Being a massive Arthur Alexander fan, I cannot ignore If It’s Really Got To Be This Way. It’s impossible for me to mention each and every one of these tracks, so to give you a little taste, I’ll just hone-in on a handful that have made the biggest impression on me over the years. Some of the tracks feature Bill’s regular trio Too Much Fun (from the title of a Commander Cody hit): Johnny Castle (bass) and Jack O'Dell (drums). An indication of how highly he is regarded is this list of guest singers and musicians who appear on the various tracks-Nick Lowe, Geraint Watkins, Commander Cody, Dan Hicks, Maria Muldaur, Paul Carrack, Elvis Costello, Norton Buffalo, Jorma Kaukonen, Butch Hancock, Gurf Morlix, Rick Richards, Cindy Cashdollar, Chris Gaffney, oh and the aforementioned Micky Kemp. Any young pretenders can sling those jangling guitar chords and bouncing rhythms into ear candy, but the true greats are the ones who spin things in their own unique direction and Bill Kirchen gives evidence of the talent that’s kept him a cult figure of sorts for many years and through many musical fads. These 38 tracks are an impressive body of work that upholds the finest garage tradition. That led to me doing a little bit of a catch-up on Bill’s recordings, many of which are collected on this 2-CD compilation covering his releases on Proper Records between 2006-2016.īill’s music is hearty and out of step with current trends: guitar-powered rock-country songs steeped in West-Coast twang and 1960s honky-tonk, marked by rugged vocals intertwining with infectious guitar melodies and head-nodding rhythms which all adds up to a must listen for me. The gig was not as well supported as I’d hoped, but the evening turned out to be an unalloyed joy from beginning to end. I almost fell off my chair in my enthusiasm. I didn’t really think about Bill Kirchen for years until the autumn of 2004 when Micky Kemp, a good friend, asked me if I’d be interested in promoting a gig featuring himself and this guy from the States called … Bill Kirchen. Bill was to grace the Commander’s records for the next ten years, every single one of them landing in my rapidly expanding record collection. The song's monologue-like vocal recounting of a drag race was by George ‘Commander Cody’ Frayne, but for many, it was Bill Kirchen’s turbo-charged, full-tilt Telecaster boogie that stole the show and made the record an instant classic for a second time. Way back in 1972 one of most surprising hits of the year was an inspired remake of Johnny Bond's 1960 roadhouse classic Hot Rod Lincoln by a previously obscure band that, as their name suggested, seemed to have appeared out of nowhere from the depths of space-Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. I’ve loved the music of Bill Kirchen for more years than I care to remember without fully realising it.
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