Covering the work of friends is a hell of a complicated business. It is necessary to maintain a balance between outright flattery and undisguised malice. I’ll try to be objective, despite my infernal sense of humor. The founder of Diddley Dogs is guitarist Alexander “The First” Gavrilov, who is also the editor-in-chief of the website. RockThisTown.ru and my bandmate in another rockabilly band, the Gazoliners. Bassist Alexander “The Second” Zhernakov is the leader of the psychobilly trio Lucky 12, with whom we also spent a couple of years undermining the pillars of the universe at the Spiders Can Crawl garage. Pyotr Korobkin is the skeet boss, a buffoon and a funny guy. Finally, Evgeny “Eugene” Yuzhinov is the lead vocalist, slightly keyboard player, and an Orbison-like mystery man.
After a string of singles, the Dawg Days Are Here album is a full-length debut for the band, which has about equally its own Russian-language material, for a change, and an imperishable foreign spill. By good tradition, the cover was drawn by the author of these lines. So, let’s take a sniff at what kind of rock these golubchiks gave out!
Rockabilly Boogie has nothing to do with Burnett’s “Rockabilly Boogie”. Here we hear the author’s sample of pop-rockabilly, Eugene gives out a nostalgic mix of Orbison and Piekha, Sasha gavriles the guitar with genuine enthusiasm and skill, the rhythm section burns rags and laughs. Various surface nuances add to the heat.
The evening began yesterday in a swing style, the text overwhelms the neophyte with an abundance of foreign terms like “shabudi-dubudai” and “mi corazon”, but spares in the second verse, where the words “sweet moan” are supported by a mocking argument. A poignant and witty sketch of an evening where two people start with wine and pork, moving on to “dib-dib-shubop”.
Only The Lonely is a truly great song, sung by the guys with love and the necessary ingenuity. Eugene demonstrates Orbison without a Pie. Alexandra Mazina’s violin adds charm.
Dad slapped the Double Bass, a charming ragtime tune, like a forgotten track from the movie “We’re from Jazz.” Alexander “The First” leads the main vocal line, Alexander Rudovsky blows the trumpet, Anton Konovalov roasts stride on the piano. The Cat’s Song is an unexpected name for a gang of Loose Dogs. Caustic shuffle, Alexander Zhernakov at the microphone.
Lonesome Town is an unforgettable and perhaps slightly hackneyed classic by Ricky Nelson. The Cramps had the funniest version, but here everything is serious, sweet-voiced and flavored with ukulele. Always On My Mind was performed by such titans as Karel Gott and Brenda Lee, but the Ural dog did not spoil the furrows either. The reading here has even picked up the pace.
Radio Tea is an excellent western with harmonica by Max Evseev, the main voice of Sasha “The Second” and precise vocal harmonies. Leaves a pleasant aftertaste. Darling, Don’t Wait for Me is another soft jazz from Alexander Gavrilov, this time evoking the memory of the early beat quartet “Secret”. An unexpectedly cynical text.
Falling In Love is an impeccable duet by Evgeny Yuzhinov and Sverdlovsk “Elvis” Konstantin Zuschik. Rich arrangement. You can’t even find fault…
Drinkin’ Beer is an example of the Burgher understanding of rockabilly in the rhythm of polka. Although this Oktoberfest anthem sounds an order of magnitude better than the original, it still looks optional on the album.
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Dawg Days Are Here came out multi-faceted, colorful and not boring. The guys’ own songs give a head start to a set of covers, although the latter, apparently, are designed to reach an audience far from rock and roll. The sound may seem a little soft to experienced fans of brutal moonabilly, but this approach to recording seems to be the only true one for this collection. There’s a lot of potential anyway, and I’m looking forward to the next album. Just like you, no doubt!
I finally got to this album. And it’s probably predictable, but I liked it. It seems to me that the album is objectively solid, without pretensions. The overall sound turned out particularly well: it was such a full, rich recording. With such surround sound, I am very pleased with the abundance and variety of instruments used – each track is unique, with its own mood. Radio Tea is generally a masterpiece from my point of view. A very stylish melody and a good verse in Russian create an extremely interesting combination – a kind of eastern, a rare thing. Well, all that I didn’t like was, frankly, the taste. In my opinion, it’s not worth arguing about tastes.