Published on Apr 5, 1999
It’s been a busy year for both Big Sandy and his backing band
The Fly-Rite Boys, with both sides of the band releasing solo
albums (both of which we’ve reviewed here on “The Daily Vault”).
Now, almost as a reassurance to fans of modern rockabilly that the
group is still together, they’ve released
Radio Favorites, a six-song EP.
Personally, I wish that Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys had
taken a little more time and had released a full album, simply
because six songs over less than 20 minutes is barely enough to get
your appetite whetted for this kind of music. This is one of the
few cases I have ever seen where less does not equal more.
I can hear the pundits now: “Why are you complaining? You must
obviously like the disc!” Well, I do indeed like this album. Even
my wife – who likes maybe one percent of the music that I listen to
– found herself happily shaking her hips to the opening song “It’s
A Mystery To Me”, proof that rockabilly is a happily infectious
style of music. (Brother, after admissions like this one, I’m
sometimes glad that the wife doesn’t read this site.)
The musicianship on
Radio Favorites never lets up over the course of these six
songs, from the catchiness of “First And Last Blues” to the groove
laid out on “Buddy, I Ain’t Buyin'” to the closing raucousness of
“Playgirl”. The Fly-Rite Boys prove to be the perfect foil to Big
Sandy, while Big Sandy shows he’s the ultimate vocalist for this
band. (No disrespect to the Fly-Rite Boys, who handled vocals on
their self-titled solo album well.)
And while I don’t often talk about packaging for a CD, the
design of the package for
Radio Favorites – it folds out to show a full transistor
radio, complete with turnable dial – is a refreshing change of pace
in the CD world. Even the ads on the inside almost make you want to
send off a check or two.
But
Radio Favorites leaves the listener begging for more, since
six songs just aren’t enough to really build up a good head of
steam. All this does is leave the listener a little disappointed
that there isn’t more music on this disc. I truly believe that had
the band taken the time to make this into a full album, it would
still have been incredible.
Radio Favorites is no doubt a stop-gap measure until the
next full-length release from Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
comes out. While this disc is entertaining enough, it isn’t enough
to feed my appetite for their music.