Billy Swan - Rock On With The Rhythm

Easy rockin’ on fine songs

As a songwriter, Billy Swan hit in the early 60s with Clyde McPhatter’s Lover Please, but this collection straddles his key performing years from 1974, and draws from Nashville and Memphis influences to give an easy non-aggressive rock style. Very much guitar-led rock tracks, Swan merges with other instrumentation effectively, such as the accordion on Mystery Train and laidback brass on Don’t Kill Our Love.

Musically he ranges from the lovely Everlys-styled ballad Undying Love, through his best known hit with I Can Help and his own brassdriven version of Lover Please, to a great take on Carl Perkins’ Your True Love that features the great man himself as a guest. Elsewhere Smoky Places recalls the best of The Drifters’ early 60s rhythms, Swan really slows down on Don’t Be Cruel, and Pardon Me, cowritten by Donnie Fritts and Spooner Oldham, has all the best of Southern rock oozing all over it. A fabulous collection of two-dozen songs with delights at every turn, and a huge poke in the eye for anyone who thinks decent rock’n’roll ended by 1960.

RPM | RETRO 814

Reviewed by Kingsley Abbott
<< Back to Issue 341