The Hot Riff – Job Done!
Vampirella Music – VMCD 170433 [1995]
Who Are You? – Burning Love – Still Alive – Drinkin’ Wine Spo Dee Oh Dee – So Glad You’re Mine – Face It With A Grin – Too Much Monkey Business – Hate To Say Goodbye – Do It My Way – Movin’ Fast – Can’t Stand It – Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Mean Woman Blues
The Hot Riffs was a German band formed by Zimbo on drums, Brian on vocals and rhythm guitar, Mick on double bass, and Semmel (ex-Scannerz and future Tin Cans) on lead guitar. Job Done!, their only album, was released in 1995. The band plays lively and catchy Neo-Rockabilly, mostly fast, very close in spirit to Restless. The sound is typical of the productions that could be found at the end of the 1980s. Some songs show a slightly more Psychobilly inspiration (not surprising with a former Scannerz in the band), and there is also a ballad. The band is very tight, with a solid rhythm section (on we will note the particularly good production work on the double bass sound), Brian is a convincing singer but the secret weapon of the band remains of course Semmel whose speed and precision place him at the level of the modern masters of the genre such as Mark Harman of Restless and John O’Malley of the Nitros.
As for covers, we find classics by Chuck Berry (Too Much Monkey Business, again very close to Restless), Elvis (So Glad You’re Mine, Mean Woman Blues and a relentlessly driven version of Burning Love), Stick McGhee via Johnny Burnette and many others (Drinkin’ Wine Spodee-Oh-Dee, mostly an excuse for Semmel to show his talent but who would complain?), and an excellent version of Queen‘s Crazy Little Thing Called Love that surpasses the Nitros’ version.
But it’s through their original compositions that the Hot Riffs rise to the ranks of their peers. Not content with being a musically solid band, the quartet proves capable of composing excellent and very original pieces. We’ll just mention the fabulous Who Are You that opens the album, instantly placing the Hot Riffs on the same level as their peers.
Job done! And well done, if I may say so. We can only regret that this excellent first attempt was never followed up.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
