Various – Stack-A-Records
Nervous Records – NERD 007 [1983]
Restless – Later / The Shakin’ Quiffs – Shake Your Quiff / Flip Out – Swing It Up / Dynamite Band – My Oh My / Rockin’ Johnny Austin – Hit Man / The Paladins – My Baby Took A Train / The Frantix – Little Dog / The Ricochets – Don’t Blame Me / The Deltas – Early In The Morning / The Deltas – Bad, Bad Whiskey / Flip Out – Gonna Come An’ Get Ya / Dynamite Band – Save Your Love / Bonneville – Trouble / The Shakin’ Quiffs – Cherie, Cherie / The Frantix – One More Time / Restless – That’s All Right
A rich and varied compilation that perfectly captures the vibrant Rock ‘n’ Roll scene of the early 1980s, ranging from classic Rock ‘n’ Roll to Psychobilly, including Rockin’ Blues, Teddy Boy stuff, and Neo-Rockabilly.
Restless opens with a fantastic cover of the Jodimars’ Later, showcasing the power of Paul Harman’s double bass. This unreleased track would later be included on the CD version of Why Don’t You Just Rock! Equally excellent is That’s All Right, which features all the elements that make Restless great: edgy guitar, a catchy melody, and a driving rhythm supported by a relentless rhythm section.
Then comes Shakin’ Quiffs with Shake Your Quiff and Cherie Cherie. These two tracks are the only recorded legacy of the Shakin’ Quiffs, a band formed by Gavin Lusby, Paul Hodges, and Steve Whitehouse (although the band recorded other tracks on a demo). The songs are enjoyable, although a bit young (no surprise there, the members are all teenagers). In the end, their interest is more historical than truly musical, because Hodges and Whitehouse would later join the Sharks (and then Whitehouse would form Frenzy), and Lusby would form Kill Van Helsing.
Flip Out was from Southampton and was formed by Trev Orman (vocals), Eddie LeMay (guitar), Jimmy Fahey (drums), and Mark Crossley (slap bass). Swing It Up is a good jazzy rockabilly, not too far removed from what Get Smart would record. Gonna Come An’ Get Ya is more edgy with a powerful double bass and almost tribal drums at times.
The Dynamite Band offers two tracks: the heavily Bill Haley-influenced My Oh My sung by Jacko Buddin, and Save Your Love a slow song in the great fifties tradition.
Rockin’ Johnny Austin, backed by the Ricochets and Shirley Bassey’s pianist, covers Hit Man in a slightly more rockabilly but equally unsettling version. The Ricochets are also featured on the savage Don’t Blame Me, a Slade cover.
The Paladins are not Dave Gonzales’s band from the USA, but their Canadian namesake. Composed by the band’s pianist, My Baby Took A Train is classic rockabilly, in the style of My Baby Left Me/That’s All Right. The Frantix, with Jerry Brill on vocals and the powerful slap bass of Nick Peck (Rattlers), offer two tracks of their wild and unbridled rockabilly.
Bonneville‘s Trouble is in the purest Teddy Boy style, all restrained violence, to be ranked alongside Crazy Cavan’s best tracks.
Finally, there are two songs by the Deltas. Supported by a powerful slide and a more discreet harmonica, Early In The Morning is a cover of the Elmore James song. Then, they transform Amos Milburn’s Bad Bad Whiskey into an excellent neo-blues with a lounge atmosphere, à la Fever, slightly marred, however, by a somewhat synthetic production.
