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| Brian Setzer Rockabilly Riot Vol. I: A Tribute To Sun Records Surfdog The '50s sucked, so when Brian Setzer comes up with a tribute to one of the few good parts of the decade, grab it. Apart from a couple of notable efforts in the arts, the '50s were so oppressive that the only way to recover was to blow the lid off. That happened, as we all know, in the decade that followed. Setzer's first band, the Stray Cats, played rockabilly that was updated slightly from the '50s sound. The best songs were newly written, but the look and feel was very similar. There was the spunky Gretsch, the standup bass, and the minimalist drum kit. Setzer followed that act by proving, with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, that rockabilly went well with big-band arrangements. Now he's gone all the way back to the '50s for this amazing tribute to Sun Records, the legendary Memphis label that nurtured Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, and others less well known. Pay attention now. The early reviews of "Rockabilly Riot Vol. I: A Tribute to Sun Records" give the impression that this is a 2005 interpretation of classic rock. That's wrong. This is not roots rock by the White Stripes. This is not blues by way of Stevie Ray Vaughn. It's not even blues per Eric Clapton doing Robert Johnson. What's Setzer has given us is archaeology by Gretsch. This is a reproduction of Sun Records rockabilly, at least to the extent that it's possible. He's used the original instrumentation—A Gretsch Duo-Jet played through a tiny Supro amp using original licks that Setzer changed only a little; a standup bass; a drum kit with only one cymbal; and echo comes not from an electronic this-or-that, but by doing the vocals in an old water cistern out back of the Nashville studio (Elvis, famously, used a Memphis stairwell). The Jordanaires, Presley's backup singers, make an appearance. At times, Setzer mimics Presley's vocal mannerisms. And the arrangements are pretty much the same. The songs are mostly lesser-known ones, so I won't bother naming them. The few familiar tunes include "Blue Suede Shoes," "Red Hot," and "Boppin' the Blues." Consider the latter. The Carl Perkins classic consists entirely of a driving beat added to a standard-issue 12-bar blues. You really don't get any closer to the origin of rock and roll than that. Listen to this CD and you will hear something distant but alive, with guitar parts that sound like they were came from a $50 amp on the other side of the room. You'll have that "wow" feeling I got when I bought my Sun records way back when. Anyone who tells you that Setzer has served up a modern interpretation of Sun Records classics doesn't know what he or she is talking about. The only thing that's missing is the 45-rpm disc. And for anyone who doesn't know what that is, think of a pumpernickel bagel that someone has stomped flat.
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—Mike Jahn August 2005 |
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