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Blue lake

Jerry and the Rockets

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Jerry and the Rockets – Takin’ Off!

jerry and the rockets

BLRCD 09 – Blue Lake Records [2006]
She’s Gone – Ballroom Baby – Cadillac Blues – Boogie Woogie Fever – Shadow My Baby – Girl Trouble – I’m On Fire – Ice Water – I Just Wanna Boogie – Four Alarm Boogie – Hot Rod Baby – Strollin’ Throught The Night – Wild Side Of Life – Bad Girl – Twilight

This band offers here a very eclectic album covering a broad musical spectrum that goes from the ’40s to the ’60s. You’ll find rockabilly (She’s Gone), Western Swing (Ballroom Baby), hard electric rockin’ blues (Cadillac Blues), Hillbilly Boogie (Gene O’Quinn’s Boogie Woogie Fever, Four Alarm Boogie), Rock’n’roll (I’m On Fire, Hot Rod Baby – a little bit wasted by the sax) a country ballad ala Jerry Lee Lewis and “twilight” a frantic instrumental to close the set. As you can see, it’s almost one song/one style, and in the end, it works against the band. Though the musicianship is solid and the listening is pleasant, there are maybe too many styles to hear the real personality of the group.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Hot Rhythm and Booze

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Hot Rhythm and Booze – We Gotta Get With It !

Hot rhythm and booze

Blue lake Records BLR-CD 08
She’s A Bad Motorcycle – Thinkin’ Bout You – Suzanne – Phantom Of Bengale – If I Had Me A Woman – Bull Moose – Johnny Be Goode In Hollywood – Ready Steady Go – Sweet Honey – We Got To Go With It – Ready At 8 – Lemon Lime – Fancy Annie – I Hear Thunder – Heartbreak Hotel – Baby Be Good

One night, one of the wildest rock’n’roll party took place in a small flat. The Mad Daddy came and started to play his favorite records. Bottles of booze were brought. Somewhere in a dark corner, near the kitchen, you could see Link Wray showing Chuck Berry guitar chords he didn’t know and both were having more fun they ever had before. It was time to order more bottles. Eddie Cochran came, just before catching a plane that would fly him to England. He loved what he heard, plugged his guitar and, with a little distortion, started to play a wild and frantic instrumental. More bottles were opened and emptied the following minutes. Hey, who’s that knocking? It’s Nat County and Buddy Love (and some booze too). The next instant a mad cover of Elvis’ Heartbreak Hotel was played. Ten more bottles took their journey to the bottle’s heaven. RIP. From the window, you could see a young Lux Interior peeping the party. He probably learned a thing or two that night. John Lee Hooker shouted for more alcohol; Jimmy nLloys gave him one drink, but in exchange asked him how to play that Boom Boom riff. When the dawn came, everyone went back home to cure his hangover. Sadly, it was long after the wild party was over that someone realized no one recorded it (probably too much booze involved.)
But don’t despair! Nearly five decades later, four guys from Paris, France managed to capture the essence of that specific night on a platter that is hotter than lava. And now, you dear reader, for a ridiculous amount of money ( booze not included) you can recreate it over and over again.



Fred “Virgil” Turgis

Kick’em Jenny

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Kick'em Jenny - Untamed

Kick'em Jenny - Untamed
Kick’em Jenny – Untamed

Kick’em Jenny – Untamed

Blue Lake Records BLR-CD 13
Stressed up – Take Me down – Don’t Bug Me Baby – Maybe You don’t care – The Slide – Rockin’ Machine – I’ve Got Love if you want it – There’ll be no teardrops tonight – Untamed – Raw Deal – I’ve done my time – I ain’t gonna be around – I can’t do without you – Pink Elephants
If you ever went to a rockin’ weekender recently, you probably have met a wild blonde girl with a sandpaper voice, a blue guitar on one hand and a glass on the other, playing and singin’ on the car park or jammin’ with a band. You have experienced the phenomenon Kick’em Jenny. Try to figure Wanda Jackson, Paul Fenech, Josie Kreuzer and Wildfire Willie all rolled into one person. Sounds weird, uh? But you’d better listen.
She started to make her name a couple of years ago and her two songs on the comp’ Lake Rattle & Roll caught the attention of every wild rock’n’roll fans (and even conquered those who like softer rockabilly like me). « Stressed Up » proved to be very popular (for good reasons) among DJ’s around the world. Juan from Blue Lake quickly understood he had a one of a kind talent. He held a second session to complete the first one and here’s at last a full album by the volcanic girl.
And as you can imagine the result is a bunch of raw and savage songs (five from Jenny’s pen), some covers and a couple of slower numbers like the haunting “Take Me Down” (imagine a ballad given the Kick’em Jenny treatment with one kind of jungle atmosphere) and on the hillbilly side “I’ve done my time”. The thing is that Jenny has no other equivalent in her female counterparts and more generally on the rockabilly scene.
As usual with Blue Lake, a movie clip is included (you can watch it on your computer) showing the sessions, and proving that Juan deserves his place in heaven for his patience.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis