Sugar Ray Ford – Exotic Hotshots
Mankin Records – 203 343 [1984]
Mambo Rock – She Is The Most – Rock Around The Island – Oop Pop A Da – Caldonia – Big Fat Lie – Rumba Chile – Two Eyes – No More, No More,No More – Cool It Baby – If Love Is A Fortune
After playing with the Four Blazes, Patrick Jeffrey Reyford (vocal, guitar, bandleader) formed Sugar Ray Ford with Terence Keating (steel guitar), Trevor Francis Barley (piano), Paul Taylor Diffin (double bass), and Terence Leonard Orchard (drums).
In 1984, Exotic Hotshots, the group’s first (and only) album, was released, featuring a beautifully designed cover by Serge Clerc. The group’s repertoire is varied, ranging from Bill Haley’s Mambo Rock to Dizzy Gillespie’s Oop Pop A Da, from Louis Jordan (Caldonia) to Tommy Steele (Two Eyes), with some Doo Wop, Rockabilly, and a touch of John Lee Hooker in between.
Some tracks are credited to Sugar Ray Ford but are actually covers, like Rock Around The Island, written by Ken Darby (Love Me Tender) and recorded by the Lancers in 1955, and Big Fat Lie, originally performed by Boogaloo & The Gallant Crew.
The musicians are good—even if they sometimes overdo it, as on bobby Lord’s No More No More No More—whether it’s Reyford’s incisive solos, Paul Diffin’s rapid slap bass, or Barley’s ethereal piano. And even if it is too often drowned in the mix, the steel brings that exotic, sometimes a little cheap touch, which contributes to the identity of the group.
Unfortunately, the production by Marc Zermati (of the Skydog label) and Henri Padovani (original guitarist of The Police and founder of the excellent Flying Padovanis) is far too thin to showcase the band’s qualities. The potential of the group is evident from the tracks, but the two producers fail to capture and convey that energy.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis
