MARCEL RIESCO - A RECORD DATE WITH

Puedes leer la versión en español de este blog en

elrockandrollyyo.blogspot.com

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.