Lee Rocker
Black Cat Bone
Alligator
visit Lee's website
and on myspace
also available on amazon
This is Lee Rocker’s second disc on Alligator and though it rocks as hard as the first one, there are moments when this disc shows that there is an occasional slower tempoed cut (What I Don’t Know, is a true belly rubber) or two in this rocker known more for his vibrant energy and straight ahead all out punk rockabilly. Don’t think he has forsaken his full speed ahead style but he does that he is just as adept when he does slow it down to a less frenetic pace than his usual. This disc has 10 of the 13 songs penned or co-written by Rocker and the covers are of One More Night by Bob Dylan, quite a nice cover, Crazy When She Drinks, by one of his guitarists, Buzz Campbell, and Leon Payne’s, Lost Highway. The songs are all done with just he and his road band which has been together for awhile and is road test and as tight as he could want, it is made up of; Buzz Campbell, guitar, Brophy Dale, slide guitar and vocals, Jimmy Sage on drums and of course Rocker, playing his upright bass, vocals and acoustic guitar.
This disc is an extension of the work he was doing with the Stray Cats a Rockabilly band he formed with High School friends Brian Setzer, and Slim Jim Phantom in the early 80s on Long Island, NY, that eventually had to go to England to get a break. The band split up a few years later and they each went their own way, Rocker continuing to explore the Rockabilly field and doing a good job of expanding its parameters. This is an excellent disc by this extremely talented bassist (if you want to hear some excellent upright bass playing there are few better to learn from) and Alligator Records has done a good job getting his music out there for the public.