Little Neal & The Blue Flames

The band Little Neal & the Blue Flames is an authentic rock'n'roll/rockabilly quartet from Berlin, Germany: Little Neal on vocals & lead guitar, Maurice (ex-bassist for Ike & The Capers) on rhythm guitar, Alexander on drums & Sascha on upright bass. After some recordings on the German samplers 'Rough Rockin'' volume 1 & 2, and also a 4 tracks EP on Favourite Records, here is their long, long awaited first album. It's been recorded at the excellent Lightning Recording Service in Berlin, & edited by the German company that owns this studio, Rhythm Bomb Records. The sound is vintage and really good (as usual from this studio). Fifteen tracks on this CD: Six late 50's rock'n'roll covers and nine self penned tracks. The covers are excellent, especially Marlon Grisham’s 'Ain’t That A Dilly', Larry Donn’s 'Honey Bun' (with piano), Jerry Ross's 'Everybody's Tryin To Kiss My Baby' and Bob Luman’s 'All Night Long'. The original songs are even better: rockin' tracks ('Skip Jack Rock', 'Cat Shack', 'Why You Need A Proof'), boppin' ones ('Cooly Fooly Boy', 'How Can She Be Bad', 'Till The Cows Come Home') and an awesome strollin' blues ('Ten Times Better'). This four hepcats are superb musicians, the drum(!!!)/bass/rhythm guitar section maintains a good rockin' beat throughout the record, & Neal on lead guitar shows that breaks can be real wild with a clean sound (His vocal is also really good). On four tracks, the participation of a backing vocal band (the Mellow Men) contribute to the rock'n'roll sound of this album.