Back In the Day, 2008

Luke McDaniel is Jeff Daniels

Mississippi Honky Tonk Rockabilly Man

(Stomper Time Records)

Mississippi-born Luke cut numerous regionally marketed singles for minor labels like Trumpet and Syd Nathan's King, and appeared on the Louisiana Hayride radio show. Per lore, friends Elvis and Carl then advised him to submit a demo to the Sun label at which they'd found success. 

Songs recorded during Luke's ensuant two sessions for Sam Phillips weren't issued until decades later, when England's Charly made them available to vinyl collectors.

Subsequently, Luke assumed the nom de guerre "Jeff Daniel." Despite that reinvention, singles he cut for Big Howdy failed to sell appreciably. He was undaunted, though and, according to chroniclers, continued recording into the 1970s. They observe that several of Luke's songs were covered by Buddy Holly, George Jones, and Jim Reeves.

Obviously, given their vintage, songs compiled on this Stomper Time retrospective can be located elsewhere. And that is to the good, as the label may no longer be in operation. (It's most recent release was a 2020 Hayden Thompson collection.) Luke McDaniel is Jeff Daniels features songs waxed under each name and may today be located where collectors' discs turn up, including on online auction sites.

Luke was among the South's many singer-songwriters inspired by the iconic Hank Williams. (A Wikipedia entry asserts that he opened for a 1950 New Orleans Hank show.) Numerous of these cuts reflect that. But also evident is the jumped-up approach increasingly found in Hillbilly offerings of the day, one which soon bloomed under Elvis, Scotty, and Bill.

Naturally, the sound is primitive by contemporary measures. His vocals enjoy embellishment by the twang indiginous to his home region. Material is, at turns, tearfully pensive and of rudimentary Hillbilly aspect, and (later) representative of the hot-rodded Rockabilly that inflamed first its birth precinct and, soon after, all of popular culture.

Though he never realized massive sales, Luke did display substantial capacity. His efforts in Rockabilly's formative years are today recognized by afficianados who dig more deeply into the music than the marquee names.

Recommended: "Switch Blade Sam," "Daddy-O-Rock," "Go Ahead Baby," "Huh Babe," "My Baby Don't Rock," "Automobile Song," "Uh-Huh-Huh," "High, High, High," "Go Ahead Baby," "That's What I Tell My Heart," "Let Me Be a Souvenir," "I'm Tired Of These Country Ways," "You're Still On My Mind"

Video: "Switch Blade Sam"

Restraining Order

On Audiotree Live

(Audiotree)

Bar-chord brutality doesn't suit every taste, especially when launched at light-speed. That's as it should be; particularity is a sound indicator of legitimacy. When Hardcore flailings are fired off with this much vehemence, their offensives fortified by dyspeptic snarlings, there can be no disputing their genuineness. Woe be to any unwitting souls trapped in the pit.

Recommended: "Should've Known," "Addicted," "Left Unsaid," "On the Run," "What Will You Do," "Broken Voice Box"

Video: live (41:33)

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Billy Nixon

Late Fees

(Fourth Bridge Records)

It's always heartening when someone with faith in germinal Rock'n'Roll grabs up a guitar and lets fly. On evidence of these foursquare tunes, refreshingly free of extraneous adornments as they are, Chicagoan Billy is exactly that steadfast disciple. He can fire off swinging and tuneful bombardments, deliver plaintive narrations that inspire pause, and all the while heft high the torch first lit by masters.

Recommended: "She Gone," "Brown Liquor Night," "Please Arlene," "Forget Me Not," "Make My Way To Memphis," "Come On Back," "Tears Won't Come," "Search and Destroy"

Video: "She Gone"

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Various Artists

I Wanna Be a Punk'n'Rolla

(Wolverine Records)

Fires rage here. The 35 combos participating render contrastive voicings that include Ramones-sleek projectiles, (slightly) more orthodox formulations, and even banjo-and-accordian-augmented Celtic romps. Shared by those dissimilar vernaculars is a spiritedness that both animates performances and transfixes listeners, none of whom are likely to wander given such judicious variegation. Agitation in any language.

