Dixie Bop has been around a long time, formed in 1986 by Jesse Rime and Ralph Cornaz. The band hails from Geneva, Switzerland, and they play rockabilly, rock ‘n’ roll and a bit of country and blues. After winning a music contest, they recorded a double-45 (OCRR-45-08/09 PB) and now finally, here’s is their full length debut CD titled « Nourished by R’n’R ». The album was recorded in Geneva and mixed in London by Mick Wigfall. The band mainly tours around Switzerland and France and have double billed with the likes of DJ Fontana, Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins and Bobby Clark (former drummer of Vince Taylor).
When I first looked at the tracklisting of this CD I wasn’t very much impressed. All songs are covers of well known fifties hits. But when I first gave the platter a spin, I was positively surprised. The enthusiasm of the band is catching and it got to me immediatly after hearing the first song, Gene Vincent’s « Right Now ». Raw rocking rockabilly with a bite! The heavy pounding on the tom-tom and Pat’s mean lead guitar make this one of the best Gene Vincent covers I ever heard.
The rocking goes on with Ronnie Self’s « Pretty Bad Blues », with an authentic fifties style distortion on the vocals and Ralph’s greasy thumping on the bass. The sound of a V8 engine thunders through your living room, followed by Curtis Gordon’s « Draggin' », rockabilly all the way! Johnny Otis’ « Willie & The Hand Jive », with it’s stomping rhythm & blues rhythm never sounded this good, and Tommy Sands’ « Worrying Kind » suddenly turned rockabilly too.
A fast rocking version of Charlie Feathers’ « One Hand Loose » is next, followed by Jody Reynolds’ « Endless Sleep » (I heard better versions of this one). Here come the heavy tom-toms again (and maybe a bit too much distortion on the vocals) with Hank Mizell’s « Jungle Rock ». Last but not least is a classic blues breaker, Willie Dixon’s « My Babe ». But listen up guys, keep the platter spinning for a little while longer, because there’s a hidden track following « My Baby », it’s a scorching instrumental cover of « Wipe Out » (not mentioned on the inlay), and it’s a hot one! Only 10 tracks, it doesn’t seem to be enough, I would have enjoyed some more by this band, this gang rocks!
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