New album: The Satisfactors
Artist: The Satisfactors
Label: Bongo Boy
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Remember the Traveling Wilburys? George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan (all performing under aliases such as “Boo,” “Spike” and “Otis”) got together and rattled off some quick, fun rock songs. If you dug that working model, The Satisfactors should be right up your alley.
The all-star Satisfactors lineup reads like a who’s who of Jersey shore garage rock. Gar Francis (Mark Lindsday, The Doughboys), Kurt Reil (The Grip Weeds), Bruce Ferguson (The Easy Outs) and Kenny Aaronson (Billy Idol, Bob Dylan, Edgar Winter and Brian Setzer) are all well respected artists in their own right, so herding them together into one project is no small feat.
There is no pretense or grand design on the debut Satisfactors album, just raucous, energetic songs about ladies, rock and roll and ladies. Take “I Love Girls” — which lead singer Bruce Ferguson reiterates throughout the song with more than an abundant amount of verve. Add to that Reil’s pummeling attack on the skins and thick slabs of Johnny Thunders guitar from Francis, and Little Steven may break a hip in a sprint to get this song on the radio.
Other standouts include “Johnny Commando,” which is the best Ramones tribute to come down the pike in quite a while, and “Sweet Sunshine” is the kind of song the cast of “That ‘70s Show” might head-bang to in the Vista Cruiser.
With the steel focus of AC/DC, The Satisfactors wisely keep the pedal to the floor for the entire album. Whether you’re planning an evening of revelry or would rather stay home and pretend you went out, “The Satisfactors” is the perfect soundtrack.
Classic album: A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector
Artists: Darlene Love, Various artists
Label: Abkco Records (Originally printed Nov. 27, 2007)
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Before he started popping caps in people, Phil Spector was a genius in the recording studio. In 1963 he released this collection of Christmas songs as performed by the artists whom he was producing at the time.
The songs covered on this album are all standard Christmas fare: “Frosty the Snowman,” “White Christmas,” etc. Some of the artists who perform on the album — The Ronettes, The Crystals, Darlene Love — already had recorded major Spector-produced hits. Love was actually the uncredited lead vocalist on many Spectors hits of the day.
The combination of Spector’s orchestral “Wall of Sound” recording technique, combined with artists with pipes and charms galore, produced probably the greatest recording of secular holiday music ever. Just a few seconds into the first track and you’re transported to a snow covered Manhattan on Dec. 24.
The unquestionable highlight of the album is Love’s recording of “Christmas Baby (Please Come Home).” This song has been covered many times, with the version recorded by U2 being the only one that comes within a mile of matching the power and beauty of the original.
Love performs “Christmas Baby” every year at Christmas on David Letterman’s show (Dec. 19 this year), with musical director Paul Shaffer recreating the mammoth-sized band that was used on the original recording. Do yourself a favor and check out Love’s Letterman appearances from previous years on YouTube.
As far as rock and roll Christmas albums go, this is the very best of them all. It’s guaranteed humbug free.
Jon Dawson’s books available at www.jondwson.com.
Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson@kinston.com.