Dominic Halpin – Shade Of Blue: Plush rockabilly for your cubs

The Milky Way galaxy is rich in rock’n’roll for every taste. People with fine taste, young men with broken hearts, and director David Lynch like Roy Orbison. Perverts, psychopaths and Wednesday Addams experience sweet convulsions to the music of The Cramps ensemble. Mane-headed guitar teachers consider Chuck Berry an idol. Well, gouty dancers, broken housewives and nostalgic bourgeoisie are called upon to unite our hero of today – Dominic Halpin.

Even as a teenager, Dominic studied the repertoire of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley instead of a primer, entertaining guests at the Spanish house of his mother’s forefathers. The exercises of the young kruner were encouraged: the English dad prepared a suitable Christmas gift, a guitar, hidden under the bed for the time being. Taking advantage of the absence of his parents, the younger Halpin regularly extracted the instrument, plucking the strings according to the tutorial. That winter, he became known as a musical prodigy. Soon her father, who was an officer in Her Majesty’s Army, retired and the Halpins settled in Manchester, the hometown of Anthony Burgess and Joy Division.

Here, fifteen-year-old Dominic assembled his first rockabilly band, the Rocking Red Roosters, which had been rocking the area for several years. It is not known whether the platypuses were the reason for this, but, having gained freedom of movement, the singer exchanged the cozy soot of an industrial settlement for the crocodile charm of Australia. Returning to England closer to his fortieth birthday, Halpin entered a new career path, achieving success with The Honey B’s swing combo and reinterpreting the legacy of Bobby Darin and the “Great American Songbook.”

Not only jazz, but also guitar, Dominic releases country and rockabilly albums. Songs of his own composition are heard both in Hollywood movies (Heist / Speed: Bus 657, starring Robert De Niro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and in a number of Russian comedies, whose names are not commonly mentioned in society. A freshly baked batch of original compositions is called Shade Of Blue and will surely help to brighten up, dance and seduce. Within the bounds of decency, of course.

Born To Play is an action movie in the spirit of Shaky Stevens with a bouncing double bass and characteristic guitar passages. Provides involuntary knee twitching. Midnight Whisky brightens up midnight without leaving a hangover. Memphis rock for showing off petticoats, erasing soles, and expensive bourbon at the end.

Into Your Arms is decorated with a mystical pedal steel guitar, flavored with the shimmering magic of sadness. A restored snapshot of the 1956 prom in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Mr. Leaving belongs to the era of timelessness, when Buddy and Eddie were already dead, and the arrogant young British are still picking up the right chords, having given up on lessons. For an unreleased western with Elvis.

Until You Tell Me That It’s Gone is a light-hearted mid-tempo swing with a rockabilly guitar instead of a big band. That’s what Dominic Halpin calls “when Presley met Sinatra.” The Moon Turned Red is the case when the chosen one can dance boldly without fear of dislocations. Well, the moon turns red when you look at it through a glass of wine, and not from unbridledness on the dance floor. In short, a sultry mambo.

I’ve Been Here Before is a perky number that tests the strength of T-shirts and ballet flats. Suitable for a pair quadrille, not suitable for a fight. Vegas Blue implies a tuxedo with a needle and a carefully laid hairstyle. It is accompanied by a graceful clicking of fingers. The brighter the light in the hall, the blacker the shadows in the alleys. Respectable swing with notes of anxiety.

Just Ain’t True is soft and fluffy, like a favorite blanket, warming no worse than a mug of hot chocolate. The drums depict the rustle of lazy snowfall and crackling in the fireplace. Shade Of Blue is a magnificent ballad with a radiant melody, as if overheard from an unnamed Italian singer in the middle of the last century. Eternal holidays in the Eternal City.

Rock’n’Roll Baby (Girl Of My Dreams) He could have performed Dion at the beginning of his career, if he had been well-fed, rich and imposing then. Talk Of The Devil is a dark, by Halpin’s standards, ode to passion, spiced with a menacing twang of a twanging guitar. A warning to the noir characters, greedy for fatal beauties, dragging lovers into the abyss. They Call It Rock’n’roll is an unexpectedly lyrical country song with an explosive solo unexpectedly for a country song. The final one. It leaves a pleasant aftertaste of single malt drinks.

Dominic Halpin has recorded another excellent album. Devoid of aggression and dark intentions, which are implicitly present in the best examples of the genre, it nevertheless has a lot of other advantages and can often serve as the very balm that calms the frayed nerves in the morning. The plush moon is climbing into the sky of black velvet, Moon Dogs!

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Shade of Blue by Dominic Halpin
https://www.dominichalpin.com