nitro Burnin’ Funny Daddy”.
Vol. 2
El Toro R&B 108 [2009]
Rock And Roll – Manhattan Paul / Rock ‘Em And Roll ‘Em – Jessie Mae Roberson / Rock Little Daddy – Eunice Davis / Rock! Rock! Rock! – Willis “Gatortail” Jackson / I Want To Rock – Little Miss Sharecropper / We’re Gonna Roll – Shorty Muggins / Roll, Roll, Roll – Jimmy Preston / Gonna Rock This Mornin’ – Doles Dickens Quintet / I’m Gonna Rock ‘Til My Rocker Breaks Down – Connie Jordan / Rock Savoy Rock – Andrew Tibbs / Rock Me Baby – Johnny Otis / Rock The Bottle – Earl Forest / Rollin’ The Blues – Joe Thomas / Rockin’ The Blues Away – Tiny Grimes / Rock This House – Lowell Fulson / Rock With It – Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers / I’m Your Rockin’ Man – Herman Manzy / Rockin’ Rhythm – Pee Wee Barnum / Baby Rock Me – Pat Valdelar / Let’s Rock! – Goree Carter / Rock With Me Mamma – Buddy Tate / My Kind Of Rockin’ – Rene Hall / Rockin’ Boogie – Joe Lutcher / Rock That Voot – Nelson Alexander / Rock Bertha Rock – Big Bertha Henderson / How About Rockin’ With Me? – Piney Brown / We’re Gonna Rock This Joint – Jackson Brothers / Rockin’ With Fes’ – Roy “Baldhead” Byrd
Fantastic compilation that gathers 28 tracks, all about rockin’ and rollin by small jump combos. What you’ll find here are the seeds of the rock’n’roll revolution. As you can expect it’s full of blues shouter, juicy saxes, boogie woogie pianos and hot guitar riffs. From the mysterious Manhattan Paul to the internationnally renowned Sammy Davis they all played rock’n’roll before someone had the idea to put a name on this music. It comes with a very instructive booklet.
The Horton Brothers – Tempo for TwoTexas Jamboree TexJam 0062 [2005]
Hey Little Momma – My Own Two Eyes – North To Dallas – I Ain`t Got Time For Love – More Than I Cay Say – Locked Out Of Love AgainI Had One Too Many – She Tells Me With Her Eyes – Shadows Of The Old Bayou – Yesterday´s Blues – Just Who
Even if they were still active on the scene, The Horton Brothers hadn’t released anything on their own since «Heave Ho» in 2000. But it was worth the wait because this album is simply great. Just have a look at the musicians : playing with Bobby and Billy are Dave Biller, Buck Johnson and T Jarrod Bonta, the same winning team you find on Shaun Young’s Wiggle Walk. Even if this record is still what you can expect from the brothers (sweet harmonies, beautiful melodies…) I should say, comparing to Heave Ho or Roll back The Rug, that this one is less «rural» and sometimes more 60’s. The opening track, Bobby’s Hey Little Momma, has a very Buddy Holly feel with his beat à la Not Fade Away. The Buddy Holly connection continues with the Sonny Curtis and Jerry Allison song “More Than I Can Say”. A beautiful version all in subtlety. Another cover, Ruth Brown’s «She Tells Me With Her Eyes» has a very strong Phil Spector feel in it (with those big drums rolls used in place of the “shoo-bee-dooby-wops”). Another highlight is «I Had One Too Many», The Wilburn Brothers song. They really rocked up this one with a wild boogie piano part and it works. But as usal, if the covers are great, the real strenght lays in the songs written by the brothers. «My Own Two Eyes» is by far my favorite with a solid tempo and nice harmonies, and «Yesterday’s Blues» is a beautiful slow tempo with sax (played by Billy).
