THE SHOCKING BLUE
Shocking Blue’s American album is strangely called The Shocking Blue (the band name itself usually doesn’t include “The”, even on the record label for that album), and I simply love it. The first time I played it 25 or more years ago, I actually got up from my chair and restarted the record: I could not believe that the opening track, “Long and Lonesome Road” was that good.
(August 2012)
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I have previously posted the opening track on the Thomas Anderson album Blues for the Flying Dutchman, “Bill Haley in Mexico”, which I just have to hear again (sorry, Phil Gammage!). As almost everyone knows, Bill Haley and His Comets had the first big rock and roll hit with “Rock Around the Clock” (1954, though it did not become a hit until 1955). I am not sure what the chorus is talking about when it goes: “I wanted to know / I wanted to know / What happened to Bill Haley down in Mexico”. But I cannot recall a more insistent chorus with a better instrumental follow-up than this one. I am reminded of the first time that I played the American album by the Dutch band Shocking Blue, The Shocking Blue, which naturally includes their big hit “Venus”. I simply could not believe how good the opening song, “Long and Lonesome Road” was, and I actually got up from my chair and restarted the album.
(Year 10 Review)
