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October 2015 - Page 3

Wayne Walker – How Do You Think I Feel?

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Wayne Walker - How Do You Think I Feel?
Wayne Walker - How Do You Think I Feel?
Wayne Walker – How Do You Think I Feel?

Wayne Walker – How Do You Think I Feel? [2010]

El Toro
All I Can Do Is Cry / It’s My Way / A Teenage Love Affair / Whatever You Desire / Just A-Walkin’ Around / Bo-Bo Ska Diddle Daddle / Come Away From His Arms / I’m Finally Free / It’s Written In The Stars / After The Boy Gets The Girl / Just Before Dawn / You’ve Got Me Where I Wanna Be / What Kind Of God Do You Think You Are? / Little Ole You / Now Is The Time For Love / You Got The Best Of Me / Lips That Kiss So Sweetly / Love Me / Can You Find It In Your Heart? / Outlaw / What ‘Cha Doin’ To Me? / Sweet Love On My Mind / The New Raunchy / Rosalie / How Do You Think I Feel? / Love Is Hard To Understand / Holiday For Love / I’ve Got A New Heartache / Sweet Love On My Mind / Rock The Bop / All I Can Do Is Cry / How Do You Think I Feel? / Are You Sincere?

Wayne Walker wrote two songs that would be enough to engrave his name in the Rockabilly history: All I Can Do Is Cry and Sweet Love On My Mind.

But it would be a mistake to reduce his body of work to this sole two songs. This more than deserved reissue gathers the sides he recorded under his name like the pure rockabilly classics like All I can Do Is Cry and Boo Boo Ska Didlle Daddle, rockers in a Cochran vein like You’ve Got Me and little Ole You (let’s not forget he also wrote Cut Across Shorty for Cochran), country with What Kind Of God Do You Think You Are, Hillbilly with Now Is The Time For Love or You Got The Best Of Me and tunes more in a teen idol style like It’s My Way, Whatever You Desire and A Teenage Love Affair (close in style to Burnette’s My Love You’re A Stranger for example). Also present are the duets with Jimmy lee fautherre (the excellent Love me and the no less superb hillbilly Lips That Kiss So Sweetly), and the songs he wrote for or were recorded by others including the epitome of the honky tonk song Ray Price’s I’ve Got A New Heartache, How Do You Think I Feel? (Elvis Presley and Red Sovine), and of course Sweet Love On My Mind (Johnny Burnette and Jimmy and Johnny).

A rich 33 track compilation album that comes with a 12 page booklet full of infos.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

‘Rockhouse’

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(Harold Jenkins – Sam Phillips)

Original by Roy Orbison 

The band played that Rockabilly gem only once at the Roy Orbison tribute concert taped in Hollywood (at the Universal Amphitheatre) and shown throughout the U.S. on cable television on February 24, 1990.
Brian Setzer later made a studio version for his “Rockabilly Riot – Tribute To Sun Records” album in 2005.

Stop! In the Name of Love

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(Holland – Dozier – Holland)

Original by the Supremes

A number one single for the Supremes in 1965. The Stray Cats never  did a studio version and only performed it on stage once on December 31, 1980 at The Venue in London. This is not a great rendition and sounds rather unrehearsed.

‘Time is on my Hands’

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(Slim Jim Phantom – Lee Rocker)

Sung by Lee Rocker, “Time Is On My Hand” was only performed live three times by the Stray Cats. It was shortly before the band split, during Summer of 1984 (July – Lyon, France, August, 1st – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and August 6th – Chicago, Illinois) with Tommy Byrnes on second guitar (and Lee was probably playing electric bass at that time).
The Stray Cats never recorded it but a studio version by Phantom Rocker and Slick resurfaced as a b-side for their debut single “Men Without Shame” (EMI) in 1985 and a couple of months later on their debut album (Phantom, Rocker & Slick).

Phantom, Rocker & Slick - Men Without Shame / Time is on my hands
Phantom, Rocker & Slick – Men Without Shame / Time is on my hands

R.A.T.S

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R.A.T.S - Always Alone
R.A.T.S – Always Alone

R.A.T.S – Always Alone

R.A.T.S. Records ‎– #1 [1986]
Always Alone – That’s Right

R.A.T.S are not very different from the plethora of neo-rockabilly bands that appeared in the eighties like mushrooms after the rain. Their songs are not exceptional, they are not amazing musicians, and their singer is even out of tune at places. Not good, not bad, just another neo-rockabilly single to your collection. They’ll do much better with their mini-lp.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

The Big Valley Rangers

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Big Valley Rangers - Bells of Amarillo
Big Valley Rangers – Bells of Amarillo

The Big Valley Rangers – Bells Of Amarillo

Hypnolab
Ridin’ Through The Valley – Sunday Shoes – Blue River – Hillbilly Swing – Doggone Blues – Serenade For An Outlaw – Old Mexico – Rev’d Up Heart – Agua Bendita – Senorita, Senorita! – Adios

It’s good to see one still plays this kind of country music, and it’s somehow weird to think they come from Seattle (though the town is known for its vivid roots music scene). The Big Valley Rangers are a mostly acoustic quartet made of Brian Ellidge (lead vocals, guitar), Johnny Mercury (guitars), Tyler Johnson (doublebass) and Liam Fitzgerald (rhythm guitar). For the recording of their debut album they invited a couple of guest musicians, among them Billy Joe Huels (Dusty 45’s) and Russ Blake (Lucky Stars), accordion, harmonica, trumpet, steel, fiddle…
Together they deliver 11 originals that already sound like timeless classics.
“Ridin’ Through The Valley” is a song that’d make Gene Autry proud: nifty lyrics, good melody with yodel and whistling, you can’t find a better way to open the album. “Sunday Shoes” follows with a melody that reminded me of “Bouquet Of Rose“. It’s a solid country song delivered with class like a good ol’ Ernest Tubb tune. “Blue River” takes you back to the western tradition, with the Sons Of The Pioneers around the campfire, harmonizing sweet melodies before they go to sleep (close your eyes and hear the coyotes in the background). Never the ones to stay the two feet in the same boot, they pursue with a Western swing influenced number that wouldn’t be out of place on a Lucky Stars album, full of sizzling solos, with a special mention to Mercury’s jazz guitar. “Doggone Blues” is a cowboy blues, think Marty Robbins’ Pain & Misery meets Jimmie Rodgers.
The second part of the album is almost entirely devoted to songs with a strong “south of the border” style, and Ellidge clear and beautiful voice serves them very well. Serenade For An Outlaw is a short Spanish guitar instrumental that introduces Old Mexico. This time again you think of the great Marty Robbins but this desperado tales completed with Mariachis trumpets evokes more his gunfighters ballads like El Paso or Big Iron.  “Rev’d Up Heart” and “Senorita” take us back to the Autry style while “Agua Bendida” is a beautiful waltz with a Mexican feel and the aptly titled “Adios” closes the album. Do yourself a favor and buy this superb album right now.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis

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