MARCEL RIESCO - A RECORD DATE WITH

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SIDE A = 1. Long Time No Love   2. Because He Broke Your Heart   3. Dumbstruck   4. Fickle Heart   5. They Say   6. I've Been Draggin' Since You've Gone   7. I Wonder

SIDE B = 1. Little Angel   2. Shook Up   3. Can't Forget Your Love   4. Gypsy Man   5. I Was A Fool   6. Oh Yeah   7. Under The Light Of The Blue Moon

Sleazy Records / SRLP-13

Let's go first for the obvious: when you listen to Marcel Riesco's voice, Roy Orbison comes to your mind. But he is not a copycat. Not at all. Marcel Riesco has his own style, his own way of Rockin' and a lot of years on the stage (and recording). Anyway, he is not trying to hide that his voice is really similar to the voice of "the Big O". It is his voice, so it would be hard to hide it.

As said before, Marcel Riesco has been rocking and rolling for quite a long time, leading for instance the Truly Lover Trio, but this is the first record released using his own name if my memory serves me well.

Time to go for the important part of any record review: the songs. In this LP released by Sleazy Records we get fourteen songs, being ten of them composed by Marcel Riesco himself. The other four are covers: two coming from the team Roy Orbison plus Joe Melson ("Long Time No Love" and "Shook Up"), one from the couple Roy Orbison and Norman Petty ("I Was A Fool") and another one from Joe Melson ("Oh Yeah"). Well chosen covers, I have to say, and making good use of that Marcel Riesco's voice, reminiscing Roy Orbison.

The ten songs composed by Marcel Riesco are also well selected and among them we found a blend of Rock'n'Roll and Rockabilly with signs and traces not only from Roy Orbison, but also from Buddy Holly in a certain way. Songs such as "Because He Broke Your Heart", "Dumbstruck" or "Gipsy Man" are good examples of that Rocking part. There are some good ballads included as well, such as "Fickle Heart" or "Under The Light Of The Blue Moon". Good songs all along the record, so to highlight any of them will depend on each one's preferences.

Anyway, the third song of the B side, "Can't Forget Your Love", has become a personal favourite that has me almost hypnotized, listening to it again and again: a wonderful simple song, almost pure acoustic, with drums played with brushes and in which the electric guitar just comes in for the break and to finish the song. Just wonderful, believe me. Pure gold.

Note that the recording was done in Germany, at Lightning Recorders in Berlin, with Ike Stoye and Axel Praefcke as recording engineers... Not bad at all.

A very good record this "A Record Date With Marcel Riesco" that deserves to be included in any decent Rock'n'Roll record collection.

LOS VOLIDOS - THE NEW FAVOURITES OF

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SIDE A = 1. Hot Rods Nite   2. Go Back You Fool   3. Ride On Me, Babe!

SIDE B = 4. Johnny Law   5. I'll Leave My Home   6. Show Me The Light.

Sleazy Records / SR10-09

First of all, I have to confess that Los Volidos is one of my favourite bands among the ones that we can enjoy nowadays in action. And this brand new 10" shows for sure the good quality and high level of the work of these guys from Asturias, Spain, with a style true to the good old Hillbilly mixed up with a good deal of almost as old Rockabilly that makes you dance from the very first notes. No way to remain stand still. Believe me.

A "mini-LP" in 10" format, released by Sleazy Records, in which we get 3 songs per side, four of them being composed by the band: "Hot Rods Nite", Ride On Me, Babe!", "I'll Leave My Home" and "Show Me the Light". All of them really good in that above-mentioned "Rockabilly meets Hillbilly" style where the presence of the steel guitar helps quite a lot in that blend. Or Rockabilly, giving more strength to the "billy" half of the word.

The other two songs are a couple of very well chosen covers, fitting perfectly with the rest of the album: "Go Back You Fool" is a cover of a song recorded by Faron Young as long way back as in 1955 for Capitol, while "Johnny Law" is a cover of a much more recent song, coming from the songbook of Wayne Hancock and having been recorded by Hancock himself in 1997.

Six very good indeed songs, recorded in December 2014 and released in 2015 but that could have been recorded in the 50's of the 20th Century for the Starday label. Now you can say I'm mad for writing that, but go and listen to the record first, please.

It has to be also highlighted the artwork for the sleeve: a beautiful picture in sepia colour for the cover and black and white pictures used for the back, helping a lot in that time-travelling back to the 50's...

Outstanding work of all four Los Volidos' members: Mauro Regueiro playing guitar and singing the songs composed by the band; Mark Polza playing steel guitar and rhythm guitar as well as giving voice to the covers; Marcos Alonso keeping the beat at the drums; and Pikos Kid doing the same but with the double-bass. All of them have to be given their share of applause. So good!

Brief: great 50's style Rockabilly and Hillbilly... made in the 21st Century! Highly recommended.

ROCKABILLY - MANUEL LOPEZ POY (GUIDE)

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Redbook Ediciones

Why do they call it "Rockabilly" when they mean "Rock'n'Roll"? It is true that an explanation about the differences between both of them is given in the introduction, but why not using "Rock'n'Roll" when you are going to write, precisely, about Rock'n'Roll? The only explanation I found is that the collection to which this book belongs is called "Guías del Rock & Roll" ("Rock & Roll Guides" in English) and maybe they are trying to avoid any confusion. Anyway...

