The Tail Gators The Tail Gators Live '84 - '90 Volume 1 LeRay Records

Don Leady has released released another set of live recordings from The Tail Gators captured between 1984 and 1990 during the band’s U.S. and European tours. Entitled The Tail Gators Live ’84 – ’90 Volume 1 (LeRay Records), this set features a dozen tracks played by the original band (Don Leady – guitar/fiddle/vocals, Gary “Mudcat” Smith – drums/backing vocals, and Keith Ferguson – bass), including several songs from their albums plus a few that many fans may be hearing for the first time. All capture that heady mix of swamp blues, swamp pop, swamp rock, hillbilly, R&B, and surf.

The disc opens with the only Tail Gators original, Leady’s raucous “All I Really Want,” one of many highlights from the band’s 1989 release Ok Let’s Go. The driving rocker “All Night Worker,” from Rufus Thomas, first appeared on the band’s 1985 debut Swamp Rock, and the wild and wooly Jesse “Babyface” Thomas cover “Let’s Have Some Fun” originally appeared on 1990’s Hide Your Eyes.

The band’s terrific instrumental read of “Mama Inez” appeared on Ok Let’s Go as the traditional Cajun tune “Mama Rosin.” I was thrilled to see that there was also a live version of “Colinda,” another Cajun classic that the band covered on 1987’s Tore Up, and I can just picture the audience dancing as this one was played.

Al Ferrier’s swinging “Let’s Go Boppin’ Tonight” is here (originally recorded by the band for Hide Your Eyes), and so is the sizzling Link Wray instrumental “Fat Back,” which also appeared on Tore Up, as did “Diggin’ & Datin’,” the rockabilly classic recorded by Gene Henslee in the mid ’50s, and “Lookin’ For Money” (the Al Urban tune that was titled “The Ballad of Stagger and Lily” on Tore Up). The bluesy instrumental “20-75” was recorded by Willie Mitchell for Hi Records, wiht the band reprising their version from Hide Your Eyes.

Two “new” tracks that were not previously recorded on Tail Gators albums make an appearance here. “Don’t Push Me Too Far” is a jaunty country rocker recorded by Skeets McDonald in the mid ’50s, and the rowdy rockabilly number “Tear It Up” was written and recorded by Johnny Burnette. The Tail Gators have a blast with both tunes.

Leady remastered these songs from the original tapes, wtih the sound surprisingly good considering the recordings are 35+ years old. He recaptures the energy and intensity that the band always had, retaining the celebratory feeling that the music brings about from listeners as evidenced by the appreciative crowds heard on some tracks.

The Tail Gators Live ’84 – 90 Volume 1 will be a welcome addition to any Tail Gators fan’s collection because the performances are top notch and, well, if they’re like me, they just can’t get enough of The Tail Gators. I am eagerly awaiting Volume 2.

--- Graham Clarke