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Mars Attacks – Recaptured!

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mars-attacks-recaptured-cdPart Records PART-CD 696.001 [2011]
Man From Mars – Snatch It ‘N’ Grab It – All Nite Boogie – I’m Gonna Buy Me A Ticket – Doggin’ My Steps – Please Can You Say – Pepperhot Baby – The Way I Bop – That’s The Way I Feel – Four Tired Car – Lies – Why, Jimmy Bill – You’ll Never Break Me – Honey – Dirty Tricks – I Guess It’s Meant That Way – Rocket In My Sky – Shotgun Wedding – A Gal Of My Kind – Ninety Nine Ways – You Talk Too Much – Sputnik (The Satellite Girl) – Tattoo Bop – Mars Attacks – High School Ceasar – Leavin’ It All Behind
Mars Attacks are one of the best ambassadors of Rockabilly music in Europe. For this album they have re-recorded some of their favourite songs (including the covers!) from their earliest releases. Though surprising at first, it turns out to be a good idea, most of their old material being is only available on vinyl or out-of-print. So why not reissuing it with today’s sound? The result is 26 killer tracks. It’s no use to write a song-by-song review, you just have to know that these guys are top musicians.
If you already know Mars Attacks, you know what I mean, if you don’t, this is the perfect album to begin witht.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Wyatt Christmas Trio

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wyattchristmas-trio-got-rhythm

Wyatt Christmas Trio – I’ve Got Rhythm

Part CD 6107-002
I Wear My Suit – Step It Up And Go – Movin’ On – I’m Goin’ Wild – Live It Up – It’s One Of These Nights – Red Hot – Sea Cruise – Mr Jones – Ride On – Sugar Sweet – Blues Is All Around Me – Diggin’ The Boogie

“I’ve Got Rhythm” is Wyatt Christmas Trio’s second album. It’s an interesting mix of Rock’n’Roll, blues (jump, rockin’ or classic), Rockabilly, Doo Wop and a bit of Jazz too. There’s a lot of variety all through the records. They add plenty of little things to always bring something new to each song whether it’s a different lead singer, some doo wop backing vocals (making them sound a bit like the Speedos or the Keytones), slide guitar, a couple of guest on blues harp, boogie woogie piano and saxophone, each song song different from the previous one. Some numbers have a slight pop edge that could appeal to a broader audience which is everything we could wish for them.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Rip Carson

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Rip Carson - Stand Back
Rip Carson – Stand Back
Rip Carson - Savage American Rock
Rip Carson – Savage American Rock

Rip Carson – Savage American Rock/Stand Back

Savage American Rock
PART-CD 682.001 – Part Records [2009]
Don’t Hold My Baby – Full Of Sin – So Long – Come On Back – Green In My Pocket – All Alone & Blue – 2 Timin’ Woman – You Can Find Another Man – Gamble My Life Away – Keep Your Pain – I Gotta Rock – Down That Line – Get It Through To You – I’m Gonna Drink – Tornado Love – Whiskey ‘n Water
Stand Back
PART-CD 682.002 – Part Records [2009]
Little Red Hen – Heart Attack – Can’t Comfort Her – After School Rock – Saw Ya Walkin’ – La La Love Me – Another Bridge To Burn – Stand Back – Rock Me Right – End Of The Tracks – Stay For Me – Holler Little Baby – Don’t Leave Me – Voodoo Woman

Part Records reissue Rip’s first two albums previously released on Rockin’ Ronnie Weiser’s Rollin’ Rock and now long out of print.
Savage American Rock is Rip debut album. One can hear the influence of rockabilly masters like Johnny Burnette or Gene Vincent wildest sides. The band is excellent especially Danny Angulo’s lead guitar. Of course you’ll find some minor flaws inherent to many debut album. Rip’s voice lacks of confidence (even though he’s never clearly out of tune) and the songwriting is not totally original. Though every songs are credited to Carson or Carson/Angulo the careful listener will find resemblances between Full Of Sin and Carl Perkins’ Matchbox, All Alone & Blue and Tex Rubinowitz’s No Club Lone Wolf and You Can Find Another Man and Bob Dylan’s Dont Think Twice.
Those little reserve apart, it’s a good album.

