Rockabilly, man. Where might a fella go for to find any nowadays? For sure, Morrissey dabbled in it a while back, around the time of Your Arsenal, but he pretty much forgot all about it soon after. In fact, other than the odd album track here and there, the only place a man might encounter some of the rolling bass-lines and chopping chords would be in the "Classics" section of the CD emporium, or, more likely, in the 5 CD's For Sixpence corner.
Turns out, though, that a buncha madmen by the name of Billy Bacon And The Forbidden Pigs have spent much of the past two decades indulging in just this sorta tomfoolery. Not only this, but in the course of the 21 tracks contained in Still Smokin' After 20 Years, The Duke was treated to some brilliant barroom boogie, some old-school country, a lashing of Latin jive and an embarrassment of sublime pop melodies, alongside all the teddy-boy malarkey.
What it amounts to is just-over-an-hour's-worth of giddily infectious "Tex-Mex Bluesabilly", a collection of the band's finest three-minute slabs of Americana. The unswerving quality of the material, however, makes it all the more worrying when one considers that The Forbidden Pigs would need every music rag on the motherfucking globe to give them front-page coverage before they can even consider ascending to the "underrated" category.
For sure, folks like Mojo Nixon and Jimmy Page have swung accolades in their direction, but the chances of seeing The Forbidden Pigs on the cover of Rolling Stone are about as likely as waking up one morning to find that your head has been replaced by some ravioli.
This right here constitutes a "Damn shame, is what".
If you didn't know better, you'd assume this to be a collection of cover versions of long-lost masterpieces. The Red Dress is pure Chuck Berry, You Don't Know is a beautiful sun-kissed alt. country ballad, Love Is Dead marries blues harp and sliding guitar to a stunning Gram Parsons-esque melody, Little Town Fool would have sat snugly amidst Johnny Cash's setlist for Folsom Prison, and all are delivered with Bacon's honey-sweet vocals and tight-as-a-vicars-arse musical accompaniment.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
beauty Duke! I thought old Carl might pop something if we didn't get Dukian wisdom on the Porker soon. Thanks
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
thanks eric! I was worried about how to approach it. hope i did it justice.
3 - Eric Olsen
super job, and the world needs not one more fucking Queen collection unless it involves the German import named Elizabeth, and she doesn't sing
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
just got an email from Carl. He seems pleased. All's well and so on.
5 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
time check
6 - Antfreeze
Another great review. If this site keeps getting better I'm gonna get fired. This sounds like a Christmas present. My bro played me another "under the radar" rockabilly band the other day that blew my socks off. Ronnie Dawson, the Blonde Bomber, been around since Elvis. So tight they're slap-happy is what.
7 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
aw, thanks ant. thant.
Sorry, thats one of my favourite lines from Look Around You. never EVER thought i'd be able to use it in, y'know, "real life"
Glad you liked the review!
8 - Temple Stark
We/I got one of your review up (this one) at Advance.net. Had trouble with "tight as a vicar's arse - and no it's not a long story. Just changed it for :::
I put this one up on Advance.net.
One link to where the review also now sits is this one you'll have to scroll down some, but it's there.
You might already, but go ahead and e-mail the band / PR the link here.
- thanks. Temple