Flea Bops

Get In, Sit Down, Shut Up, Hold On

(Vinylux)

In the 1980s, I interviewed Paul Burlison for a Goldmine article. He termed Rockabilly "good-time music," a warmhearted denotation that also applies here. 

The contributive hillbilly component that lends Rockabilly its bounce is dominant. Most songs spring down bucolic dirt roads with friendliness. Prevalent is easeful atmosphere, a 'just folks' cameraderie whose reassuring sentiment surely hung in the air at old-days barn dances.

This disc was recorded prior to the sad 2022 passing of Flea Bops singer Ronnie Joyner. Remaining members include drummer Lance Lebeau (formerly of legends Go Cat Go), his wife, Wendy Lebeau, who sings and slaps doghouse, and guitarist Preston Lebeau. The three have pledged to continue.

Recommended: "Get In, Sit Down, Shut Up, Hold On," "Please Don't Go," "Driver Seat," "Sinner Not a Saint," "Patti Waggin," "Saved," "Mighty Hot In San Antoine," "Rock You In the Arms Of Jesus"

Video: "Driver Seat"

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Rockin' Aldo

Baby Bomb!!!

(Rebel Music Records)

Any musician can replicate trademark Rockabilly traits. But lacking essential conviction, such efforts would sputter as artificial. Aldo has what those pretenders don't: heartfelt authenticity that imbues these romps with spiritedness and a love of the wildcat sound identical to that which spurred originators. Indicative of his canon-faithfulness is the good-time Country flair that lends affability to rollicking music that would be comfortable in any Ike-era jukebox.

Recommended: "Everybody's Rockin'," "Rock'n'Roll On a Saturday Night," "Get Yourself a Band," "Ooby Dooby," "Boogie Woogie Country Girl," "Jack Daniel's, Booze & Rock'n'Roll," "Little Rock," "Teddycats Rock'n'Roll," "Teenage Boogie," "Baby Bomb," "Real Cool Rocker," "Twenty Fight Rock"

Video: "Everybody's Rockin'"

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Back In the Day, 1976

Flying Saucers

Planet of the Drapes

(Nevis)

As a mid-1970s Southend-On-Sea Essex teenager too young for club admittance, future Rockats bassist Smutty Smiff was so enthralled by the Teddy Boy thrashings that emanated from nightspots that he slouched in outer shadows and dug the big beat. The Flying Saucers, fronted by singer Sandy Ford, bopped among the rebellious subgenre's topmost representatives and surely echoed in young Smutty's world. The pomped and sideburned combo's spirited preservation of cult-cherished fashions won a loyal international fanbase. Honking saxophone and 88s-run-loose augmented a line-up that paid febrile homage to vintage stylings - not in fond reminiscence, but as stalwart knights asserting Rockabilly's strapping relevance in days when Punk loomed.

In 1990, Netherlands label Rockhouse reissued Planet Of the Drapes in CD format. Nevis did likewise in 2003. And today, Sandy Ford leads an altered Flying Saucers configuration.

Recommended: "The Ballad of Johnny Reb," "Cat Talkin'," "Let's Rock the Town," "Grandpaw's a Crazy Cat For Sure," "My Babe," "Be Bop Boogie Girl," "Diggin' the Boogie," "Sugaree," "Oakie Boogie," "Rock With Me Sugar," "Wildcat," "Rocky Road Blues," "Adam and Eve," "Alabama Shake"

Video: "Grandpaw's a Crazy Cat For Sure"

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King Drapes

Hot Rock Teds

(Rebel Music Records)

Rock'n'Roll that revels outside benign parameters contains an element of menace. That truism is particularly valid in Rockabilly's case. These flick-knife wolves generously accent their lean, turbulent rocking with swagger alien to favored pop. Boldly trumpeted and limber-limbed bop exercises are occasionally offset by more relaxed, tuneful airs. But such serenity inevitably surrenders spotlight when swinging vigor returns to reclaim authority. 

Recommended: "Teds Here We Come," "I Will Stay," "Bad Rockabilly Suicide Girl," "Five Hundred Miles," "Half a Rocker Half a Ted," "Back On the Road," "Rockabilly Tattoo," "We Got a Date," "Can't Help Fallin' In Love," "Love Another"

Video: "Teds Here We Come"

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Otoboke Beaver

Super Champon   Colored vinyl, digital, and CD versions available

(Damnably)

Attraction is immediate. But what may initially seem helter-skelter -- songs jet past at impossible velocity, with frenetic stop/go punctuation a frequent feature  --is actually meticulously choreographed. Arrangements tend toward the elaborate, summonng to mind the un-Punk recollection of early Mothers Of Invention. Multifacetedness is all the more noteworthy given songs' strict brevity. 

Recommended: "I Am Not Maternal," "Yakitori," "I Won't Dish Out Salads," "Nabe Party With Pocket Brothers," "Leave Me Alone! No, Stay With Me!," "I Put My Love To You In a Song," "Don't Call Me Mojo," ''First-Class Side-Guy," "I Don't Want To Die Alone"

Video: "First-Class Side-Guy"

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Summertime

No Me Dejes Sin Rock

(Alo Music Ar)

Much locomotive dash will be savored by those adding this to collections. The Blasters salute indicates band disposition: forward-surging coursers in which vintage bents throw sparks. But herein also breathes gentler folk inclinations and fetching tunefulness that convey depth beyond solitary focus. When a combo equally capable of rumbling and crooning appears, attention is merited.

Recommended: "Marie Marie," "Rockabilly en 78 RPM," "Escapndo De Tu Amor," "Arreglando El Mundo Una Noche," "Quiero Un Camión"

Video: "Arreglanddo El Mundo Una Noche"

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Duane Eddy

The Biggest Twang of Them All   vinyl LP

(Sundazed)

By the time of this LP's 1966 Reprise Records issuance, Duane already had numerous, raunchy instrumental hits to his credit (including "Rebel Rouser" and "Peter Gunn"), and was rightly lauded as a stringed-orator of estimable capacity. A twanging, reverbating presence was his recognizable imprint. He was complemented on these voiceless reinventions of topical chart worthies by a multitude of adroit colleagues. (Per Sundazed, their number included two drummers, four additional guitarists, plus various bass and sax players.) 

In other circumstances, the star's shine might have been obscured by so many accompanists. But Duane was too commanding a figure, and his Gretsch too formidable in tone and dispatch, for such fate to transpire. Besides, judicious producer Lee Hazlewood was wiser than to allow it. 

The musicians had gathered, not to overshadow Duane, but to augment and advance his visions. And that, they did - in melliflous fashion. 

With deceptive ease, he interpreted popular material as only a master guitarist might. His articulations were alternately introspective, striding, and playful, but always engaging.

Sundazed has announced May 17th as its re-release date for this LP, but pre-ordering is presently available. It can be selected in either black or "Coke clear" vinyl.

Recommended: "This Guitar Was Made For Twangin'," "Batman," "Strangers In the Night," "Night Train,"  "The Ballad Of the Green Berets," "Daydream," "What Now My Love," "Younger Girl," "Where Were You When I Needed You," "A Grooy Kind Of Love," "Mame"

Video: "This Guitar Was Made For Twangin'"

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