Virgil

Lucky Marcell & The Ramblin’ Three – Speed King

luckymarcellEl Toro Records ETCD 2039
Please Stop Cryin / Three Or Four Nights / How About Me, Pretty Baby / Too Much / Crazy Little Mama / Rock And Roll Rhythm / My Love Is Not For You / Pink Cadillac / Doctor For Honky Tonk Gals / Mister Moon / Burnin’ / Speed King / Slow Down Brother

Have you ever played the « what if… » game ? It’s quite simple. You take a situation and you imagine what would have happened if… I’ve got a good example for you « What if Johnny Burnette Rock’n’roll Trio had recorded one album at Meteor records ? ». You wonder why I ask this question ? Well maybe because the result would have sounded like Lucky Marcell excellent debut album.
This amazing quartet comes from Serbia and have released with Speed King one of the best 50’s sounding rockabilly album I’ve heard in years. Straight, pure and raw rockabilly from start to finish with just two detours : one for an excellent country ballad (Mister Moon) and another for a hillbilly boogie number with steel guitar (Slow Down Brother).
They’ve got everything, yes sir the whole package: solid originals, good choice of covers (Jimmy Johnson’s How About Me Pretty Baby, Sammy Master’s Pink Cadillac, Johnny Bond’s Three or Four Nights), superb musicianship, a natural sense for rockabilly (it never sounds like they’ve learnt it, you see what I mean, it comes naturally) and icing on the cake a great sound. If it wasn’t on El Toro I could have swear it came from Wild Hare Records or Willie Lewis’ Rock-A-Billy Records.
I could sing their praise all day long, suffice to say that if you dig real rockabilly played at the right tempo (who said that rockabilly had to be super fast?) Lucky Marcell and the Ramblin’ Three are the band for you.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Rantanplan

Rantanplan - Two Worlds At Once

rantanplan_two_worlds_at_once_cdRantanplan – Two Worlds At Once

Link Records / Anagram  [1990]
Rantanplan ~ Watch Me Goin’ Off ~ Unknown Girl ~ Go Out Cherie ~ Bad Games ~ Container Love ~ Chinese Boy ~ Liberty Baby ~ Riding To Nowhere ~ My Bed Is Too Small ~ Inspite Of No Feet ~ Bikini Girls With Machine Guns.
Rantanplan, whose name comes from a famous French comic strip character,  never claimed to have big ambitions and played mostly for fun (and I suspect for free booze too). However they managed to have one album out on Link in the Chuck Flintstone serie which is reissued now on Anagram/Cherry Red.
This album is very representative of the psychobilly sound one could hear in the second half of the 80’s with a light sound (here, very light due to the thin production) and the slap bass to the fore. The result is neither good nor bad, it’s just average. It’s mainly due to the production, the lack of a good guitar player able to play solos and original numbers that are not very… originals. The booklet contains detailed liner notes with a history of the band. .

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Tranquillizers (neo-rockabilly)

tranquillizers-paranoia
Tranquillizers – Paranoia

Tranquillizers – Paranoia

Cat-Machine records  [1985]
Destroyed Illusions – Born to Love One Woman – Long Blonde Hair – Paranoia

Tranquillizers’ Paranoia is another one of this sharp and tight ep with super fast slap bass at the junction between neo-rockabilly and psychobilly and probably one of the very first of that genre in Netherland. Two originals and two covers (Don Johnston’s Born To Love One Woman and Johnny Powers’ Long Blonde Hair.)

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

X-Invaders

x-invaders
x-invaders – Storm boys

X-Invaders – Storm Boys

Pinner Records 201
Storm Boys – Lover Boys

Shrillish guitar, sparse drums, fast slap bass and high pitch vocals: every ingredient for a 80’s neo-rockabilly/early psychobilly single are here. Storm Boys is more interesting and original than the b-side which is just “another” fast tune.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

X-invaders

Quiff Cuts

Quiff Cuts - Cruisin'
Quiff Cuts – Cruisin’

Quiff Cuts – Cruisin’

Korea ‎– KOREA 05 [1987]
Cruisin – Jitterbop Baby – Moonlight Rock – Mystery Train

Too many neo-rockabilly albums don’t hold the long distance and end up being a bit repetitive and monotonous. Quiff Cuts avoided this trap and released a four-song ep. The sound is particularly good and very clean, the arrangements are tight and  their singer is actually good and you don’t have the feeling to hear for the umpteenth time the same guitar solo. One could be afraid to see three well known covers but they play them with enough personality to make them sound, if not originals, very good. The fourth song “Moonlight Rock”  is a self penned number that shows some psychobilly influences. Recommended.

V/A – Listen to the Ape Call

Listen to the Ape Call (1988)
Listen to the Ape Call (1988)

Jungle Noise [1989]
1. Catfish Trio  – Chasin’ A Dog  – 2. Little Green Men – Please Don’t Leave Me – 3. Cruisin’ – Burnin’ Love   – 4. Pilgrim Breads – Runic Ryhme – 5. Rockabilly Mafia – I Don’t Want To Be A Tennis Playing Shitface – 6. Clear Rats – Night Train To London  – 7. Rockabilly Mafia – Is This Wrong, Baby?  – 8. Swamp Dogs – Ardath Bey – 9. Cruisin’ – Where Have You Been?  – 10. Clear Rats – Rockin’ Time – 11. Little Green Men – The Little Green Men – 12. Pilgrim Breads – Humdrum And Humbug

Listen to the Ape Call is an excellent compilation of neo-rockabilly with plenty of slap bass and light guitar like they used to play in the 80’s.
On the more traditional side stand the Little Green Men (ex Swamp Dogs) who add a touch of jazz and blues to their rockabilly. At the other end of the “billy” spectrum, you’ll find the psychobilly sound of the Pilgrim Breads or the Swamp Dogs (again!) that remains one of the most original band to emerge in that period. In between the Catfish trio, Clear Rats and Cruisin are pure neo-rockabilly the latter being the less convincing of the three, playing a weak cover of Elvis’ Burnin Love. Rockabilly Mafia, whose style is already in place, completes the set with two songs.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

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