Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

(oops sadie, i thought i checked thoroughly to see that this hadnt already been reviewed. my bad, my god, if only all kzsu submissions got reviewed just barely after being keyed....)

Once again, you cant beat a fine woman’s voice, hip shaking blues based early rock and roll and sex based lyrics. Seriously, if Sun Records existed today Sam Philips would sit back and probably say, “okay, I almost blew it with Mr Cash but not this time”. This threesome, two gals and a guy conjure up the best that ever was from that fine era of the birth of rock and roll, the melding of blues and mountain music and, well... fucking!!! DO NOT mistake this for another “retro” swing or tribute type outfit. This combo really plays from the soul. Listening to this humbles one, making us realize that the roots of rock and roll were so pure and that we really gotta pour a tribute shot on the floor when we start putting it all through fuzz boxes backwards and upside down.

1) “Going Up the Country”: beautiful swing blues “real” rendition of song some dumb hippies at Woodstock made famous; this version kicks its ass
2) upbeat blues rockin
3) swinging early Sun recordings rock feel, harp gives the lead, perfect
4) a tribal feel in the hand beaten drums and then “south pacific” lap steel slide
5) cover of classic “got my mojo workin”
6) upbeat rockabilly blues with the girl singing in the chorus “I’m Mean!!”, cant beat that
7) this one delves into mountain bluegrass hillbilly stuff, upbeat
8) I like the hip swinging good fucking feel to this, call me a pervert, but this music is all about sex, either its there or not
9) upbeat swing dancing thrills
10) instrumental: like 4, hand drums and lap steel guitar takes this to the south pacific and paradise, upbeat
11) texas swing prettiness to this, trumpet leads, if you are in love, or better yet think you are, then ask that boy/girl to dance to this one and rub against each other, lots
12) upright bass leads this one in, the harp follows,sex swing, one of the few with male vocs
13) a “real” in studio start, upbeat near-train chug beat, instrumental that’s sort of just an idea

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis – Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
Reviewed by Sadie O., 10/22/09
Solid old-school Americana, recorded in finest analog. This trio of young siblings do rockabilly/country swing/hillbilly/Hawaiian rock in the best Sun Studios tradition – so it will come as no surprise that they’re from Kentish Town, London… Recorded by their father on the family’s collection of period equipment. All of the younguns are multi-instrumentalists (not quite virtuousi, but that adds to the charm), as well as being conversant in a variety of Americana roots styles. They’re also endearingly enthusiastic and unpolished.
No FCCs detected. I dig em all, but I’m funny that way.
1. 3:17 ***acoustic guitar and handclaps intro, female rockabilly vocals. A fine roots bopper.
2. 4:08 ***barrelhouse piano, uptempo jook joint blues meets Sun country.
3. 2:57 **country harmonica, hillbilly/early rockabilly bopper.
4. 2:04 ***midtempo hand drum, standup bass, pedal steel. Gloriously unpretentious and rough around the edges.
5. 3:35 **piano and harmonica roadhouse rocker, classic blues number. Sounds kinda like if the Collins Kids had covered Big Mama Thornton. Uptempo and energetic.
6. 2:40 ***uptempo bopper (they like boppers, I can tell), heavy on the Country end of the Americana spectrum.
7. 3:15 ***hillbilly is right! Banjo and accordion lead this two-step. Male vocals.
8. 3:15 ***jellyroll piano intro, cover of the Charlie Rich 60’s classic.
9. 2:45 **uptempo straight-ahead rockabilly bopper.
10. 1:58 ****bongos and ukulele and pedal steel – Hawaiian rock at its goofiest. Gonzo! Whackahula, baby!
11. 4:14 ***bells and ukulele and a hint of trumpet. Throw in a bit of hi-hat. I guess you’d call this swing – of the Spike Jones variety.
12. 5:22 ***slap bass and harmonica – midtempo country blues.
13. 2:44 *tuning up and hollerin intro – works into a midtempo shuffle with motorcycles. Although, this is London we’re talking about, so they could be Vespas.