Wednesday 28 April 2010

SUE MORENO and JACK RABBIT SLIM - One Track Mind


SUE MORENO and JACK RABBIT SLIM
ONE TRACK MIND
Western Star WSRC037
Track listing: One Track Mind / The Fire Is Burnin' / Too Late / Time is Wastin' / Gone Gone Gone / Don't Hurt Me Baby / Gonna Get Back Home Some How / What About Tomorrow? / Record Hop / Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad / Cinderella Story / Walkin' With Angels / Time is A-Wastin.

This is an inspired pairing from Western Star, with Sue Moreno and Jack Rabbit Slim being a couple of the finest acts on the circuit. I’ve only got one of the Dutch Wanda Jackson’s previous albums but it’s not as good as this. The tracks are mostly originals from either the pen of JRB’s Bob Butfoy or Moreno herself.

The album kicks of with the melodic title track with backing vocals giving a nice rounded sound. This is pretty much the style for the album with JRB replacing their usual sleazeabilly sound for a purer rockin’ sound that suits Moreno clean vocals.

There’s no duffers here, but plenty of highlights. Record Hop is probably the hardest rockin’ track complete with Darren Lince taking two hot solos. The countryish What About Tomorrow? is nice with some lovely guitar and shows Moreno to be in the same class as Marti Brom. The band are superb on the cover of Elvis’ underrated 1962 moody rocker, Gonna Get Back Home Some How. They also cover Tupelo’s other star, Tammy Wynette, with a fine reading of Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad.

There’s two versions of Time is Wastin', one a duet with Butfoy and even better is the first version where she’s double-tracked to duet with herself. The cover of the Everly’s mid 60’s Gone Gone Gone is classy. Also worth mentioning is Butfoy’s Cinderella Story which has a Gene Vincent sound from the drums rolls to the guitar. I think my favourite is Walkin' With Angels which benefits from a great countrified beat and some piano from Holbrook. The introduction of the backing vocals at the end give a it neat rousing gospel finish. Very tasty, as is the singer, and the album.

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