Lee Rocker

Racin' the Devil
Alligator Records

Written by Dr. Blues. Check out www.liblues.org.

The bottom feline from the legendary Stray Cats opens his latest solo creation with spread claws. "The Girl From Hell" blends ZZ Top boogie with AC/DC insouciance, resulting in a cranker fully capable of Racin' The Devil. Doing a fine rumble on "Rock This Town," the pompadour is sweaty and the red edged black stand up bass is pumping. Brophy Dale and Buzz Campbell tear up the 6's. The pace is frantic and driving yet it swiftly shifts to smooth crooning country rock on "The River Runs" with some classic Bakersfield guitar work. Massapequa, Long Island's Leon Drucker has a roots pilgrimage down on wax. The rockabilly lives in Carl Perkins' "Say When" or Rocker's "Race Track Blues." Slapping bass underpins throughout and Rocker delivers the goods vocally as well. Resurrecting material from Phantom, Rocker and Slick, "Runnin' from the Hounds" echoes the frenetic new wave anthem "GGGGet Out of London" but the freshest stuff is Rocker's work. As 16 to the bar 248 beats per minute mayhem pours out of the speakers in an Americana tour de force.

Link Wray, Moon Mullins and James Burton are channeled, the Stones' attitude is grabbed and the soul of Joe Ely meets Johnny Cash meets Elvis Costello. Wow, slick your doo, polish the fenders of your ride, pour on the juice, pump up the tunes and cruise. Hey, American Burger is just a short time up the road ride along the highway.

On TGB planetary scale, this one land between Venus and Mars.