Oh yes, it’s a feast for the ears all right!

EARLIER this year, I was honoured to be asked to write the sleeve notes for the new album by Worcester-based rockabilly band The Delray Rockets.

Being someone who chooses their words carefully – oi you, quiet at the back, no heckling! – I don’t use the word ‘honoured’ lightly.

And that’s because The Delrays have over the last few years forged an enviable reputation as being one of the top outfits in the Midlands devoted to keeping rockabilly - that delinquent son of rock ‘n’ roll – very much alive and kicking.

The band’s latest recording was released in August and is no doubt selling well at Delray gigs and via other outlets.

Obviously, there are some space restrictions for my words on the album itself, so I thought it would be a good idea to expand on my original observations of each track, which you will find below.

So, be my guest, enjoy this little bit of light reading… and when you’ve finished check out the Delrays’ website https://www.thedelrayrockets.com/ and find out how to buy the album itself. After all, how could you resist?

Deuce’s Wild – The Delray Rockets

ROCKABILLY is always a dish best served hot. Now there’s hot, very hot, REAL hot and then some… as the Delrays demonstrate with this scorcher of a new album.

And believe me, it’s a wonder they can stand the heat and stay long enough in the kitchen as they cook up their latest hard-rockin’ boogie banquet.

But that’s exactly what they’ve done folks. So - grab a seat at the table, adjust your bib, get stuck in - and hey, better make sure there’s a fire extinguisher handy just in case.

Axeman Doctor Croc starts as he means to go on with the title track Deuce’s Wild, serving up a smorgasbord starter of Dollars western-style guitar that’s smoking like Jesse James’ Colt 45 after some serious gunplay.

This aperitif by bull fiddle maestro Gaz le Bass then makes way for All I Can Do Is Cry (Dirty Vox) a hundred-miles-an-hour heartbreaker in which Croc’s Gretsch weeps riffs by the bucketful.

Bertha Lou is a sassy, slinky slide into backstreet love, but you won’t be dewy-eyed for long, because along comes Johnny Burnette’s Rockabilly Boogie which gets the full Gaz treatment, complete with so many Holly-esque hiccups that he needs to forsake the Jack Daniels for a moment and take a sip of water instead.

And all the while, drummer J D Davies is laying down a treat of a beat that keeps up the heat. Regardless of pace, his sticks sure can fix it. Slip-slap-bip-bap-be-bop-a-lula, brother!

Meanwhile, guest musician Upton-upon-Severn’s Christian Cox has hopped on a freight train and hoboed into town in time to deliver a blistering tickling of the ivories that makes this sumptuous musical meal complete.

The fifth course on the menu is Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground, a repeated Green Onions chord riff pinning down the beat as Croc vamps away like there’s no tomorrow.

Next, it’s time for another Gaz brew, the clearly autobiographical Beer O’ Clock Boogie. A guitar flavoured with essence of Chuck Berry helps this one slip down the chute barely touching the sides, which goes to refresh the palate just in time for Lotta Lovin’, a cheeky little number with just a hint of Carl Perkins, hazelnut and chocolate. Perfect libation to go with any dish.

Music legend Shel Talmy’s Sinner Not a Saint then gets the full confessional treatment by the Delrays, Croc squeezing a whole mess of blues out of that steaming gitfiddle of his with J D perfectly nailing it.

Gaz’s Rockabilly Fool delves into the vaults of classic rockabilly, the songwriter’s frank admission being smoothed on its way with some nifty fretwork courtesy of the usual suspect.

Almost at the end of this feast, but not quite as the Delrays’ imaginative rework of Lead Belly’s House of The Rising Sun paves the way for a searing version of Z Z Top’s La Grange and Jim Morrison’s Roadhouse Blues.

Deuce’s Wild is indeed a rich and rocking concoction that stays true to its rockabilly roots yet isn’t afraid to add a little extra seasoning when required.  So – feeling hungry? Then waste no time and get tickling those tastebuds with this fabulous feast of an album.

John Phillpott