Recommended: "A New Plan" (Psychotic Youth), "She Is Dead" (The Bullocks), "One Day, One Night" (Tiger Rouge), "Ode To Joey" (Mr. Bubble B.), "Gotta Go Out Tonight" (The Cable Bugs), "Fuck the Fiends!!!" (Dead United), "Moonshiners" (The Feelgood McLouds), "Golden Days" (Rather Raccoon), "Suicide Girls" (Johnny Rocket), "Eve Champagne" (Jamie Clarke's Perfect), "Take a Ride" (The Booze Brothers), "Bootleggers" (Bastards On Parade)

Video: "A New Plan" (Psychotic Youth)

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                                                         Sascha Wolf, Wolverine owner

Back In the Day, 1976

Various artists

Live At CBGB's DBL LP

(Atlantic)

This subcultural period document hit shelves in 1976. Also that year, the Ramones issued their maiden wax on Sire.  (Epic had released Bronx metallic proto-Punks the Dictators' debut LP in March of the previous year, which helped trigger the DIY onslaught.) 

The burgeoning New York City Punk uprising featured groups of diverse natures, their sole shared trait being defiant reaction against the tedium of the era's mainstream Rock product. That stylistic dissimilarity distinguishes Live At CBGB's, though with sometimes worthwhile/other instances dismissable result.

In the liner notes, CBGB owner Hilly Kristol claimed "This record album is an anthology of what I believe to be the most exciting 'live performances' captured, from a selection of important bands who have been playing CBGB's in 1975 and 1976." 

His hyperbole is understandable, given that he had a record to sell. But the LP contained no Dead Boys, Blondie, or Richard Hell and the Voidoids -- acts that gained considerable notice and were identified with the momentous scene.  (All would shortly release discs of their own.) Considering the triviality of some bands featured, it appears Kristol had scraped the barrel's bottom.

The major plus is the inclusion of three Tuff Darts mini-classics that portray the band when Robert Gordon was its singer. As the Darts would demonstrate on their 1978 Sire album (recorded after Gordon had begun a successful solo career and Tommy Frenzy had assumed lead vocal duties), it was among the more colorful and proficient of the CBGB class.

Several other Big Apple combos contributed significant entries. Their roles in that storied time merit recognition. Issued in CD format in 2007, Live At CBGB's certainly has recommendable factors, both as a snapshot of that New York epoch and time-capsule preserving important works. But it is hardly free of shortcomings. Know that going in.

Recommended: "All For the Love Of Rock'n'Roll" (Tuff Darts), "I Need a Million" (Laughing Dogs), "Let Me Dream If I Want To" (Mink DeVille), "Head Over Heels" (Tuff Darts), "We Deliver" (The Miamis), "It Feels Alright Tonight" (Laughing Dogs), "Slash" (Tuff Darts)

Video: All tracks

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Pearl Harbour

Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost Too

(Liberation Hall)

Powerhouse vocalist Pearl was ably abetted on this1980 LP (now expanded and soon to be reissued on purple vinyl) by choice notables including Mick Jones. Topper Headon, Wilko Johnson, Gerraint Watkins, and Paul Simenon, whom she would subsequently wed. She abandoned the New Wave with which she'd initially reaped renown and leapt with gusto into Rockabilly ferocity and winsome, hand-holding Girl Group evocations. Vivacious and agile. Pearl and assembled associates were of head-turning caliber. They discharged modern brawn within traditional frames, and with meritorious results. It's baffling that the original wax didn't accrue greater wealth, given its quality and chronological situation. A resurgence of like styles was then gaining traction, led in the U.S. by Robert Gordon, the Rockats, and the Stray Cats. English sideburned upholders included Matchbox, Whirlwind, and numerous others. Liberation Hall is to be commended for reissuing this wrongly neglected work for crisp appreciation.

Recommended: "Alone In the Dark," "Fujiyama Mama," "Everybody's Boring But My Baby," "You're In Trouble Again," "Do Your Homework," "Cowboys & Indians," "Losing To You," "Filipino Baby," "Out With the Girls," "Heaven Is Gonna Be Empty," "Nerves," "Voodoo Voodoo," "I Can't Tell You On the Phone" (demo)

Video: "Cowboys & Indians"

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MVD

Batmobile

Big Bat

(B-Music Records)

Scheduled for February reissue is this 2020 disc. The title's allusion is to the legendary threesome being augmented by the Bosco Horns, a six-piece brass combo. Their inclusion in no way dilutes the reliably stern 'billy, instead lending piquance and at times summoning to mind James Bond soundtrack expansiveness. The planned reissue will appear in two formats: a numbered, red-vinyl one (limited to 300 copies), and a mini-CD Digi-Pak.

Recommended: "Transsylvanian Express," "Man With the Shovel," "Walkaway Baby," "Drums a-Go-Go," "Hammering"

Video: "Transsylvanian Express"

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