Slim Jim Phantom – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Stray Cats – Rock This Town

I can’t tell you how much I liked this band when it was released. Such a fun and great sound. A throwback to the 50s was not what I was expecting…I can’t believe it got so popular at the time because it was so out of left field with mainstream at the time.

In the eighties, this was a fresh approach. A fifties-sounding band that featured guitar (Brian Setzer), double bass (Lee Rocker), and a snare drum (Slim Jim Phantom). No electronic drum in sight. This track is exciting because of the clear sharp guitar that sliced through. At the time, synthesizers reigned in popular music. The song peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100, #6 in Canada, #18 in New Zealand, and #9 in the UK in 1982.

The band broke up in 1984 while they were still successful. Since then the Stray Cats have reunited a few times and toured. Brian Setzer has been known since the breakup and the other members have remained busy as well. The bass player Lee Rocker has worked with worked with a variety of artists, including Carl Perkins, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

Slim Jim Phantom has played with many rockabilly bands including The Head Cat with Lemmy and Danny B. Harvey. He and Earl Slick from David Bowie’s band have made music as well. Setzer has formed the Brian Setzer Orchestra as a swing revival band that has become well-known.

Around 1984 they broke up because Setzer wasn’t feeling it anymore and the band had internal conflicts. He later regretted by saying “It was silly to break up the Stray Cats at the peak of our success.”

Rock This Town

Well, my baby and me went out late Saturday night
I had my hair piled high and my baby just looked so right
Well-ell, pick you up at ten, gotta have you home at two
Mama don’t know what I got in store for you
But that’s all right, ’cause we’re looking as cool as can be

Well, we found a little place that really didn’t look half bad
I had a whiskey on the rocks, and changed half a dollar for the jukebox
Well-ell, I put a quarter right into that can, but all they played was disco, man
Come on, baby, baby, let’s get out of here right away

We’re gonna rock this town
Rock it inside out
We’re gonna rock this town
Make ’em scream and shout
Let’s rock, rock, rock, man, rock
We’re gonna rock till we pop
We’re gonna rock till we drop
We’re gonna rock this town
Rock it inside out
(Rock it, rock right in!)

(Whoa!)
(Whoo!)
(Oh my god)
Whoo!

Well, we’re having a ball just a-bopping on the big dance floor
Well, there’s a real square cat, he looks a 1974
Well-ell, he looked at me once, he looked at me twice
Look at me again and there’s a-gonna be fight
We’re gonna rock this town
We’re gonna rip this place apart

We’re gonna rock this town
Rock it inside out
We’re gonna rock this town
Rock it inside out
Whoo!

Head Cat – Fool’s Paradise… album review

I don’t do many album reviews, but this one, I had to write something. I spent this weekend totally locked in on this 2006 album, having it on my computer and phone. It’s a fun rockabilly album well done, and the song selection is terrific. I was going to review another artist, but I got stuck on this one, so I’ll post him next weekend. After the Motörhead post on Friday, CB brought up a rockabilly band that Lemmy was in. I was surprised, to say the least, because I didn’t remember this from the documentary but it’s been a while. I love what I heard.

I don’t skip tracks because one is as good as the other. There is a bounciness to this album…if that is a word. I could have written a one-word review… FUN.

Let’s get with the members of this band. On drums, you have Slim Jim Phantom from the Stray Cats. This man pops up everywhere by the way. On Guitar and piano, you have a rockabilly guitarist named Danny B. Harvey. On bass you have Lemmy Kilmister taking a break from Motörhead to play some rockabilly. His voice fits this music well.

The origins of The Head Cat trace back to a casual collaboration. Lemmy Kilmister, Slim Jim Phantom, and Danny B. Harvey teamed up in 1999 to record a tribute album to Elvis Presley, titled Swing Cats: A Special Tribute to Elvis. The band’s name? Can you guess? Combining Motörhead and The Stray Cats. They released 6 studio and live albums combined.

They didn’t always pick the most popular rockabilly songs which I love. You have Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Jimmy Reed, and The Crickets songs on this album. Rather than covering Peggy Sue, they cover Peggy Sue Got Married instead which personally I like more. You have a Buddy Holly title cut Fool’s Paradise. You also have Crying, Waiting, Hoping, Not Fade Away, and one of my favorite Holly songs in Well…All Right.

The reason this and other similar rockabilly albums work is because 1: The musicians love this type of music and…that damn word again…FUN. 2: The songs are simple and that is not a put-down but they don’t have 12 chords and studio tricks. The songs sound good on backyard porches and would sound great in the Royal Albert Hall or Ryman Auditorium. I think music has moved too far away from this style. 3: When I said these songs were simple I was NOT implying they are easy to play right…on the contrary because you have no distortion box or tricks to hide behind. It takes pure musicians and a love for this music to play it right. These guys grew up with this music so they pour their heart into it.

