Throughout his career Van Morrison has been open to various forms of music, including the rhythm and blues of his early years with Them and the Irish folk from his collaborations with The Chieftains, as well as the skiffle of Lonnie Donegan. This time he is going back to the roots of American rock music, joining forces with Jerry Lee Lewis little sister Linda Gail Lewis.
The CD starts out with Otis Blackwell's Let's Talk About Us, before turning towards more country styled material, like Hank William's You Win Again and Jambalaya, and Crazy Arms, Ralph Mooney & Chuck Seals' song made famous by Ray Price and also recorded by Linda's big brother Jerry Lee. The latter half of the album is dominated by rhythm and blues and rock'n'roll, such as Real Gone Lover, Bo Diddley's Cadillac and John Lee Hooker's Boogie Chillen, but also includes a third Hank Williams song, Why Don't You Love Me. Halfway through we are also treated to the only original of the album, the Morrison penned No Way Pedro, an up tempo shuffle.
This wandering between country material and rhythm and blues with a heavy dose of rockin' piano is probably no accident with Jerry Lee's little sister behind the keys and singing back up vocals; the album is definitely in the Lewis vein, and it includes a number of songs that have been recorded by Jerry Lee.
The result is a strong testimony to the good times side of American roots music. It is rough and loose and filled with high spirits; the right thing for any party. However, it does not work as well after repeated listening in your home or your car. My chief complaint is Linda Gail Lewis' voice. It works fine when she's belting out rock'n'roll and when she is responding to lines sung by Van Morrison, but she is not precise enough for duets. In particular her timing and phrasing suffers in the slower country songs, but after a while even the up tempo numbers get a bit much.
TE