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This is an anomaly. Though perhaps it shouldn't be: a compilation devoted to the first rockabilly revival in Great Britain in the 1970s. The sounds of this music are represented here by movement progenitors Hank C. Burnette, Crazy Cavan & the Rhythm Rockers, the Jets, Matchbox, Flying Saucers, Riot Rockers, Danny Wild & the Wild Cats, and Chevrolet, with one really rare cut included by Crepes 'N Drapes. The hip thing about all this is how stylistically divergent all this music is. Burnette was easily the wildest and took the most liberties with the form, informing his performances with big, Elvis Presley vocals and overdriven guitars that actually presaged punk, whereas the most famous of these groups such as Matchbox were really rooted in the root sounds of the country boogie era. It hardly matters, since virtually everything here comes across as something utterly new, yet out of space and time. It's important to remember that this music was all made after the original Teddy Boy era, and before the Stray Cats brought a new rockabilly revival over to the U.K. in the heyday of punk. The Burnette tracks still sound ferocious on this set, and the Matchbox and Flying Saucers numbers sound the most archival or "authentic" (in a museum-like way) to the original spirit of rockabilly. Either way you slice it, it's amazing, and a hell of a listen all the way through. ~ Thom Jurek
