TOMMY
RIVERS & THE RAW RAMPS (December)
It's always a nice surprise when something shows up in the Magic Mailbox
that's totally unexpected and GOOD.
There's
a Georgia Satellites connection here, as Tommy had a band called the Desperate
Angels with Satellites guitarist Rick Richards from '78 to '80, and the two
still play together when Richards isn't working with Izzy Stradlin's Ju Ju
Hounds. Earlier in the seventies, Tommy had played in Robo and Reddy Teddy
up in Boston for a spell. Since then, he's spent the last 20-odd years gigging
around Atlanta with his own Tommy Rivers Band, Diamond Lil, the Swinging Richards,
Michelle Malone's Drag the River, the Hellhounds, a revived Desperate Angels
lineup, and the Untouchables. He's also released a couple of cassettes, "Fountain
of Youth" and "Tommy Rivers and the Hellhounds."
To quote Terry Anderson, "Man, This Rocks!" Clearly steeped in Stones
and Thunders bloodlines (ALMOST enough to be on Vicious Kitten), Rivers has
all the right signifiers; this is great SONGWRITER'S rock'n'roll. What my
ex-wife used to call "normal" people would probably hear the Beatles
and, uh, Tom Petty where I'm hearing Paul Westerberg and Alex Chilton (elitist
snob that I am), but the point is, this is first-rate stuff...gritty, blasted-sounding,
with the emphasis on moderate tempos and yes, lots of fine guitar damage.
And that's all I have to say about that. -
Ken Shimamoto
