Last year a cat crossed my path dragging a guitar down the street and I pressed him for a song for The Frank Garland Show. Only after the film was in the can did we realise we knew each other twenty years ago, and good times were revisited.
This week, a CD dropped in thru’ the letterbox, featuring the song John Lewis performed for me that day, and it sends me a solid hit of nostalgia. This album reminisces not of 1950’s American Rock’n’Roll directly, but brings back memories of the first time I discovered the old rare gems. For me, these were nights of drinking scotch into the wee hours with my brother, taking turns at slapping 45s and 78s onto a little red dansette or tearing up the dancefloor ’til we’d tore up our shoes.
This album jumps a jukebox of good rockin’ styles, with the Richard Burton of Rock’n’Roll backed by what sounds like the Sun Studios house band raiding Capitol Tower! Storming like Sonny Burgess, then assisted by The Jets in Ricky Nelson ‘Poor Little Fool’ backing vocals, a thundering Frankie Laine western drama, a Hank Williams demo reimagined, a rowdy skittle team hollerin’ thru’ a Dick Dale surf instrumental of a traditional Welsh folk tune!
That ain’t to say this is some random mish-mash firing in all directions – the whole thing storms along quite handsomely, taking you back to when Rock’n’Roll was the soundtrack to your own misspent youth. And if you’re not convinced, stick this in your ears: http://youtu.be/0DLnOyfbikc
www.therealjohnlewis.com