Stand Back goes further on the wild side as prove the first two tracks, all in savage guitars, screams and hoarse voice. But it also shows a more melodic side of the man with tunes like Can’t Comfort Her, Saw Ya Walkin’, Another Bridge To Burn, Stay For Me. A style he’ll explore more thoroughly with his album “My Simple Life”.
A good album, more consistent than Savage American Rock that gives you the best of both world.

Rip Carson - My Simple Life
Rip Carson – My Simple Life

Rip Carson – My Simple Life

Golly Gee Records GGR
The Hate Inside Of Me – All I Ask – Sinking Down – Miss Heartbreak – My Simple Life – Let Me Be -The One I Want – I’ll Tell You – That Aint Enough – Stuttering Cindy – Poor Me- Keep Moving -Happy Heart – I’m Not Free
“My Simple Life”, is Rip best (and last) album to date and probably one of the best rockabilly records this genre has given us in recent years. The musicians are no strangers to rockabilly fans:veteran Paul Diffin (The Blue Cats, Sugar Ray Ford, Big Six, Marshall & The Shooting Stars) on bass and recording, Joel Morin (Dawn Shipley, Pep Torres) on guitar and Michael Faughnan (Lustre Kings) on drums. The mid tempo The Hate Inside Of Me starts the album and you know you’re not just listening to “another good record”.
I won’t go into a song by song review but you’ll find here great rockabilly tunes like Sinkin’ Down, That Ain’t Enough (two collaborations with Rip’s partner in crime: Ryan Sagat), Poor Me and I’m Not Free (with handclaps), a beautiful ballad that sounds like Sam Cooke meets Don Gibson (All I Ask) and two well chosen covers that suit perfectly Rip’s voice : Jackie Lee Cochran’ Miss Heartbreak and Charlie Feathers’ Stutterin’ Cindy. So, the result is quite simple: great musicians with great songwriting and great production work. Take a listen just to hear the instruments separately and you’ll see what I mean. What you have here is a piece of classic rockabilly. An album as important as Big Sandy’s On The Go, High Noon’s Show & Dance and maybe even Gene Vincent’s second album. You couldn’t say I didn’t warn you.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Wheels Fargo and the Nightingale

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wheelsfargoWheels Fargo and the Nightingale – At the Hayride

Part Records {2014}
Intro – Love Me To Pieces – Hogtied Over You – My Hillbilly Boys – It Makes No Difference Now – It’s My Lazy Day – I’m Talkin’, Walkin’ – Jealous Heart – Ugly And Slouchy – Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor – Keep Your Hands Away – Juke Box Blues – Divorce Me COD – Pistol Packin’ Mama – The Christmas Presents’ Blues – Lookin’ At The Moon – Lone Gone Lonesome Blues – Rocky Road Blues – Loose Talk – Bo Weavil

Despite its name “At the Hayride” is not a live recording but a solid 20-song studio album.
Though I wasn’t totally seduced by their previous effort, I must say that this one marks a big improvement. With a full array of stringed instruments (mandolin, banjo, fiddle, steel guitar, guitar…) they rip through a set of Maddox Brothers and Rose influenced stuff with bluegrass, a bit of  honky tonk and some western swing and rockabilly thrown in for good measure. A fine cocktail if there was one.
Antonella – aka the Nightingale – takes the lion’s share of the lead vocals with her fiery, confident and powerful voice, but there’s also some male lead vocals, a couple of duets and some fine harmonies one can expect from such a record.
The musicianship is solid too and they have a secret weapon with Matteo Ringressi who can play most of the aforementioned instruments and take all the lead parts but the electric guitar.
I just regret they didn’t include more original material for their three self-penned songs are very good with a special mention to Christmas Present Blues.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Wheels Fargo and the Nightingale - Songs of Calico
Wheels Fargo and the Nightingale – Songs of Calico

Wheels Fargo and the Nightingale – Songs of Calico

Part Records [2011]
Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow – House Of The Rising Sun – Victorian Lady – Night Train To Memphis – Down Down Down – Foggy Mountain Breakdown – Cotton Fields – Foot Prints In The Snow – Rocky Top – Crazy Arms – Calico – The Auctioneer – Molly And Tenbrooks – T For Texas – Littlie Maggie – I Hate My Neighbor

This Italian band defines itself as “the ultimate rocking bluegrass string band” and, guess what, this is exactly what you’ll find on this platter..
The songs come from the catalogs of Flatt & Scruggs, Bill Monroe, the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, the Stanley Brothers and so on. As you can see we’re in well known territory and a little bit more originality in the choice of the songs would have been better. In addition to these covers, Antonella, the lead singer, has penned three songs.
It’s very well played and sung (though the Italian accent could be disturbing at times, but let’s say it adds to the charm) but lacks of that little extra something that makes the difference between average and good records. It’s too bad because their originals are quite good, especially I Hate My Neighbors, and a full album like that would have been far more superior.

.Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Lucky 13

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lucky-13-come-back-home-cdLucky 13 – Come Back Home

Part Records PART-CD 6111.001 [2014]
Black Slacks – Moonshine – Jungle Fever – You Are My Destiny – Come Back Home – Bad Girl – Get Off The Road – 44 – Maniac Babe – Bad Reputation – Purple Flames And The Lost 13 – Wish You Were Dead – The Cats – Far Far Away – In The Moon For You – Tough Guys – 44 (acoustic version) – In The Bar – Liar – Happy End.

Lucky 13 are a hot rockin’ trio centered around the charismatic personnalities of Ed Mind on guitar and Ani Romance on electric bass with, on this platter, either Jimmy Cash or or Lance Matthyssen on drums. Both Romance and Mind write solid originals and sing which brings a lot of variety in term of sound and style.
The songs gathered on “Come Back Home” have been recorded over a period that goes from 1998 to 2012.
Their music takes its roots in the rockabilly of the fifties and goes as far as Psychobilly in the style of the Anagram era of the Meteors with everything cool in between. You’ll find some rompin’ instrumentals, 60’s Girl bands stuff (Paul Anka’s You are My Destiny excellently sung by Romance), 80’s neo-Rockabilly (a superb cover of Red Hot’n’Blue’s Bad Girl or Moonshine that many of us discovered on the Deltas debut album), and some darker stuff reminiscent of the Cramps or Empress of Fur (and their bass palyer can stand proudly next to Candy Del Mar, Ivy Poison or Venus Raygunn in term of “girl with a bad attitude”.)
If you like real rockin’ music and don’t aim for a purist sound, and dig the bands mentionned above, be sure to grab a copy of this platter.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Out of Luck (psychobilly)

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Out of Luck – Killer Coupe

Part Records Part-coutofluckkillercoupecdd-6100.002 [2014]

The Change Of  the Plymouth – Killer Coupe – I Pack My Bags – Gangster – I’m So Lonely – My Baby Is A Centerfold – Heart Of A Fool – Your Best Buddy – My buckets got a Hole In It – I go For A Walk With My dog – Drop Dead – Demons In the Tank – Kickin’ Up A Row
Out of Luck returns with a brand new kick ass album featuring eleven originals and two covers (Heart of Fool and My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It). Led by the strong voice and the powerful slap bass of Karl Rascal with Rocky on guitar and Beppo May on drums, they perfectly mix their varied influences with classic Rockabilly, neo-rockabilly (one can hear shades of Brian Setzer in the guitar of I’m So Lonely), old school psychobilly kinda like the early Nekromantix or even the Scum Rats with, which is more unusual for this type of band, a heavy dose of country music which makes them sound at places like European cousins of the Reverend Horton Heat. A very good album.

outofluck-greetingsfromoutbackvilleOut of Luck – Greetings From Outbackville

Part Records Part-CD 6100.001 [2012]
Greetings From Outbackville – 49′ Plymouth – Ain’t Got No Job – Rockabilly Rocker – Black Kat – Midnight Drive – Johnny Ultracool – Out Of Cash – Josephine – Into The Valley – I Wanna Kill – Psycho Fantasies – Sunrise At The Foggy River – Cruisin’ – Rainy Day – Love Is An Expensive Affair – Several Ways To Die

Out of Luck is a terribly good and powerful trio who plays revved-up rockabilly that often borders on old-school psychobilly. This album is a subtle balance between the early recordings of the Meteors, Guana Batz and even Mad Sin and more traditional rockabilly stuff with some Reverend Horton Heat in between. The original songs (all but one) are very well written. The sound is also particularly good with a very natural and warm recording of the double bass (not that horrible sewing machine sound one can too often hear in that style of music). As a bonus they included six live tracks to convince you to see them on stage. It’s good to see bands like Batmobile or Skitzo (to name but two) reform, but this music needs new blood, and with band like Out Of Luck the future seems assured.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis
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