I became a kind of fan of Comrade Rino after the Roadracers movie and decided to collect his entire discography, starting with The Juke Jumpers band. And although Johnny’s discography is very small, it turned out that a significant part of his songs are very, very difficult to find: I have not been able to find two of his albums in digital form. So I saved up some small change and bought myself some vinyl records – and today I want to share one of Johnny Reno’s albums called Full Blown! If you suddenly want to hear my opinion about this record, then as usual I will write notes as I listen to it. But if you don’t want to read me and just want to listen to my CDs, then feel free to scroll down the article, there will be a video and a link to download the tracks. In the meantime, I put the needle on the disc and turn on my turntable.
Full Blown opens with the track Runnin’ For Cover, which sounds pretty modern. More precisely, it sounded modern at the time of the album’s release – in 1985. Runnin’ For Cover is the perfect sample of 80s light rock, right down to the unobtrusive semi-psychedelic synthesizer part in the background. Overall, it’s a good, unremarkable, but pleasant-to-hear song, but it doesn’t sound at all like the classic rock and roll I expected to hear. But maybe he’s waiting for us next.
And so it is: from the first notes of the track Hey There, I recognize the familiar rhythm of the bass, which is quickly replaced by a pleasant piano solo and the magnificent vocal work of Johnny Reno. The keys and the voice are what creates this song. The pleasant swirls of the keyboard instrument are accompanied by alternating guitars and saxophones, Rino skillfully plays with his voice – and, of course, as befits proper rock’n’roll, the whole thing is accompanied by a continuous solid bass line. That’s the kind of music I wanted to find on this vinyl.
Don’t Let Go continues the motifs that were set by the previous track – this is the same song that Johnny performed under plywood in the Roadracers movie. And then there’s Dude… Okay, that’s going to be a spoiler. In general, I personally like tracks like this – they have some kind of special, specific atmosphere that puts them on a separate shelf from all the other songs. The king of this sound is, in my opinion, Everyday by Buddy Holly.
In the track Got You On My Mind, a vocalist named Chris Cummings is waiting for us. As far as I understand, they sing with Johnny together, creating a very pleasant – and, as it turned out, the only slow sound on this record. As always, I liked the slow rock and roll, and the most memorable side of this song for me was the melodically sobbing saxophone in the background – this instrument definitely sets the tone for the whole track.
And the last track on the A-side is called Thrill Me – and this is probably my favorite song of this part of the disc. Johnny Reno’s vocals are beyond praise here, and every note of his voice penetrates to the very depths of my hearing. Comrade Rino definitely made this song, and if you want to listen specifically to Johnny, then you need track number five. There’s a lot of vocal work here, a lot, and overall it reminds me of either Screamin’ Jay Hawkins or Larry Williams – and since I love them both, I liked this song too.
The B-side opens with the track Wish Me Luck, and the melody again deviates from the classics towards the sound of the eighties. I wonder why both sides of the disc open with just such songs? Personally, it seems to me that such tracks belong more at the end of the record: I see them as bonus tracks, but I can’t figure out what they’re doing in place of the title tracks. And somehow, to evaluate this song, then, perhaps, we can say that I liked Runnin’ For Cover more.
Fortunately, as on the A-side, the second track opens with a classic bassline and saxophone familiar to the ear. Yes, in Nothin’ On My Mind (But You) has, it seems to me, somewhat unusual vocals for rock and roll, but, nevertheless, in my opinion, the song does not get out of the rut as much as Wish Me Luck or Runnin’ For Cover. She has a place on vinyl with fifties music, at least because of the excellent bass player playing.
Hide And Seek brings us even closer to the classic sound we all love – and, perhaps, claims to push Hey There off the second place among my favorite tracks on this cd – the saxophone and piano cheerfully butt heads with each other in solo parts with skillful bass playing, and Johnny perfectly complements everything It’s about your vocals. The third song on the B-side is definitely one of the most harmonious and well-composed on this album, where all the members of The Sax Maniacs work evenly, skillfully complementing each other.
The penultimate track of this vinyl is almost entirely devoted to two saxophones – one of which, in fact, is in the hands of Johnny Reno. Yes, he is not only a vocalist, but also a very skilled saxophonist. The words and vocals in this track are clearly in second place – like all other instruments, in principle. The wind instruments have completely taken over for a few minutes on this vinyl, but this is by no means a reproach. Besides, that Well Oh Well moment, in which the melody of two saxophones merges into a single solo, is really damn good.
And the last song, called (It) Feels So Good, is an unusual mix in which classical parts are combined with much later screaming vocals and synthesizer solos. It’s unusual, but, I must say, it’s very pleasant to the ear – at least for mine, since I love all kinds of wild mixes.
To summarize the short review, I’ll say this: the record is definitely worthwhile, but why the first tracks of this disc are so out of line with the general theme is something I could not understand. However, the other eight songs have plenty of melodies designed for fans of the sound of the dawn of rock music, so my time was well spent and even useful. I hope that you will come to the same conclusion for yourself and will be waiting for Johnny Reno’s next album.
2. Hey There
3. Don’t Let Go
4. Got You On My Mind
5. Thrill Me
6. Wish Me Luck
7. Nothin’ On My Mind (But You)
8. Hide And Seek
9. Well Oh Well
10. (It) Feels So Good
Download Johnny Reno & His Sax Maniacs – Full Blown (1985) (rar, mp3, 77 Mb)
There was also a record in 1983, Born to Blow… link to the 1983 album Born to Blow https://yadi.sk/d/LLAktOsTEZAvgg
There was, but without the band The Sax Maniacs. And even earlier, Johnny could be found in The Juke Jumpers band. They also have a couple of bomb records.