In the late ’50s and early ’60s, Freddy Cannon released several top forty hits, including “Tallahassee Lassie,” “Palisades Park” and “Action.” These songs, in terms of sheer energy and aggressiveness, could have been written by The Ramones if Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee had been around at the time. Here, Cannon teams up with The Gears, LA’s legendary “surfabilly punk” band (featuring Kidd Spike of The Controllers) for some raucous rock’n‘roll revelry.
“Keep Movin’” is a driving bit of wide-eyed-trucker-high-on-speed r’n‘r – a little MC5, some Flamin’ Groovies and a touch of Motörhead. Cannon’s voice is slightly deeper with age, but his raspy snarl is sharp as ever as he works the band into an Eric Burdon-ish frenzy. The song builds, crashes, builds and crashes again, perfect waves for the punk rock surfer.
“Move It On Over,” on the other hand, is simple 1-4-5 rock’n‘roll performed with the vibrant electricity of an overloading powerstation. Call-and-response lyrics trade with rockabilly licks that pound to a beat that your feet can’t resist. No pretentious pseudo-intellectual indie rock garble here – this is pure in-your-face rock’n‘roll: loud, explosive and fun.
Got the 7” blues? Pick this up for an instant cure-all and a pick-me-up that’ll last as long as the damn record plays!
