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Raw Deal

Deltas (the)

The Deltas – Boogie Disease

The Deltas - Boogie Disease

Nervous Records NER002 [1981]

Boogie Disease – As You Like It – Blues In The Bottle – Honey Babe – Victim Of My Love – London Girls – Who – That Ain’t Your Business – Raging Sea – Heart Attack – Temperature – Pie ‘n’ Mash – Moonshine – Nine Below Zero – Fashion Train – Long Black Train

The Deltas were playing wild and frantic Rockabilly but unlike many other bands, they related heavily to the blues idiom covering the likes of Doctor Ross, Slim Harpo, Lightnin’ Hopkins or Sonny Boy Williamson. If the Meteors created psychobilly by mistreating rockabilly music, the Deltas were doing the same to the blues.

The Deltas were one of the very first act to be signed by Roy Williams on his Nervous label. It’s no surprise for their were among those who wanted to push the boundaries of the genre like Restless, the Meteors, the Blue Cats to name but three.

Their debut album is loaded with 16 wild and psychoticwith half of them penned by the band. The triple attack of Littlejohn’s double bass, Pat Panioty’s guitar and Steve Bongo banging his drums while singing his heart out (which often leads him to end the song faster than it started) takes no prisonners.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

deltas-first45The Deltas – Heart Attack b/w Spellbound

Nervous Records NER005 [1981] 
In 1981 the British rockabilly scene was in bloom. After Raw Deal split, Paul Fenech and Nigel Lewis formed the Meteors and Pat Panioty formed the Deltas. This single announces their excellent debut album. The version of Heartattack is different than the one that appears on the album.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

 


The Deltas - You Cant Judge a BookThe Deltas – You Cant Judge a Book

Raucous Records – RAUC006 [1988]
How Come You Do Me Like You Do – You Can’t Judge A Book – Do What I Do – This Train Is Bound For Glory

Superb ep recorded for Raucous featuring high octane rockin’ blues in the same vein of Tuffer than Tuff.

 


The Deltas - Mad for itThe Deltas – Mad for it

ID Records NOSE 11 [1986]
Whip It Up – Cigarette – Catch’em Young – The Cat – Age Of Nil – Electric Chair – Hit The Road Jack – Mad For It – Sex Therapy – Gimme The Drugs – No More No More No More – How Come You Do Me Like You Do* – You Can’t Judge A Book* – Do What I Do* – This Train Is Bound For Glory* (*cd bonus)

In 1986 the Deltas returned with a brand new album and a brand new lineup. The orginal trio (Captain Pat Marvel, Little John and Steve Bongo) added a drummer Ricochet Ray (allowing Steve to fully concentrate on the vocals) and a second guitar and a saxophone in the person of Boz Boorer of the Polecats who also produced the album and wrote several originals. With the addition of guests on piano and blues harp, the result is a blusier album, yet with a rockin’ feel to it, and a fuller sound.
It also sees them more at ease to go into new territories like the jazzy “Electric Chair”. But fans of the first lp and their psychotic rockabilly will sure enjoy the title track and their cover of the Cat. The cd version includes the “You Can’t Judge a book… ep” recorded for Raucous in 1988.


The Deltas ‎– From Fleetville To Vegas

deltas from fleetville to vegasRockout Records ‎– NIT 007
High Falutin’ Mama – Getting Drunk – Look Out Mabel – Shim Sham Shimmy – Willie Brown – Doctor Jazz – Down By The Riverside – I Love To Boogie – King Of The Road – Rock Me
Released in 1995 on Gary Day’s short-lived Rockout Records, From Fleetville to Vegas is one of the very best Deltas album.
The five-piece line-up (the original trio plus Boz Boorer and John Buck) rips through a set of wild and frantic rockin’ blues leaving the listener breathless. Amid that wildness, they managed to add some Jive (Gettin’ Drunk), Jazz (Doctor Jazz, a Boorer’s original that quotes Charlie Parker), Rock’n’Roll (High Falutin’ Mama), Rockabilly (Rock Me) and even Gospel (Down By the Riverside.)
Occasional piano, saxophone, and harmonica enlighten the performance. The sound is raw and crude, in the same vein as Billy Childish’s blues albums.

Deltas


Raw Deal (Paul Fenech, Nigel Lewis, Pat Panioty and Terry Earl)

Raw Deal - Pat Panioty, Paul Fenech, Nigel Lewis and Terry Earl.
Raw Deal – Pat Panioty, Paul Fenech, Nigel Lewis and Terry Earl.

Though Raw Deal lasted less than a year a performed something like 15 or 20 gigs together they remain a very important band in the burgeoning rockabilly scene of the late 70’s.
Raw Deal (named after the Junior Thompson’s song whose band was named… the Meteors) formed after Rock Therapy disbanded in mid 1979. Rock Therapy was Paul Fenech (guitar, vocals), Nigel Lewis (bass, guitar), Steve Burrough (guitar), Pete Taylor (guitar) and Rob Glazebrook (drums). Burrough and Taylor were the first to leave and soon Glazebrook announced he no longer wanted to play drums but guitar instead.
Through Nick Garrard Lewis and Fenech met Terry Earl who had left Flying Saucers. Earl brought Pat Panioty (who played in the Phantom and previously Rebound) and the Raw Deal was born.
All those who saw them were very impressed but sadly they never had a record out.
By all accounts they were very raw,  savage and wild, with Fenech and Lewis pushing the boundaries of traditionnal rockabilly which eventually led Terry Earl to leave in the first half of 1980 soon followed by Panioty.
Pat Panioty went on to form the Deltas, Earl joined the Dynamite band then the Rapiers and the Avengers and Fenech and Lewis recruited Mark Robertson and the Meteors were born. The rest, as they say, is history.