Currently listening to : Rockin Bones
The rawest '50s rock retains an irresistible pop culture gravity: indeed, the farther one moves away from it in time, the more compelling--and often intoxicatingly alien--it can seem. Produced with fervent devotion by Rhino roots-rock veteran James Austin and featuring a detailed, track-by-track annotation by rockabilly guru Colin Escott, the 101 tracks on these four discs (fully a third of them making their American CD debut) reinforce that notion at every turn. The oft-dizzy, lust-crazed music here argues that the set's "punk" appellation is but marketing-driven redundancy, even as the range of its rockabilly riches gratifyingly defies the attempts of the set's contributing pundits and musicians (including James Burton, the legendary axeman on many of the tracks, as well as Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Rev. Horton Heat, and The Blasters' Dave Alvin) to define the genre.