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Issue
#83
Feb. '06
Rock-n-Roll is now a
card carrying AARP member. The teenagers who Rocked
around the clock with Bill Haley’s Comets, duck-walked across
stage with Chuck Berry,
shook their hips with Elvis, hit the dance floor to Jerry Lee
“the killer”
Lewis’ 88s, or Raved on with Buddy Holly are now collecting
Social Security checks as
they listen - just as baffled by Rock-n-Roll’s spawn as their
parents were by their
new found musical rebellion – to today’s musical
equivalent.
What happened to the
bastard son of Country, Blues, and Jazz? It begat so
many bastard children of it’s own that it created a whole new
world of music. Chalk
up such diverse genres of today, such as Triple A and Alt. Core, Dark
Wave and Emo, Twee
and Nu Metal, Shoegaze and Screamo, and, dare I say it?....Indie, to
that of who
Rock-n-Roll crawled in bed with throughout the ages. And that, most of
the time, was the
rebellious youth of any particular generation, because restless and
rebellious youth are
never satisfied with the status quo. No, for what else is youth for
than to rebel against
the established culture, no matter what that culture may be, represent,
or stand for? In
fact, even if the current crop of rebellious youth (or any generation
for that matter)
totally agreed with what was the norm, of course it would not
necessarily be the norm
then, would it? Therefore, Rock-n-Roll, music base born of the musical
fusion of Country,
Blues, Jazz, and Electric Guitar, was destined to sire children,
grandchildren, and great
grandchildren (etc) that, while possessing the same bloodline, would
bear little or no
resemblance to their namesake. So what may I ask has become of
Rock-n-Roll in its elder
state? Has it been placed in a home for the aged, to be monitored and
cared for until it
is ultimately declared dead? Even then, who can define what would
constitute its death,
for even as it lies in state there are countless teenage bands and
artists of the present
day calling their bastard genres Rock-n-Roll. Will Rock-n-Roll be
remembered as eternal
only in the archives and annals of history, or will Rock-n-Roll never
die?
Which brings us to Mambo Sons.
While the name may point to a lineage derived from Latin music, Mambo Sons kick out pure unadulterated
Rock-n-Roll. Rebelling to the current watershed of poser genres, Mambo Sons flip the whole scene back on
itself and
burst out with as solid a Rock-n-Roll record as you would ever find in
the 50s and 60s.
They have wrestled a home for it here in the new millennium right out
from under the noses
of all the so-called R-n-R genres of this day and age. To call it a
throwback would be
blind (or should I say deaf) judgment.
Racket
of Three, the CD by Mambo Sons,
states its case with song #1, as Tom Guerra
(guitars, vocals), Scott Lawson
(lead vocals, bass), and Joe Lemieux
(drums, percussion) unleash Play Some Rock &
Roll (She’s Comin’ Over)
with a big sound R-n-R guitar and piano ringing out hooks galore with a
running rhythm
cranking along – Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, Ba,
Bomp… if you can’t
shake your ass to this bass and drum duo then you are not a
Rock-n-Roller – “Hey!, I
said Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!”
While hard
Rockin’ numbers, such as Sidewinder
Walk and Been Out Of Touch, give us a
full helping of
slammin’ guitar chords and dirty blues style vocals with a
smidge of street creed and
back alley leanings of the 60s garage mentality – where Mambo Sons show the heart of the music,
parading
Rock-n-Roll in one of its early outfits/incarnations (screaming guitar
leads intercut with
over the top power chords) – and Hot, Hot, Hot guitar racing
double time through
every swamp blues that roared from out of the bayou and into Nashville
and everywhere else
in-between, it’s the purer balladesque songs that make this
platter one for the ages.
Channeling Buddy
Holly’s “Everyday,” the song Valentine
radiates a music box aura as a clockwork backbeat lends itself to
accessible lyrics and a
rocking piano accentuating the vocals of a man pining for the girl. Of
course, isn’t
that what 90% of Rock-n-Roll is about? – Girls.
That’s what else Mambo Sons
have captured here as well. Listen to Man of Steel,
an Asbury Park
influenced (I can see Southside Johnny covering this song) power
ballad.
With Special Guest, Matt Zeiner, on
the
Hammond B3 organ (as well as piano elsewhere) to bounce feel-good R-n-R
hooks galore, we
can’t help but sing along: “’Cause
no
one else can make me feel / like the way you make me feel / You tell me
to just keep it
real / But I’ll take on the Man of Steel.”
Yeah! What else can you say to
that? “na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na”
is what and that’s what we incant as the song fades and we
stake our claim to the
girl.
Brandy On The Shelf and Safe With Me
offer up two more mid-tempo ballads that have your foot tapping while
you’re
shimmying your date across the dance floor to boppin’
romantic metaphors. The many
lures of Rock-n-Roll are not lost on Mambo
Sons
as they demonstrate through the flat out rockers and beat carrying
ballads each subtle
niche that the art form was not only founded on, but embraced and
enhanced as it grew.
That’s why
songs like Be On Time
(garage psychedelica), You
Broke My
Mind (Rockabilly, Bluegrass), Delta Slide (Delta Blues), and Rummy Hop
(Island rock) work to perfection as each allows not just a glimpse, but
a firm hold and
feel of the subgenres that helped to not only birth Rock-n-Roll, but
were birthed by it as
well.
All that adds up to one
astounding testament to the bloodline that
nurtured in the current state of music affairs, and maybe it is the
classic tale of love
on the rebound that sums it all up. Mr. Rebound is set to an old
time uptempo blues
backbeat with ringing guitar chords offering a bouncing dance floor
swing –
Where’s the upright bass? – Huge open tuned chords
fill the expanse and swell
this number into the personification of Rock-n-Roll. As a homage to the
Mother of all
genres the song gives Rock-n-Roll a human guise, equating the whole
spectrum of youth to
the female who is snuggling up to whoever is handy after being dumped
once again. Because
lets face it, every time a new genre grows old and lets us down,
it’s good old
Rock-n-Roll that is there to comfort us, and even though he knows that
it’s probably
a temporary thing (until the next good-looking/sounding genre comes
along), he can accept
that. Because Rock-n-Roll spawned every one of those suitors and those
that will be coming
along, and when they move on and leave us behind, or self-destruct and
break our hearts,
Mr. Rebound, Rock-n-Roll, will still be there for us.
“Am
I Mr. Rebound /
I know I ain’t no catch /
We like each other /
But we’re not a perfect match /
Not even sure if its something that I lack /
Can’t help but feel one day she’s gonna throw me
back.”
Rock-n-Roll as a throw
back? Never.
And Mambo Sons are making sure that
Rock-n-Roll
won’t be cashing Social Security checks anytime soon.
The CD Racket of Three redefines AARP
as:
All-American
Rockin’
Platter.
Take
that you bastards!
Racket of Three by Mambo Sons
is available now for $9.98 + s/h*
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