I’ll get off my soapbox now but how I wish I would have had this music growing up. I didn’t grow up in this era when the songs were real time but I see why all of the great artists I like… cling to this music. Everyone from The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Stones, Springsteen, Dylan, and The Kinks spent their career trying to recapture the spirit in these wonderful songs. The Head Cat did a great job!

Here is the tracklist:

1 Fool’s Paradise
2 Tell Me How
3 You Got Me Dizzy
4 Not Fade Away
5 Cut Across Shorty
6 Lawdy Miss Clawdy
7 Take Your Time
8 Well…All Right
9 Trying To Get To You
10 Learning The Game
11 Peggy Sue Got Married
12 Crying, Waiting, Hoping
13 Love’s Made A Fool To You
14 Big River
15 Matchbox

If you want the complete album on YouTube…here is the link

Well…All Right

Well, alright, so I’m being foolish
Well, alright, let people know
About the dreams I know that you wish
In the night when lights are low

Well, alright, well, alright
We’ll live and love with all our might
Well, alright, well, alright
Our lifetime love will be alright

Well, alright, so I’m going steady
It’s alright, let people say
That those foolish kids can’t be ready
For the love that comes their way

Well, alright, well, alright
We’ll live and love with all our might
Well, alright, well, alright
Our lifetime love will be alright

Well, alright, well, alright
You know we’ll live and love with all our might
Well, alright, well, alright
You know our lifetime love will be alright

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Katmen – When The Drinks Dried Up

The band’s name is either Kat Men or Katmen. I’ve seen it listed both ways.

CB mentioned this band in an email and I had to check it out. Pure rockabilly heaven for me. I’ve also checked out Darrel Higham’s guitar playing…he is excellent. He worked with and married Imelda May… his sound can be heard in much of her music.

The band was formed when Slim Jim Phantom and Darrel Higham decided to join forces, they were inspired by a shared love of classic rockabilly music. Phantom’s drumming style is well known for his stint in The Stray Cats, while Higham contributed his incredible guitar skills and an appreciation for rockabilly. Their music has vintage rockabilly vibes with a modern sound.

They formed in 2006 when former Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom and Imelda May guitarist Darrel Higham met during a jam session at the Oneida Casino, in Wisconsin. In 2012 they hired bassist Al Gare. This guy plays a mean standup bass like no one else I’ve seen.

Higham developed an early interest in rockabilly and 1950s rock ‘n’ roll, his influences were artists like Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, and guitarist Cliff Gallup. Higham started his professional music career in the late 1980s, performing with various rockabilly and roots bands in the UK.

This song is on their 2013 album The Katmen Cometh. Another song on that album is “We Need Elvis Back.” I HAD to include that song as well in this! Both songs are credited to the band.

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Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session

You don’t get more rockabilly than Carl Perkins. This concert was a show built around the man. The guests that showed their support were Dave Edmunds, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, and Roassane Cash. Plus you had Stray Cats Slim Jim Phantom on drums and Lee Rocker on bass.

It’s pretty cool to see these other legends openly admiring Carl Perkins. Most grew up with his songs and they show their appreciation.

Dave from A Sound Day featured the Roy Orbison concert in the eighties which was a little later on than this one. I remember both of them and this one I watched at a friend’s house at the time on VHS.

Everyone takes a turn singing Carl Perkin’s classic songs in this one. It was filmed at London’s Limehouse Studios in front of a live audience on October 21, 1985. It’s a great show and Carl Perkins hadn’t lost a thing on guitar. Perkins was around 53 at the time.

They had Johnny Cash, Rob Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis do a quick intro for Perkins at the beginning. It’s the bottom video on this post. They also played at The Capitol Theater in New Jersey on September 9, 1985. You can find that one on YouTube also.

Carl Perkins: “Nothing in the music business has even come close to this for me. At times I felt I was going to break down crying.”

Here are the guest Musicians:

Carl Perkins (guitar, vocals)
George Harrison (guitar, vocals)
Ringo Starr (drums, tambourine, vocals)
Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals)
Dave Edmunds (guitar, vocals, musical director)
Rosanne Cash (vocals, maracas)
Phantom, Rocker & Slick {Slim Jim Phantom (drums), Lee Rocker (double bass), Earl Slick (guitar)}

Backing Musicians

Mickey Gee (guitar)
Geraint Watkins (piano)
John David (bass guitar)
Dave Charles (drums)
Greg Perkins (bass guitar)

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