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Road Kings CD a real rocker

I. Lamont | Boston | 04/24/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You may not be impressed by the cover of this CD -- amateur painting and 50s greaser posing a la "Built For Speed" -- but the songs within are solid rockers in the vein of Reverend Horton Heat and ZZ Top. Band leader Jesse Dayton is a strong singer, a vicious guitar player and a great songwriter to boot. "Hurdy Gurdy Monkey Shines" , the first track, is a swinging rockabilly number that lampoons the music biz to great effect. However, Dayton is creative enough to escape the 50s retro rocker sandtrap, easily shifting styles and textures in the subsequent songs. Gunslinger starts up with a ghostly Delta-sytle blues riff , then slams into high gear with the intensity of ZZ Top's "Lagrange". The next song, "Boystown," slows down with Mexican guitars and a soaring chorus. There are several other gems on the album too. All are well-written, both musically and lyrically.Interestingly, Jesse Dayton's solo CD on mp3.com drops all pretenses of rockabilly yearnings and instead concentrates on recreating Honky-Tonk country and western music that you might hear in a Texas country saloon in 1966. After hearing the juiced-up energy of the Road Kings first CD, the solo CD was a bit of a letdown. I hope that the Road King's second CD, if it ever makes it into print (the Road Kings Web site, as of early 2001, is now defunct), is more ZZ Top than Hank Williams."

Great Band! See them LIVE - buy the album too!

M. G. Conelly | Los Angeles | 04/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just ssaw Road Kings at the House of Blues last night. Fabulous band! tight performance, real flare, great presence, *great* music. These guys are on the way up! Check out that slap base!"

It is the best!

Lauren Tucker | houston, texas | 02/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this album is SO great and they are great live too. jason and the guys are very nice on top of it all...worth a purchase."