Dagmar and the Seductones – Little Bitta Love
Tym Records 1001
A Little Bitta Love – Red Hot – Evil – Don’t Stop – Livin’ A Lie – Stupid Cupid – Lucky Stars – Leavin’ On Your Mind – Let’s Have A Party – A Poor Man’s Roses – Since I Met You, Baby – You Belong To Me
A very pleasant debut album by Dagmar and the Seductones. Bob Newcaster and Bryan Smith respectively guitar player and bassist are no stranger to rockabilly fans as they played with Tex Rubinowitz. “A Little Bitta Love”, a Dagmar’s own, is a great rocker and so is “Red Hot” that leaves the listener breathless. A perfect showcase for a powerful voice and nice piano too. It’s time to slow down a bit and this is what the “Fever” type song “Evil” does, and sees Dagmar in a seductive mood. “Living A Lie” and “Since I Met You Baby” add some blues to the mix and shows how Dagmar is at ease with that style too with her warm voice. “Lucky Stars” is a nice Buddy Holly type of song with a neo-rockabilly feel in it. It’s time again to slow the pace with the rock’n’roll ballad “Leavin’ On Your Mind”. “Let’s Have A Party” is played in a bluesy vein and they don’t try to compete with Wanda Jackson and this is a good point as I think Wanda is unbeatable on this one. “Poor Man’s Roses” adds a very welcome touch of honky tonk and so do “You Belong To Me”. You regret she doesn’t sing more in that style. Hopefully, there’ll be more like that in the next one that should be out very soon. Cd available at cdbaby.
Dagmar and the Seductones – Come Back To Me
Tym Records 1002
Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet – Bad Sad or Mad – Mercy Mercy – As Long As I’m Moving – I’m Not Going To Cry – Me and My Chauffeur Blues – Come Back to Me – That Doghouse Double Bass – Come and Get It – You Said – Hush Your Mouth – Not My Concern – Old Country Rock.
You’ll find on this second album the same ingredients you liked on the first one but maybe with a wider variety of styles. With the same team of accomplished musicians they perform a good set of red hot rockabilly tunes like “Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet” and “As Long As I’m Moving”. Equally good is “That Doghouse Double Bass”, an acoustic rockabilly tune that puts the spotlight on Bryan Smith’s skill on that big ol’ instrument, close in the spirit to Pee Wee King’s Bull Fiddle Boogie. “Come And Get It” is more electric and sounds a bit like Kim Lenz to give you a comparison. The main difference with their previous effort is the addition of a big dose of blues in their repertoire. From the great accoustic Memphis Blues of Memphis Minnie’s “Me and My Chauffeur Blues” to the heavy Boogie-blues of “Not My Concern” with slide guitar (imagine early ZZ Top going rockabilly), they cover half a century of music. A guest joined the band on baritone sax for two pieces of fine juicy Rhythm’n’Blues “Bad Sad or Mad” and Huey “Piano” Smith’s “Hush Your Mouth”. They also bring, succesfully, a bit of soul with Don Covay’s Mercy Mercy. The album ends on a guitar only instrumental which shows Bob Newcaster’s talent. Maybe more blues and less country than the previous one, Dagmar’s second album is the perfect complement to their previous effort. You’ll find at least one tune to please you on this varied cd (and if you have just one ounce of taste you’ll like them all), they even have a song with a Rumba beat, how can’t you like them?
Fred “Virgil” Turgis