Customer Reviews

Road Kings

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

i first heard of the road kings sometime in '99 when they opened for mike ness in St. Louis, Mo. They put on an excellent show and I was really impressed but I never heard anything else about them. When I saw that amazon had their cd i quickly purchased it. If your into the whole rockabilly stlye of music this cd is a MUST have.

This CD is Jesse Dayton's most pissed off work. The first CD is rockabilly at it's finest, and the live CD is in your face glory. I have seen The Road Kings live many times and this CD is only an sample of the genius that could go national. If Jesse Dayton could make up his mind whether he wants to be George Jones or a true hero, he could likely be Brian Setzer the purist or possibly Townes Van Zant pushed through a Marshall. Buy this CD, it's fantastic.

Great! the best rock album 1999. So cool songs...Best singer in the USA! this new kinda rockabilly rules! You have to get it.

I've seen some great bands in my day. The Roads Kings are in a small group at the top. I've never seen anyone work a bass like this before. The music? Oh, the album is top notch. Great hard hitting stuff!

It's perfect. Gotta get this record

The Road Kings are a great band, and this CD and their live performances prove it. Any one into rockabilly will be sure to love this.

some people are under the impression that So-Cal is the center of the universe when it comes to music... but they are wrong... dead wrong... what these people need to do is check out this band... it's no a crusty old rockstar up on stage... it's three young guys that are going to take you for a ride... buy this cd!