Mielenkiintoinen kokoelma. 18 rockabilly, psychobilly ja punkabilly bändi samalla cd:llä. On muuten pirun hyvä kokoelma!

New York Post

By DAN AQUILANTE

If the impact of Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent (not to mention the Cramps and the defunct Stray Cats) was ever in question, then ’Black Jacket Racket” illustrates how long the reach of their influence is. On ’Racket,” an 18-song international collection, Skully Records gathers top rockabilly (and psychobilly and punkabilly) talent from around the globe, nearly all of whom embrace the gear-stripping power and lickety-split velocity of the genre. There’s a tendency for musicians to twist rockabilly into hellcat camp and kitsch. Yet, on this album, groups from the U.S.A., Canada, Germany, France, Russia, Austria, Finland, Holland and Ukraine treat the music with ultra respect – too much, in some instances. This esteem for the style translates into tight performances where these guitar-snare drum-slap bass trios sizzle. It’s unfortunate and unexplained why the collection excludes U.K. bands currently in the neo-billy movement. Of the foreign bands, Finland’s Jimi Lipponen & Kummitusjuna is the most confused about what rockabilly is. On their turn – a song called ’Mama Told Me” – the lead instrument is a strummed banjo and the melody is friendly and folkish, more reminiscent of a ’50s skiffle band than its darker American cousin. Holland’s Asmodeus is the best of the non-American bands. On their original song ’Pushing Up Daisies,” these Dutch boys completely embrace the mad panic, wanton desire and twangy hysteric essence of rockabilly. The best of the American bands is New Jersey’s King Kerosene, which, on ’15 Seconds’, describes the joys of getting dumped by an unloving lover.

There’s a Volume Two of this…