Now, hear me out as I tell you that, when the short-lived rockabilly cataclysm blew over the world at the very beginning of the 1980s, I was way too young to get excited about it at all – apart from one particular bunch: THE STRAY CATS. Ever since, the odd offshoots of the rockabilly genre that have made waves in the mainstream have left me largely unimpressed – except for the endeavors in which Brian Setzer has had any part. After disbanding this legendary Long Island rockabilly trio at the peak of its success around the mid-1980s, he embarked on a solo career that has soft-brushed the old rockabilly paradigm with a broader roots-tinted Americana sound. To be honest, I haven’t paid very close attention to his career over the years but every time I inadvertently come across a song imprinted with his golden touch, I find myself doing the inexplicable – shuffling my feet to rockabilly grooves I would never have dreamed of taking a liking to. His endeavors with THE BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA, in particular, have made quite an impression over the years. Thus, the announcement of a new solo album entitled “The Devil Always Collects” – a title that is layered with a good pinch of intrigue – compelled me to prick my ears up. Set for release on September 15th, via Surfdog Records, the album comes jam-packed with eleven tracks that resonate with a high-quality rockabilly rumble similar to the heyday of his breakthrough group some 40 years ago. Well, the dude has not become a Grammy award-winner thrice for nothing.
By default, rockabilly is a genre that draws from our deep longing for the good old days of yore, that peculiar sort of false nostalgia for a time we haven’t necessarily lived ourselves; I mean, you only need to hear the first few bars in the album opener, “Rock Boys Rock,” and you instantly think of the 1950s. Well, for one thing, the guitar tones were top-notch back then – no transistor gimmickry, only that pristine warmth from the analog vacuum tubes. Top that with the organic grooves of rock’n’roll and rhythm & blues and there you have it! The term, “rockabilly,” itself is a portmanteau of “rock’n’roll” and “hillbilly,” with the latter referring to the vernacular term for country music. I guess the chicken-picking flavor comes from there. Yes, this is guitar-driven music, especially, and Setzer sure knows how to command his instrument.
There’s just something irresistible in the boogie-woogie stomp when it’s conveyed by the upright bass and twangy electric guitar. The onomatopoetic foolery of “A Dude’ll Do (What A Dude’ll Do)” (try saying that really fast!) is one of the best boogies in this respect, along with the more upbeat title track. The latter, by the way, even triggers nice flashbacks of MR. BUNGLE‘s eccentric rockabilly mayhem in “None of Them Knew They Were Robots” from their masterpiece 1999 album ”California.” Lyrically, the song could be from the Tom Waits songbook. Yeah, this one goes onto my heavy-rotation playlist and it’s not the only song from this selection that does!
Quite a few songs on the album are markedly uptempo bangers. I’m not complaining, though, since I’m not sure whether I could really handle ballads of the Paul Anka variety – you know, of that “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” type. There is one downtempo-ish song but, as luck would have it, “The Living Dead” resonates more with the somewhat David-Lynchian air of a twangy Halloween theme song rather than the slick balladry of the barber-shop variety. Yes, this song could have easily fitted on the Twin Peaks soundtrack.
Then, one more song definitely needs to be singled out. “Black Leather Jacket” is a catchy uptempo banger with a really nice chord progression. The guitar solo in this song also proves beyond any reasonable doubt that Setzer is quite an ace with the six-stringer. His lyrical melodicism is of top-tier quality. I cannot help thinking that this particular ‘twanger‘ might also be quite a close approximation of what QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE circa 2005 might have sounded like if they’d opted for rockabilly instead of stoner rock.
Since I’m not that well-versed in the works of the original rockabilly gangstas from the 1950s, I cannot really draw parallels from this effort back to them. Maybe that’s why songs such as “She’s Got A Lotta… Soul!” trigger perhaps a tad more unconventional flashbacks for me; for some peculiar reason, this particular song got me thinking about the 1980 John Landis movie classic, The Blues Brothers. There isn’t even that much rockabilly on its soundtrack! If there were, it would have been something like this, I’m dead sure.
I believe psychobilly is a good notch more punk-edged than this type of rockabilly conduct, at least if I judge by the style of THE CRAMPS. However, I think “Psycho Suzie” wouldn’t need that much more of either grit or tempo to cross that line. This song packs a tad more punch than the closer, “One Particular Chick,” so I think it would have done the honors of bringing things to a close on a slightly higher note. The latter is a pretty good banger, nonetheless. All things considered, the selection works rather beautifully as it is.
I’m not sure whether I’m going to embark on a crusade to explore the ancient archives of rockabilly after a good few spins with this monster, because the odd bits and pieces that I’ve exposed my ears to over the years, quite frankly, have not been as impressive as Brian Setzer‘s signature boogies here. Hear me out, though; if this genre has never been your cup of tea particularly, you might surprise yourself with this album here. They say that the Devil’s got all the best tunes and, on this rockabilly endeavor, the Devil sure does collect.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Rock Boys Rock
- The Devil Always Collects
- Girl on the Billboard
- The Living Dead
- What’ll It Be Baby Doll?
- Black Leather Jacket
- She’s Got a Lotta…Soul!
- Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)
- A Dude’ll Do (What a Dude’ll Do)
- Psycho Suzie
- One Particular Chick
Lineup
Brian Setzer – vocals, guitars
(further lineup info has not been disclosed)
Label
Surfdog Records
