Rough Stuff is a typical Buffalo Bop release, with some inventive and tragically forgotten rock & rollers sandwiched in between well-meaning, raucous but unexceptional examples of the genre. I don't know where Mirasonic Records was located, but based on Bob Hicks' "Rock, Baby, Rock," they seemed to have the Sun sound down just about perfect, and Hicks had a punky, slightly whiny edge that made him closer to Gene Vincent than Elvis Presley or Carl Perkins. Merle Matts, by contrast, needed a slightly heavier electric sound ...
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Rough Stuff is a typical Buffalo Bop release, with some inventive and tragically forgotten rock & rollers sandwiched in between well-meaning, raucous but unexceptional examples of the genre. I don't know where Mirasonic Records was located, but based on Bob Hicks' "Rock, Baby, Rock," they seemed to have the Sun sound down just about perfect, and Hicks had a punky, slightly whiny edge that made him closer to Gene Vincent than Elvis Presley or Carl Perkins. Merle Matts, by contrast, needed a slightly heavier electric sound and maybe a more powerful player on the sax on "Pink Shoes" -- Jack King runs into a similar problem with his soft, Ricky Nelson-like "Ready to Go Steady." The Accent are also relatively soft and lyrical, but they're so close in sound and spirit to Buddy Holly of "Peggy Sue" that they can be forgiven their melodic experiments, which, incidentally, mostly work. Jimmy Smith's "Pinch Me Quick" (off of Wonder Records) could be a Stray Cats demo, it's so sharp in execution and recording -- he's a Carl Perkins-type singer, the guy on piano sounds like he's been listening to Jerry Lee Lewis, and only a lack of imagination in the lead guitar part prevents this from being one of the jewels in the Buffalo Bop treasure trove of singles. Chewing Ray may not have been going far with that name, to judge from the fact this his "Little Boogie Ding Dong" is off of an acetate, but his combination of incomprehensible single and the hyperactive drumming give the song a compelling lunatic edge. Bobby Martin and the Rhythm Rockers are two of the sub-Elvis artists here. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
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