JOHNNY BURNETTE - TEAR IT UP

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Disc 1 = SIDE A = 1. Tear It Up   2. Sweet Love On My Mind   SIDE B = 3. Your Baby Blue Eyes   4. Honey Hush   

Disc 2 = SIDE A = 1.Blues Stay Away From Me   2. Lonesome Tears In My Eyes   SIDE B = 3. If You Want It Enough   4. Touch Me

Disc 3 = SIDE A = 1. Warm Love   2. Boppin' Rosalie   SIDE B = 3. Do Baby Do   4. My Honey

Disc 4 = SIDE A = 1. Just Keep On Goin'   2. Mule Boy   SIDE B = 3. Crazy Legs   4. Wampus Cat

Disc 5 = SIDE A = 1. Settin' The Woods On Fire   2. Ballad Of The One-Eyed Jacks   SIDE B = 3. Little Boy Sad   4. Bigger Man

Disc 6 = SIDE A = 1. Me And The Bear   2. Sweet Baby Doll   SIDE B = 3. Sweet Suzie   4. What A Summer Day

Sleazy Records / SR-115

After the two wonderful boxed-sets of Gene Vincent's EPs and the one of Eddie Cochran's, Sleazy Records offers us a new marvelous box-set with 6 EPs, this time compiling, in some way, the work of Johnny Burnette, with and without the Rock'n'Roll Trio.

Regarding its contents, I believe that all songs included are great, so the selection is pretty good, no doubt about that. Among the 24 cuts included we have a little bit of almost everything: some cornerstones in Rockabilly history, such as "Tear It Up"; some Country, like in "Settin' the Woods On Fire"; demos, such as the one of "Just Keep On Goin'" (in which lead guitar is provided by Eddie Cochran himself); and so on. Note that, as you'll see in the track list above, not many of the most well known songs from Johnny Burnette have been included  and I see that as a wise choice.

The team leading this project is the very same than the one in charge of the box-sets dedicated to Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran and, as a matter of fact, the very same compliments I wrote when reviewing those other box-sets can be repeated regarding production (with Guillermo Jiménez in charge), artwork (from Francho Angás) and sleeve notes (written by Francho Angás and Rocío Cañas). Well, about sleeve notes I have to say that everything seems great until you arrive to the last paragraph on the sleeve of disc #5, where it's said that Johnny Burnette died in a car accident in Clear Lake (California) in August 1964... It's just then when your alarm buzzes as the cause of his tragic death was drowning in a boating accident. An obvious mistake but, anyway, I think it has to be considered just an anecdote when appreciating the quality of the whole work.

Brief, a new limited edition "delicatessen" from Sleazy Records and, of course, more than highly recommended, almost a must have.

The box-set contents...

HUELYN DUVALL - HUELYN DUVALL (ep)

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Side A = 1. Got A Little Girl   2. Let's Make A Block

Side B = 1. Without You

CAB / CAB7004

Close to the 60th anniversary of the release of Huelyn Duvall's first recordings, here we have a brand new release from this Texas born Rocker.

It is true that regarding his voice, he isn't in his heyday, as already said back in December 2014, when reviewing his previous EP (released by Sleazy Records)in this very same blog, but he is still rocking and that's the main point. Anyway, for sure the man and his band sound well enough in this CAB release... Because Mr. Duvall is backed by great musicians, as he uses to do, with Carlos A. del Bosque on lead guitar (probably my favourite guitar player in current Rocabilly scene), Manuel "Lee" Villalba on slapbass and "Lucky" Lobillo on drums.

Side A is for "Got A Little Girl" and " "Let's Make A Block", a couple of fine Rockabillies made to dance and with Carlos' guitar shining all along. Both songs, by the way, are penned by Huelyn Duvall himself.

"Without You" is alone on side B, a much calm song reminiscing that blend of Country and Rock'n'Roll that Johnny Cash made famous and, then, with a lot of "boom-chicka-boom" in the rhythm. Good song, for sure.

Superb sleeve design, with portraits drawn by Nano Barbero.

CAB label does not releases many records... but all of them are worth the money and this EP is no exception. You can get this good record right from CAB (info and orders = cab@hotrock.es) or at the finest record stores.

LOS TWANGS - PLAYING FAVS

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Side A = 1. Come On, Come On   2. Beat Girl

Side B = 3. Skinny Minnie   4. Love Made A Fool Of You

Sleazy Records / SR-112

Los Twangs, not happy enough just releasing a single backing Esther (reviewed in this blog in the previous post), also release an EP by themselves.

The clue for what we will find in this EP is right in the title: "Playing Favs". So four covers of songs that are among the favourites of band members. Four covers, yes, but they have done it in the right way, from my point of view, as they play them in their very own style. Well done!

For sure that's the best this band has: their style, their very own way of playing Rock'n'Roll. Ukelele Frank's voice is far of being one of the best in Rock'n'Roll, but it fits nicely in Los Twangs style. A style based in an open-minded vision of Rock'n'Roll and supported above all by two great guitar players such as Ukelele Frank and Sir Xavier White, plus a clear and precise rhythm by the bass of Skinny Jess and the drums of Sam Tejuelas.

Maybe for all that I come to write, my favourite song in this record is the instro "Beat Girl", a cover of the song recorded by John Barry Orchestra. The other 3 cuts, as said before, are pure Los Twangs. I believe that the best example is on side B, with probably the two better known songs of the record in their original versions: "Skinny Minnie" is not a copy of the one released by Bill Haley & His Comets, nor "Love Made A Fool Of You" is a copy of the great song recorded by Buddy Holly.

If you already know Los Twangs from their (very good) previous records and you liked their work, this brand new EP will please you for sure. Pure Los Twangs.

Once again: well done!

ESTHER & LOS TWANGS - BREBAJE DE AMOR / MY PRAYER (single)

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SIDE A = Brebaje de amor   SIDE B = My Prayer

Sleazy Records / SR-111

Take some good Rock'n'Roll musicians such as Los Twangs, add to them a beautiful voice such as that of Esther and make all them record together a couple of songs: you have all the chances to get at the end a very good disc. And that's what we have here in 7" format: a terrific single.

Side A is for "Brebaje de amor", great cover in Spanish of "Love Potion #9", a song that penned by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (perhaps the most famous team of composers in Rhythm'n'Blues and Rock'n'Roll history?) probably we all know in the voices of The Coasters. Let me say that, in this case, I prefer this brand new cover by Esther & Los Twangs to the original one by The Coasters. Yes, I know it may sound kind of crazy, but it's the truth. Why? Well, maybe for the 60's rhythm they give to the song, or for Esther's voice, or for the great job done by the guitars... Or maybe a little bit of all that and something else. A record that should spin in a lot of Rockin' parties.

On the flip side the rhythm is absolutely different as we get a cover, this time sung in English, of the slow "My Prayer" of The Platters fame. It is not easy to do a version of a so famous song, but Esther & Los Twangs have achived it doing their very own version of the song and not just a "copy & paste" of the original. Good voice, firm and steady bass (great) and drums rhythm and the guitars shinning all along the song. It's a very good cover indeed.

Great record and warmly recommended. I hope there will be more records in the near future from Esther & Los Twangs.