Rock Billy Boogie

by Robert Gordon

Overview

Robert Gordon's first album without Link Wray showed no diminution of his appeal -- indeed, lead guitarist Chris Spedding's somewhat more polished approach to licks first explored 20 some years earlier by Scotty Moore or Cliff Gallup (of Gene Vincent's Blue Caps) come off well in the studio, and fit in with the somewhat more polished sound this album aimed at. The presence of a few slow ballads like "Wheel of Fortune," some with surprisingly restrained string accompaniment, put this on the sophisticated side of rockabilly, which doesn't mean that it's not exciting -- just that, in the musical timewarp of his work, some of Gordon's impulses had advanced to the place that Buddy Holly or Elvis Presley had gotten to around the middle of 1958. Rock Billy Boogie is mostly kicking rock & roll with a killer beat ("Rock Billy Boogie," "Am I Blue") and welcome rescue job on one classic ("Black Slacks"), spiced with a few slowies and one country ballad (Johnny Burnette's "Walk on By" revived), plus one superb original ("I Just Met a Memory"), and there's not a bad song, or even a less-than-first-rate performance anywhere on it. If Elvis Presley had lived long enough to hear this record or discover Robert Gordon, one suspects he'd have loved them both. The One Way reissue on CD offers good sound and reprints the essential credits from the original LP. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	11/22/2024
Label:	7A Records
UPC:	5060209950693

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Robert Gordon   Primary Artist,Vocals
Paul Evans   Vocals (Background),Vocals
Howie Wyeth   Drums,Piano
Scotty Turner   Guitar (Rhythm)
The Three R's   Vocals (Background)
The Bellomo Sisters   Vocals (Background)
Robin Grean   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Terry Vernon   Vocals (Background),Vocals
Marty Nelson   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Chris Spedding   Guitar
Rob Stoner   Bass,Piano

Technical Credits

Jimmy Denton   Composer
Junior Parker   Composer
Harry Akst   Composer
Dave Bartholomew   Composer
George David Weiss   Composer
George Hawkins   Composer
Henry Jerome   Composer
Kendall Hayes   Composer
Conway Twitty   Composer
Richard Gottehrer   Producer
Scotty Turner   Composer
Paul Burlison   Composer
Bill Hayes   Composer
Grant Clarke   Composer
Jack Nance   Composer
Jimmy Wisner   String Arrangements
Fats Domino   Composer
Joe Bennett   Composer
Bennie Benjamin   Composer
Dorsey Burnette   Composer
Jay Johnson   Composer
Johnny Burnette   Composer
Diane Lampert   Composer
Rob Freeman   Engineer
Robert Gordon   Composer