ALBUM: Fresh Fish Special (1978)
MVC Rating: 3.5/$$
Authentic 1950s rock-a-billy from the 1970s. Gordon does his best Sun years Elvis or Eddie Cochran or Gene Vincent.
Gordon along with guitar rock-a-billy pioneer Link Wray gives a by-the-note lesson in reproducing the sound of the era. And to top it off, Gordon gets a contemporary Bruce Springsteen song — ‘Fire’ — that not only sounds right at home but was so catchy it jumped on to the charts where it sounded like no other song in the Top 40 at that time..
Gordon operates in the relatively small universe of non-novelty retro sounds as put forth by the Stray Cats and Chris Isaak.
Gordon is mostly a great interpreter here rather than trying for a new or hybrid sound with rock-a-billy — unlike, say, Jason and the Scorchers who punked their billy up a bit.
As Allmusic.com writes:
He still comes off more as an enthusiastic interpreter than a musician with a vision of his own. Still, there weren’t that many American-born rock & rollers who were willing to fly the flag for rockabilly at end of the ’70s, and if other acts would surpass Gordon in imagination and impact a few years on, he certainly gets an ‘A’ for effort.”
Oh and you may notice that this is out of alphabetical order. I missed it — it was in the wrong place. It’s a ‘G’ record at a time I’m opening up the K’s.
There are others coming I’m sure. I’ll point it out when it happens . At the end, I’ll probably have several that I missed and finish with an addendum after the Original 678. Remember if you are looking for an album, you can narrow it down some by clicking on its letter in the categories at the left. Or, simply type the name into Search.