The Moondogs – Long Blond Hair
Rainbow Music – – RMS 111 [1986]
Long Blond Hair / Teach Me Baby
A mixed debut for this Swedish quartet formed by former Suncats member Christer Dahlbäck (vocals, guitar), with Paul Epailys (lead guitar), Jens Norstrand (double bass), and Jan Nordstrand (drums). While the A-side, a sloppy cover of Johnny Powers’ “Long Blonde Hair,” is hardly convincing, the B-side, an original penned by Dahlbäck, is much more successful and impactful.
The Moondogs – Teenage Blues
Rainbow Music – RMLP 2015 (also on Rockhouse) [1987]
Rock Crazy Baby – Broken Heart – Teenage Blues – Please Don’t Leave Me – Slap That Good Ol’Way – I Love Ma’Babe – Bourbon By The Moon – Nothing Wrong – When My Baby Left Me – Ain’t Got A Thing – Don’t Look Now – Move On Back – Long Blond Hair – Teach Me Baby
The Moondogs’ album is much like their single released the previous year. It contains numerous covers, some of which are rather unnecessary. Instead of reworking classics popularized by Burnette, Sid King, or Art Adams, one might have wished for them to be more in the spirit of their version of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Don’t Look Now, which is far more original.
However, their original compositions are very successful. Slap That Good Ol’ Way, as its name suggests, is driven by a powerful double bass and embellished with two excellent guitar solos (in the space of less than two minutes). I Love Ma Babe, featuring a harmonica played by Mats Wallstrom, cheerfully blends hillbilly and blues. The harmonica also appears on the effective Rockin’ Blues Move On Back. All three are written by the singer. Nothing Wrong is credited to Nillson/J. Norstrand (is it Jens or Jan?) and sounds much more Neo-Rockabilly in the vein of Levi Dexter. As for Paul Epailys, he wrote Bourbon By The Moon, the hillbilly-tinged instrumental track on the album.
The Rockhouse edition of the LP also contains the two songs of their single.
After the Moondogs disbanded, Dahlbäck revived the Suncats and Epailys played with the Go-Getters and more recently in a band called Cyclone with Marcus Olsson from the Toneflyers.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
