Graham Reid | | <1 min read
Gene Maltais and the Gibson String Band: The Raging Sea
After the previous, somewhat unhinged collection of late Fifties/early Sixties garage rockabilly and surf rock this one counts as something of a disappointment.
Across 20 songs -- compiled by UK DJs Keb DeBarge and Little Edith -- there are of course a few standouts (the B-grade horror of I'm The Wolf Man by Round Robin, the weird cat screech on Geraldine by Ole Miss Down Beats, the downbeat Hang Out by Joe Lee and Orchestra) but the returns are signficantly fewer.
While these are doubtless rare that doesn't necessarily make them great.
These genres have a few distinctive idiosyncacies so as long you nail down a twang, chunky beat and wire-thin guitar riff or a woozy sax part then you were in the zone.
It's what you do after that which counts, and most of the singers here (notably Madman Mitchell, Johnny Powers) are in the thrall of young Elvis and a few writers in the shadow of Carl Perkins (Connie Lou by Ray Taylor and Alabama Pals doesn't fall too far from Matchbox).
Too patchy to be of real interest to anyone other than collectors or completists.
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