Crazy Love Records CLLP 6418 [1996]
Hillbilly Hepcat – Smoochin` With My Baby/Please – Hello, Hello – Let`s Go Boppin` Tonight – Talk To You By Hand – The Other Side Of The Moon – The Beaumont Boogie – I Can`t Sit Still – Insomnia – Are You In Love? – Look My Way – Scary Cat – I`m Out
“Hey It’s Bobby & Billy” is the debut album from the Horton brothers on which they are backed by top musicians including Shaun Young, Chris Miller, Tjarko, Lisa Pankratz. It contains good moment but to be honest, it’s far from the Horton sound they developped with their following albums. On this platter they are still in the process of learning their chops and finding their style and the album seems to suffer from a lack of direction. Some songs are good and announce “Roll Back The Rug…” but the sound remains a bit modern. It’s even more evident on some rockabilly material like « Look My Way » or « I Can’t Sit Still » that is closer to the Stray Cats than, say, Rusty and Doug. Not as essential as the rest of their discography but worth a spin nonetheless.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
Fury Records – F3015 [1991] reissued on Vampirette Vamp104 [2005]
1.Spend, spend, spend 2.Flight 101 3.Motorbike beat 4.Something shocking pink 5.Just ain’t a man 6.Jokers wild 7.Take me for a ride 8.Cheat 9.Going nowhere fast 10.Rocking disease 11.Feels so good 12.Only good for one thing 13.Love is blind 14.Who cares 15.Gun totin’ man
Something Shocking started around late 1986/early 1987 with Vanessa Emery on bass and vocals, Doug Shepperd on guitar and Pete on drums. They soon recruited Emma Goss on double bass, allowing Vanessa to fully concentrate on vocals. The four of them recorded one song that gave its name to the sampler “Something To Remember” for Fury records. Soon after Doug left to rejoin The Rattlers where he played before. His replacement was Mike who’s just left Demented Are Go. This influence can definitely be heard on Mike’s Flight 101, which is close to DAG’s Flight 103. Mike wrote the majority of the band’s originals which eventually caused a bit of tensions within the band. This line up recorded “Pink” in two days, an album that deserves to be rediscovered today.It’s a very good lp with a wide range of influences that makes of Something Shocking a one of a kind band mixing classic psychobilly with punk, 80’s pop and 60’s girl group. It seems very unfair they never achieved a higher degree of success. The band was tight, the song were really well crafted and melodic and Vanessa’s voice is quite good. But too pop to be a major act on the psychobillly scene (though they appeared on the Big Rumble) and too psycho to seduce a big label, the band was not in a comfortable position and quickly found itself in a dead end. Seeing how some bands cross over markets today, one can only think that Something Shocking came too soon.
Rock-A-Billy Record Company
Dial 000 – Mama Said – Hot Tea – I Wanna Have A Garden
This mini cd gathers songs that were previously issued on two separate colored (gold and red) vinyl singles on Willie Lewis Rockabilly Record Company (R-7002 and R-7003).
Barber is a mighty fine singer and a good guitar player too. He’s backed by the percussive string bass of Mike Baird who previously played with Lewis on some of his recordings (try to get a copy of Delmer Supp and The Spudnicks on Bobland records, you won’t regret it). Their rockabilly draws influences from the legendary Sun records and to pursue the comparison, Barber’s vocal is not that far from the late Johnny Cash. Four great songs that match perfectly with the high standard established by the legendary Rock-A-Billy Records label.
Cyclone – the First of the Cyclone MenKlang Records KLG004 [1989 – reissue 2007]
The Devil Is Knocking On My Coffin – Psyclone Shock – Bates Motel – Doctor Cyclone – Jungle Cat – Telegram Sam – Lonely Zombie – Funny Toy – Freddy Is Back
Cyclone (Andrea Camerini: lead vocal, Andrea Pesaturo: guitar, Paolo Camerini: double bass, Roberto Berini:drums, Massimo Diotallevi:alto sax) was one of the first, if not the first, psychobilly band in Italy. Their brand of psychobilly is typical of the late 80’s with influences from Mad Sin, Demented Are Go, early Coffin Nails, Batfinks etc. with distorted guitars, fast slap bass and rasping vocals. It’s very well played and better recorded than many albums from the same era. And even if it’s not always very original (you find the usual zombie, Freddy Krueger, Norman Bates lyrics and the melodies are a bit repetitive), they had the good idea to keep it short (9 songs), so in the end this album works fairly well.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
