However earnest and honest the intent of these revivalists they can only ever sound like copies.
Rockabilly Merry Go-Round
Nosey Joe & The Pool Kings – Tunes from the Bighouse/ Astrolites – Hard Luck/ The Buckshots – 3 Jacks High
‘Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.’ – Karl Marx, ‘The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte’.
The point that Marx makes in the above quote regarding historical facts would seem to hold true for musical movements. It would seem that all musical genres are doomed to repetition, typically with diminishing returns. Here we have three Swedish bands looking to music from last century’s mid-point.
OK, referring to such projects as ‘farce’ is harsh. There are some very enjoyable moments in these records. However it is rare that music that so assiduously apes that which came before can sound much more than parody. However earnest and honest the intent of these revivalists they can only ever sound like copies.
‘Nosey Joe & The Pool Kings’ take their name from a tune originally penned by the Leiber and Stoller and recorded by Bull Moose Jackson telling you much of what you need to know about the musical fare on offer here. Pitched squarely in the retro camp and feeding off late ‘40s/ early ‘50s swing and Rock n’ Roll they can be bracketed in the same category of Brian Setzer (indeed Setzer recorded a version of the song Nosey Joe). Meanwhile ‘Astrolites’ take the approach of telling you exactly what to expect by the putting the legend ‘Hi-speed Rockabilly’ at the top of cover. The rockabilly route is also that taken by ‘The Buckshots’.
Of the three bands, it is the two latter acts whose spiel comes across more successfully. The somewhat harder edge and higher tempo points to them being a more thrilling prospect to see in a live setting. In such company ‘Nosey Joe’ can’t help but feel a little staid. Their musical pallet is a little wider – rooting back a bit further into musical history and throwing elements of late 1940s swing into the mix. They demonstrate a greater musical flair and diversity, but such ability seems unmatched with any knowledge of music that stretches beyond the middle of last century.
Those who know me well may seek to embarrass me by pointing out that one of my favourite albums is An Innocent Man by Billy Joel. That album is an exercise in trying to recreate the music of the ‘50s (and Joel has commented that it’s biggest hit Uptown Girl was a transparent attempt to ape Frankie Valli.) The essential difference is that Joel was re-living his own youth. What is troubling about these type of bands is that they seem content to recreate their parents’ record collections. This is especially the case with ‘Nosey Joe’. The whole point about Rock n’ Roll was that it was a rebellion. To try to recreate it like this is to miss that point. The other point is that Joel recreated that sound over a space of an album. Whilst there is a thrill and urgency to parts of these records, to sustain such nostalgia for a particular episode of musical history over a career as these guys seem intent to do smacks of a lack of imagination and a lack of real creativity.
Why are these Swedes looking back so assiduously? Perhaps the music from a 1950s America where a generation sought to break from the buttoned down strictures of their parents speaks to a society where paternalism stretches to a government monopoly on selling strong alcohol. Music from the birth of teenage rebellion is almost certainly the ideal soundtrack to a night spent necking hembränt, the local variant of moonshine which proliferates despite (or perhaps because) of such government control.
Perhaps this is why the two more rockabilly efforts succeed somewhat more. By channelling a greater range of influences, but remaining so stuck in the past, ‘Nosey Joe’ is like a cocktail made with half-measures. ‘Astrolites’ and ‘The Buckshots’ are more like somewhat industrial home-brew – unsophisticated but effective.
All in all they are (despite my naysaying) enjoyable albums. However if I want a rock n’ roll or rocakabilly record, I will go and listen to the originals, rather than imitations. Oh and for those wondering if the original rock n’ roll can be said to live up to the first half of Marx’s comment, I would argue that the premature death of Buddy Holly, the crass commercialisation and strangulation of the original rebel spirit and the sad, slow decline of Elvis until he ended up a bloated corpse, a corpulent shadow of the youth that once rocked the world certainly counts as tragic.
Words: Rover