Customer Reviews

No Bs

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I saw the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors (a lot), Country Joe and the Fish, Jefferson Airplane and many other groups too numerous to name in the '60's and '70's but when people ask me who put on the the most energetic, entertaining live show, it was Brownsville Station. Brownsville Station, led by Cubby Koda and Michael Lutz, with TJ Cronley and Tony Driggins played the grand venue of the Falls Church (Virginia) Community Center in the early 70's. What a show! They were Led Zeppelin playing loud "electric" high energy versions of fifties boogie rock! And they knew how to rock and roll.

Brownsville Station had two stacked Marshall on the front of the stage, and during the show Cubby, climbed the amps, up ten feet or so, stood on top like King Kong, and jumped to the stage playing "Roadrunner". He'd run and slide ten feet across the stage on his kness while playing a solo.

(The great version of "Roadrunner" on the recent Aerosmith album is more a copy of the "Roadrunner" on this album than the Bo Diddley original)

After the concert we eagerly awaited the album "No BS" which came out later that year, (with the ugliest cartoon album cover in rock history, drawn by one of the group's girlfriends). Thier best is on this "No BS". "Bebop Confidential" (with Michael Lutz sounding like he had far far too much, umm, caffeine), "Rocking Robin" "Cadillac Express", "Hello Mary Lou" (definately not Rickie Nelson's version) are are here at last. With exception of the truely bizarre "My Boy Flat-top", it's wall-to-wall tuneful songs. And the Applesaucettes sing "dwidle-de-de".

Finally "No BS" is here, and that's no Bull. By far their rockin' greatest! Music with stones. Be careful if you play it in your car, you might end up speeding.

this is as close as you can get to the magic that once was Brownsville Station. My only criticism is there is no improvement over my ancient LP, but it's great music.

Buy it while you can.

Incidently Cubby Koda, was nicknamed for a Walt Disney TV Show Mousketeer with similar large rimmed glasses. After BS broke up, he changed his nickname to "Cub" and wrote erudite music reviews in the "All Music Guide", before he died in 2000.

1969 saw Brownsville Station signed to Punch Andrew's Detroit-based Palladium label where the made their label debut with the single:

- 1969's 'Be-Bop Confidential' b/w 'City Life' (Palladium catalog number H 1075)

The single sold well locally, leading Palladium to finance a supporting album - 1970's "No BS". Curiously. anyone whose knowledge of Brownsville Station was limited to their hit 'Smokin' In the Boys' Room' was liable to be a bit confused and perhaps disappointed by their debut collection. Mind you, it wasn't a bad album, but unless you lived in Detroit and saw some of the band's live shows, as the band's 'roots' album, the collection's heavy reliance on covers of popular 1950s rock and R&B chestnuts was probably going to prove somewhat unexpected. So here's the god news; the album served as a pretty good representation of the band's Marshall amp powered live shows. Yeah there were plenty of covers, but the performances were uniformly enthusiastic (these guys were foremost fans of these musical genre) and while remaining true to the spirit of the originals, most of their arrangements were at least somewhat updated and more rock oriented (back to those towering stacks of Marshall speakers that Cubby Koda would apparently climb and jump off of).

- Yeah, the track listing showed it as 'Be-Bop Confidential ', but for all intents and purposes this track was nothing more than a slightly 'rocked-up cover' of Gene Vincent's 'Be Bop a Lula'. Not the most original way to start an album, but Cubby Koda turned in a nice lead guitar solo. rating: ** stars
- One of four Michael Lutz originals, 'Guitar Train' borrowed more than a little from Little Richard's 'Good Golly Miss Molly'. Enthusiastic, but to be honest the song sounded like the band had taken a best of the '50s rock anthology; cut it into pieces, and simply reassembled it into a slightly different running order. Zero stars for originality, but three for enthusiasm with Lutz turning in an over-the-top vocal. rating: *** stars
- I've always disliked 'Rockin' Robin' and can't say Brownsville's version did anything to change my opinion of the song. rating: ** stars
- The second Lutz composition 'Blue Eyed Girl' found the band shifting into '60s influences. Very pop-flavored, this one sounded a bit like Van Morrison and Them having overdosed on sedatives. Koda turned in another nice lead guitar solo on this one. rating: *** stars
- Co-written by Lutz and drummer Driggers, 'City Life' found the band trotting out a stab at R&B (with a distinctively pop edge). One of the my favorites songs on the album. rating: **** stars
- I'm guessing the title was a reference to the famous Chocolate malt beverage, but who knows ... Whatever the inspiration, 'Do the Bosco' was easily side one's hardest rocking number. Great tune. rating: **** stars
- Tapped as the album's second single, their cover of 'Roadrunner' was mildly entertaining - easy to see where George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers swiped half of their catalog ... rating: ** stars
- The highlight of their second Gene Vincent cover 'Hello, Mary Lou' was Koda's guitar solo. The rest of the song was merely pedestrian. rating: ** stars
- Side two's lone original composition, 'Cadillac Express' was basically an opportunity for Koda to show off his '50s guitar influences (think Chuck Berry). Mindless rock-and-roll fun for the Cadillac set. rating: *** stars
- I'd love to say something nice about their cover of Boyd Bennett and His Rockets 'My Boy Flat Top' but to my ears it came off as little more than a throwaway, pseudo-polka number. Pretty forgettable. rating; * star
- Personally I didn't think they came close to Link Wray's classic instrumental 'Rumble', but there was a certain charm to the Zeppelin-esque rendition and the bluesy, false start segment was pretty funny. Hard to image anyone bothering to bleep the obscenity in this day and age. rating: *** stars

As mentioned, with the original Palladium single doing well regionally, Warner Brothers stepped in with a national distribution deal, reissuing the original single, the parent album, and a follow-on single:

- 1970's 'Be-Bop Confidential' b/w 'City Life' (Warner Brothers catalog number 7441)
- 1971's 'Do the Bosco' b/w 'Roadrunner' (Warner Brothers catalog number 7456)

Naturally Warner Brothers marketing didn't have a clue with respect to marketing the band and they were quickly dropped from the company's recording roster. (So here's a mystery. The sleeve on my LP shows the Palladium label and catalog number (P-1004), but the LP label shows the Warner Brothers label. As a cost cutting move did Warner Brothers acquire the existing stock of previously pressed sleeves and simply reuse them ?)

(side 1)
1.) Be-Bop Confidential (Davis - Gene Vincent - Hargrave) - 2:23
2.) Guitar Train (Michaal Lutz) - 2:05
3.) Rockin' Robin (Robert Byrd) - 2:46
4.) Blue Eyed Girl (Michaal Lutz) - 2:45
5.) City Life (Michael Lutz - Tony Driggers) - 3:01
6.) Do the Bosco (Michaal Lutz - Cubby Koda) - 2:36

(side 2)
1.) Roadrunner (E. McDaniels) - 2:37
2.) Hello, Mary Lou (Gene Vincent) - 3:06
3.) Cadillac Express (Cubby Koda) - 2:30
4.) My Boy Flat Top (Boyd Bennett - John Young) - 2:01
5.) Rumble (Link Wray) - 3:04