RONNIE SMITH - LONG TIME NO LOVE

Puedes leer la versión en español de este blog en

elrockandrollyyo.blogspot.com

SIDE A = 1. My Babe   2. Long Time No Love (without chorus)   3. Tiny Kiss   4. I Started Out Walking   5. I Hear You Knocking

SIDE B = 6. Lookie Lookie Lookie   7. It Hurt Me So   8. Long Time No Love (with chorus)   9. Fell In Love With A Face   10. I've Got A Love

Sleazy Records / SR10-12

There are artists of whom we'll always wonder how high will they have reached had the luck been on their side. Ronnie Smith is for sure one of them, as this man from Texas (how good Rockabilly came from Texas in the 50's!) recorded in Norman Petty's studio, was the singer chosen to replace Buddy Holly to end the Winter Dance Party tour after the infamous plane crash, got such musicians in some of his recordings as Chet Atkins, DJ Fontana, Floyd Cramer, Tommy Allsup, The Jordanaires... But all went nowhere because the sales failed. Well, his "bad habits" didn't helped neither... and he was just 22 years young when he left this world.

Sleazy Records releases this compilation of Ronnie Smith's work in their TenXTen Serie, this time in very beautiful orange vinyl and, once again, with good sleeve notes by Aisha Khan.

Regarding the music (that's what matters), suffice to say what I've written at the beginning of this review: how high will Ronnie Smith have reached had good luck been on his side? Just listen to the first song he recorded, a wonderful version of "My Babe". But there is much more than just that first song recorded: "Long Time No Love", with and without chorus, it's a great Rockabilly (I prefer the "without" version); "Tiny Kiss" sounds so close to Buddy Holly that astonishes; "I Started Out Walking" is another great song and the same can be said about "Lookie Lookie Lookie"; "It Hurt Me So" is a beautiful rockaballad... and I can go on to name them all. Maybe, the less good one is "I've Got A Love"... and please note that I'm not saying that it is a bad song, but I have some "difficulties" liking songs that include an organ.

On the negative side, the sound quality in some songs is not as good as expected, but I suppose that it is due to the origin of those recordings and to the passing of so many years. I assume, anyway, that all efforts have been done to offer the best possible sound quality.

Till now, the best record released in the TenXTen Serie. A compilation of the work of a singer, Ronnie Smith, who deserved better luck.

Orange vinyl looks great!