Rockin'

[drakula63]

Having recently moved, I set my hi-fi up the other day and gave it some welly! (Don't worry, the next door neighbours are even noisier than me and are awake all night and asleep all day!) Anyway, having just gotten over a 24 hour headache, I can now say that it sounds great!

As a matter of interest, I played (all on CD); Whitesnake - Good to be Bad (2008). Foo Fighters - Greatest Hits (2009). And a little album called Rockin' With Curly Leads (1973), by a certain band known as The Shadows. Now, here's the amazing, surprising and totally brilliant thing... The house shook just as much to RWCL as it did to either of the others! I hereby confirm that Rockin' With Curly Leads is definitely a heavy rock album and anyone who says otherwise obviously disagrees!

Seriously; it sounded awesome. Almost hard to believe that an album that was recorded almost 40 years ago (count 'em!) could actually sound so fresh and dynamic. The power is there, the drums/bass combination is devastating, as are the liberally distributed power-chords, but there's a finesse there too. A quality to the playing, even when it's distorted and overdriven, that is both raw and refined at the same time. It really is hard to remember when I have enjoyed playing an album, any album, as much. I hope the girls next door enjoyed it as much as I did!



Is this the 1001st topic????!!!!!

[rockinscott]

No 1002!!

I know exactly what you are saying, i love turning the volume up on Johnny Burnette and The Rock n Roll trio's numbers especially those with Grady Martin on.

Scott

[Fenderman]

My upstairs neighbour is the loudest guy alive, he's constantly arguing with his girlfriend or has his mates round, gets drunk and plays Oasis at 2am and keeps me awake. If this goes on i'm going to have to call the police, i get up at 5am (just as he's going to bed!)
Seems like i made a mistake moving.......

[alewis41]

Seriously; it sounded awesome. Almost hard to believe that an album that was recorded almost 40 years ago (count 'em!) could actually sound so fresh and dynamic.

Yes, exactly! They were all at the top of their game and you can hear the energy coming through the sound. Alan Tarney never gets a mention during the tedious arguements about who was the best Shadows bassist, but his work on that album was fantastic. John Farrar told me that recording that album was one of the most enjoyable projects of his career and that's from a guy who has spent a lot of time in the studio! The interplay between him and Hank is very creative, Bruce's rhythm work is amazing and Brian holds everything together. If you compare that album with the ones they were making just a few years earlier you'd never believe that it was the same band.

[drakula63]

Ah, yes... Next door neighbours...

Moving house or flat is always a calculated risk, especially if you cannot afford to go detached. One of my friends was driven out of his house, after several years, by a persistently inconsiderate next door neighbour who, amongst other things, would sing Karaoke through a full-sized PA at 3, 4, 5 in the morning!!! Can you believe that? I daren't tell you about one or two things that I have heard at night from various neighbours - seriously I just don't want to even think about it!

As things stand now, I have two girls next door whom I refer to as The Vampires -- due to the fact that they are awake all night and appear to sleep all day. Fortunately they are OK and I get on with them. Mind you, if I hear Avril Lavigne or Def Leppard again just as I'm trying to go to sleep, things might change!!!! Last night, after I got in at about 7, I gave the new Guns 'n Roses album - Chinese Democracy - a bit of welly. To be honest, it is better than I had expected and much better than it deserved to be! Still, it took about twenty years to finish, so it ought to have been pretty good! I was awoken at 2.30 this morning by a loud shrieking from next door -- so the Vampires got their revenge!!!!

To return to a vaguely Shadows-related topic... I agree about Alan Tarney. I wouldn't try to argue about who was the best, but he is certainly my favourite. He has a great, creamy bass sound, especially on Tasty (Montezuma's Revenge in particular) and I love his slightly anarchic bass playing on, I think, Gutbucket -- dunno why I call it anarchic, just sounds like the right word to me. Probably isn't though. Yes, the Shads got it so 100% right in the early '70s and I just wish that a) there had been more albums like RWCL and b) they had played more of this heavier stuff live. Along with the MWF albums, their 1970s output is amongst the most progressive and satisfying stuff the Shadows ever recorded.

And on that note, I am off out to bask in the blazing hot sun!

See ya...

[Fenderman]

Rockin... is a pretty heavy album (for the Shads). But at the time (1973) prog rock was the main thing so i guess they were trying to keep up with the times. It's unusal to hear a Shad's album with a power chord! (The title track is pretty good).
I noticed that the LP was issued in November 1973 but for some reason didn't chart till April 1974, must have had no publicity at the time.

[drakula63]

Rockin... is a pretty heavy album (for the Shads). But at the time (1973) prog rock was the main thing so i guess they were trying to keep up with the times. It's unusal to hear a Shad's album with a power chord! (The title track is pretty good).
I noticed that the LP was issued in November 1973 but for some reason didn't chart till April 1974, must have had no publicity at the time.

The only possible reason I can come up with for this is that they didn't promote the album upon its release. I think it was March 1974 thank Hank and Bruce appeared on 'Sounds on Sunday' - hosted by John Peel - and spoke about the new album and their career in general. The show also featured about half a dozen or so specially recorded tracks (featuring Hank, Bruce, Brian and John F. with Mo Foster on bass), including 'Jungle Jam' and 'Turn Around And Touch Me' from RWCL. So, on the back of this, I suspect that the album started to sell. Now if only they'd appeared on 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' and played the title track and Jumpin' Jack Input...