This is going to be a short review, as this book is written in Spanish and there are lots of good books written in English about the same matter.

I do believe that this book, written by Manuel López Poy, is a good idea as it is probably the first one to be written in Spanish trying to explain the whole history of Rock'n'Roll through short reviews (very short, sometimes) on singers, groups, labels, etc. from its origins to nowadays. Of course, the selection of the names included is very subjective and any of us will take out some of them to add some others. For instance, I found that Charlie Feathers, Sid King, The Fireballs, Ray Sharpe or Jackie Wilson among the singers and groups and Starday, Meteor, or The Norman Petty Recording Studios among the labels, etc. have more than enough value and importance to have been included... But it is the writer who has the right to choose, so I guess it is fair enough.

What I really dislike about this book is that there are so many typos spread along the text that, sometimes, its reading is just annoying. Maybe a little bit more of attention from the editor's side (or whoever's job was to check those kind of things) was needed.

Brief, a quite good idea with a big problem with typos.

TENNESSEE - LUZ DE GAS

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1. Pretty Woman   2. Tu mal humor   3. Llueve en mi corazón   4. Suena Ding Dong   5. A Marilyn   6. Black Or White   7. Labios de la suerte   8. Guitar Blues   9. Cotton Fields   10. Una noche en Malibú   11. Dame tu amistad   12. Rama Lama Ding Dong   13. Baila conmigo un Twist   14. Siempre lucharé por tu amor   15. Choo Choo Booguie   16. Dame más amor   17. Silhouettes   18. Mil palabras de amor   19. Suspicious Minds   20. Tonto por ti   21. Let's Rock And Roll   22. Te vi correr

Self-released / No ref. #

Tennessee is the pioneer band for Doo-Wop (or Du-Dua, as they call it) in Spain and in my very own opinion they have never received all the respect they deserve for their work... and this CD + DVD, recorded live, is a new proof of their quality.

What we get along the 22 songs included in the CD (25 in the DVD) is a trip through the most well known songs of the band, both own compositions and covers, most of them in Spanish. I would like to highlight "Tu mal humor", "A Marilyn", "Labios de la suerte" (a cover of Ruth Brown's "Lucky Lips" and probably my favourite in this record) or "Guitar Blues", to name just a few. On the other side we have "Pretty Woman" and "Suspicious Minds" being the weakest selections as I believe they do not fit quite OK with the band's style.

It has to be also highlighted the great sound quality of the recording, bearing in mind that it is a self-edited live recording, as both the CD and the DVD have a powerful, clear sound.

By the way, the show was recorded on June 27, 2014 in Barcelona, being a show held to raise funds and give support to an association that helps kids affected by the Sanfilippo disease. The CD + DVD have been released with the same target in mind.

Good record for a good cause!

THE COUNTRY SIDE OF HARMONICA SAM - OPEN LETTER TO THE BLUES

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1. A Double Shot Of Heartache   2. Forbidden Wine   3. Farther Than My Eyes Can See   4. It's Such A Pretty World Today   5. I Regret It Every Day   6. That's Why I Sing In A Honky Tonk   7. Open Letter To The Blues   8. I'm Walking Slow   9. We Have Strayed So Far Away   10. Followed Closely By My Teardrops   11. The Day I Let Him In   12. The Storm Within My Heart   13. Dying A Little Every Day Is Killing Me   14. I'm Down To My Last Cigarette

El Toro Records / ETCD 6068

Terrific! What a great record! I loved this record from the very first time I played it. Really, what a very good record by the Swedish singer and band members. I knew Harmonica Sam for his Rhythm'n'Blues side: he is very good in Rhythm'n'Blues and Rock'n'Roll, but this step to Country music has been well done, showing a good knowledge of the field he was entering in. After listening to the CD, I feel that Harmonica Sam took the way knowing for sure where he was going to. Doing and not trying.

From the very first notes of the very first song ("A Double Shot Of Heartache") I felt I was listening to a 50's or early 60's Hillbilly band and I kept that feeling up to the last song ("I'm Down To My Last Cigarette"). Pure good old Hillbilly, Honky Tonk, with a Baskerfild Sound feeling and, why not saying it, sometimes Dwight Yoakam's first records coming to my mind.

I'll say it again: it is a very good record indeed, with not a single bad song in it. Fourteen great songs going from uptempo to ballads, including a mixture of own compositions (such as "I Regret It Every Day") and well chosen covers (like "Farther Than My Eyes Can See"). It would be unfair to highlight any of them among the others as all are great songs, very well played.

Believe me, please: if you like old style Country & Western, you'll love this record. If not... this is the record to start loving it. By the way, all the good words and praises witten by Deke Dikerson in the booklet are well deserved by the band and are an act of justice.

Their share of applause has to be given as well to El Toro Records for believing in a Country band from Sweden such as The Country Side Of Harmonica Sam. Note that you can also get this album in vinyl LP format (ref. # BE117).

Standing ovation for "Open Letter To The Blues" by The Country Side Of Harmonica Sam.

Harmonica Sam on the stage

during Ubangi Stomp festival 2015.