FERLIN HUSKY - GONNA SHAKE THIS SHACK TONIGHT

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1. Black Sheep   2. Prize Possession   3. Detour   4. Tennessee Central #9   5. Cross Eyed Gal From The Ozarks   6. This Moment Of Love   7. Watch The Company You Keep   8. Sioux City Sue   9. I Wouldn't Treat A Dog Like You're Treatin' Me   10. Alabama Jubilee   11. Draggin' The River   12. I Can't Go On This Way   13. Aladdin's Lamp   14. Bebe Beautiful Baby   15. Slow Down Brother   16. I Feel Better All Over   17. I'll Baby Sit With You   18. I'll Be Here For A Lifetime   19. Minni-Ha-Cha   20. You Make Me Feel Funny Honey   21. Pick-A-Nickin'   22. Eli, The Camel   23. Excuse Me Stranger   24. Stand Up, Sit Down, Close Your Mouth   25. What'cha Doin' After School   26. Don't Be Mad   27. Muki-Ruki   28. Bop Cat Bop   29. Missing Persons   30. Wang Dang Doo   31. I Will   32. Little Red Web

Bear Family Productions / BCD17415

In their excellent "Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight" series, Bear Family has just released this CD with 32 uptempo songs by Ferlin Husky. For those of you not knowing about this kind of a collection, just note that each CD is dedicated to a Hillbilly singer from the 1950's (and around), including the most danceables and uptempo songs. As said at the beginning, this collection is excellent. Marvelous.

And just that has to be said about this CD compiling songs from Ferlin Husky: marvelous. In it, have been included the songs that ought to be, in my very own oppinion, and to highlight any of them is pointless, as all of them are great and perfect to be played once and again, with rhythms going from plain Hillbilly to almost Rockabilly and everything in between. Each one of you will find your very own favourites. By the way, there have been included some cuts Ferlin Husky recorded under the name of his alter-egos Simon Crum and Terry Preston.

I can go on praising the quality of the music included and also the stunning, almost pristine, sound quality, but the treatment Bear Family gives to their releases has to be always duly highlighted as well: this time we have the digipack type case for the CD including an over 70 pages booklet, complete with bio (written by Scott B. Bomar), comments, recording sessions data, plenty of pictures and so on. Luxurious is the adjective that better fits.

No need, I think, to add much more: if you like old-school, uptempo, Hillbilly music this record compiling songs from Ferlin Husky (any of the ones from this "Shake This Shak Tonight" series, as a matter of fact) will please you a lot.

A STRAY CAT STRUTS. MY LIFE AS A ROCKABILLY REBEL - SLIM JIM PHANTOM

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Thomas Dunne Books - St. Martin's Press

Those of us who discovered Rockabilly and Rock'n'Roll in the 1980's and beginning of the 1990's had in the Stray Cats one of our favourite bands. In my case, the first Rockabilly related non-singer names I learnt were those of Scotty Moore and Bill Black, the couple behind Elvis in his first glorious recordings, plus those of Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom, who along with Brian Setzer were the Stray Cats, the coolest band around.

In this book, Slim Jim Phantom, of real name James McDonnell, tells us in its 277 pages his life in the world of Rockabilly and Rock'n'Roll (and plain Rock too).

He goes quite fast through his origins, how he started playing drums, how he met Lee Rocker and Brian Setzer... and soon we have the three cats boarding a plane with one-way tickets to London. From then on we get a vivid and entertaining account of memories and anecdotes, without too much of a chronological order and not giving too much importance to dates. I mean that reading this autobiography I've learned quite a lot and have had a lot of fun, but I've missed a little of accuracy and also some more "in depth" when reading about certain facts, such as Stray Cats recording sessions, tours, splits, reunions... It seems to me that Slim Jim has given much more importance to anecdotes and to the funny side of his life in Rock'n'Roll, with and without the Stray Cats, than to be precise giving dates and facts.

Not a problem for me as a matter of fact, eventhough I would have liked a little bit more of accuracy, because what Slim Jim Phantom has achieved is to give a good dynamic to the book, which makes it an easy reading one.

Brief, if you grew up listening to Stray Cats and you keep believing they are one of the best bands in "modern" Rockabilly, probably you will find that "A Stray Cat Struts" is an interesting reading and you will have good fun reading it.

CAT CLUB - MUNDO DE LOCOS

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1. Mundo de locos   2. Si te vas   3. Colgada de ti misma   4. True Blue   5. Esclavo de tu amor   6. Por ti he sufrido   7. Amor desordenado   8. Ven mañana   9. Esto se va a quedar así   10. Suena HTHF   11. El último surf.

Marccato Edicions / MTCD066

Three years since Cat Club's previous record, Rockabillyland (2013), it's a long time... so this brand new "Mundo de locos" is more than welcomed.

Their new record sounds, from the first seconds on, as a Cat Club record is expected to sound. Of course there is some evolution, but their very own way of playing Rockabilly, their very own style, is there. As always, Miguel Ángel Escorcia sings and delivers ace guitar picking, while Archie Boogie with the slapbass and Lucky Martínez with the drums form one of the best Rockabilly rhythm sections we can get to listen to.

As a matter of fact, on that Cat Club Rockabilly style can be included most of the 11 songs in the CD, being the most evident examples "Mundo de locos", "Colgada de ti misma", "Por ti he sufrido" (with Ovidi Tormo from Los Zigarros adding second voice), "Ven mañana" (in which they get the help from the great Carlos Segarra, from Los Rebeldes), "Esto se va a quedar así" (where is Gisela Novais who adds second voice), "El último surf"... Most of them, it's already said.

Two beautiful ballads have been included: "Esclavo de tu amor", of which a good videoclip can be watched on YouTube, and "Suena HTHF", in which they go Country and, at the end, speed it up with a few lines of Johnny Horton's "Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor". Brilliant!

"Amor desordenado" (where they have Ariel Rot playing lead guitar) is the one in which these cats go quite out of the style we associate them with, as it is a kind of Rockabilly meets Latin Rock and Italian music... Difficult to explain but, anyway, they make it sound OK and is another good cut.

Please pay attention to "True Blue". If in the past they have played Rockabilly covers of songs from Los Panchos (as Los Swingers, in pre-Cat Club times), Roberto Carlos, or the song "Granada", now they have done the same with a song from... Madonna! Yes, sir. It's a cover somewhere between Rockabilly and Doo Wop and is a very good one, I have to say. This one is, by the way, the only song sung in English and also the only one not signed by Miguel Ángel Escorcia as composer.

As you have seen above, Cat Club has got the collaboration from several top artists, to which Candy Caramelo has to be added as producer and also playing piano, Hammond, lap-steel or guitar here and there.

To finish, it's not easy to highlight a song above the rest, but if I have to do it I'll choose "Mundo de locos" or "Suena HTHF" (really different one from the other, I know), with "True Blue", "Esclavo de tu amor" and "Ven mañana" close behind.

A very good record, yes indeed. These cats can rock for sure.

Long live Cat Club!

Since the times as Los Swingers (album released in 1993),

their first record as Cat Club (released in 2008)...

til the brand new "Mundo de Locos":

these cat's discography is gaining strength step by step.