Takin' A Ride

An incredibly underrated band in these parts, I’ve been following the Diamond Dogs for about 25 years now. I first discovered them due to their Hellacopters connection (Hellacopters’ keyboardist Boba Fett founded this band with singer Sulo). They play pure rock ‘n roll, sometimes rough, sometimes a little cleaner. But always good solid rock ‘n roll. Check out their “Up The Rock” album which regularly gets play in our household (not to mention a play during our wedding reception). Well they’re back with a special project called “Macon Georgia Giant” in which they team up with Chris Spedding (another legend in his own right, having recorded with Paul McCartney, Elton John, and a host of others; not to mention recording the first Sex Pistols demos). And if that’s not enough, they release a more or less at the spur of the moment recording of an 11 song completely rockin’ tribute to Little Richard called “Macon Georgia Giant”.

This basically came about when Chris Spedding called up Sulo and was wondering if they could “do something” when he was visiting Stockholm for a few days. Sulo immediately came up with an idea to do a tribute to Little Richard. And when they did finally meet up a few weeks later, it was in a studio, and with no rehearsals, they whipped out these 11 songs in 10 hours. And wow! This must’ve been a blast to record! They do some deep Little Richard tracks too. All with a ton of fun and spirit. This is a rock ‘n roll party album. The musicianship is amazing (but loose and rockin’), vocals spectacular, and background vocals superb!

“King Of Rock ‘n Roll” starts off the album with a blast and it just goes on from there. “Hey Hey Hey Hey” continues the fast paced rock ‘n roll. “Spreadin’ Natta What’s The Matter” slows things down just a tad with a funky rock beat. “Shake A Hand” slows things down a little more, but with great background vocals. “Drop Dew Inn” is fast honkey tonk. So much fun. And things just keep going. “True Fine Mama”, “Great Gosh A’ Mighty”, “Poor Dog”, “Send Me Some Lovin’”, “Slippin’ And Slidin’”, and “Bama Lama Bama Lu” all being excellent performances and a fitting tribute to one of the pioneers of rock ‘n roll. Yes, I had to mention ALL the songs as highlights, because this whole album is a highlight. Once it’s over, you want to play it all over again.

***** Certainly the best party album of the year. Check it out!