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Jimmy Sutton

Moondogs (the)

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Moondogs (the)

Moondogs (the) – Knocked Out Beat

Keiulia Records [1992]
Bottom Of The Glass – Cheatin’ Kind – I’m Dead – Jungle Rock – Lovin’ With The Shades Pulled Down – Black and Blue – Rock Island Line

moondogs

The Moondogs, named after Alan Freed’s nickname, were Steve Szczeblowski (guitar and vocals), Jimmy Sutton (bass and vocals), Perry Lafine (drums) and Joe Brawka (piano and vocals). In 1992 the quartet released Knocked Out Beat, their sole album.
It opens with Bottom Of The glass, a solid rocker in the Blasters tradition.
The next song, Cheatin Kind, begins slowly with You Are My Sunshine, then bursts into a wild piano-led Rock’n’roll in the best Jerry Lee Lewis style. I’m dead is a good rockabilly with a slight Psychobilly edge on which the drums and the double bass blend exceptionally well. Nothing much to say about their cover of Jungle Rock except that it’s good and powerful. Lovin’ With The Shades Pulled Down is a heavy Rockin’ Blues akin to the Paladins. More surprising is Black and Blue. This song is different from the rest. It sounds like a Morrissey tune on a country beat.
Their version of Rock Island Line begins like a menacing blues with a spooky harmonica and then erupts in a jet-propelled Rockabilly.
After the Moondogs, Jimmy Sutton formed the Mighty Blue Kings, then The Four Charms.

Fred “Virgil” Turgis

The Four Charms

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The Four Charms - Triskaidekaphobia
The Four Charms - Triskaidekaphobia
The Four Charms – Triskaidekaphobia

The Four Charms – Triskaidekaphobia!

Hi-Style HSD82696
Don’t Make Me Beg – Triskaidekaphobia – I Gotta Get Another Girl – 6 String Boogie – Lonesome Tears In My Eyes – Up Jumped The Devil – She Likes To Boogie Real Low – Quiet Whiskey – Drops Of Rain -Cubano Jump – Scotchin’ With The Soda – On The Sunny Side Of The Street Thats’ A Plenty


At long last, The Four Charms offer a follow up to their astounding debut album «Flatland Boogie». Ok, I must admit that the first time I saw the name of this album I thought “What’s this?”. Then, I took my dictionary and learned that Triskaidekaphobia means something like the fear of number 13. That’s why if you look at the track listing there’s no track 13, just a soundless blank.

What about the music? This album covers a wider range of style than the the first one. You’ll find here, top notch boogie blues instrumental like «6 string boogie», rockabilly jive (a great cover of Burnette’s Lonesome Tears in my Eyes with sax), “Scotchin’ with the Soda” with a very King Cole Trio/Slim Gaillard feel and “That’s a Plenty” that starts like a real jazz tune and suddenly goes into a Merle Travis style showing the musicianship of Joel Paterson, and as usual the overall influence of Illinois Jacquet, The Treniers and Nat “King” Cole Trio, especially in their cover of “The Sunny Side Of The Street”. I almost forgot to mention the amazing skill of Jimmy Sutton and his slap bass, not only when he plays solo but he’s really the driving force behind this band.

The production and recording works (done at Fort Horton studio) are worth to be mentionned too because it makes that four members combo sound like a ten piece orchestra. Take a cure of Triskaidekaphobia it’s good for your health.
Fred “Virgil” Turgis

four charms