|
The
Tail Gators
Live '84-96, Volume 4
LeRay Records |
The
Tail Gators' recent live series of releases sadly comes to a
conclusion with Live '84-96, Volume 4 (LeRay Records).
This latest edition extends the latter date on the title from
1990 to 1996, with several of the 13 tracks coming from the
band's later releases. The band roster features Don Leady
(guitar/accordion/vocals), backed by original Tail Gators Keith
Ferguson (bass) and Gary “Mudcat” Smith (drums/background
vocals) on about half the tracks. Later members JJ Barrera
(bass/bajo sexto/background vocals) and Chico Oropeza
(drums/background vocals) play on the remaining tracks, along
with guests Mike Buck (drums) and Mark “Kaz” Kazanoff (sax)
sitting in on a song apiece.
Three tracks come
from The Tail Gators' terrific 1996 release, It's A Hog
Groove!, and they include Leady's zydeco shuffle “Talk To
Me,” Lead Belly's “Keep Your Hands Off Her,” and “Might Make You
Blind,” another Leady original.
The rumbling closer,
“Hoodoo,” is from 1990's Hide Your Eyes, “Rock Bayou
Baby” is from their 1985 debut Swamp Rock, and their
crisp take on Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith's “Guitar Boogie
Shuffle” is from 1987's Tore Up. The raucous “Ok, Let's
Go” comes from the 1989 album of the same title.
There are also
several songs on this set that never made it to a Tail Gators
studio release, including the swamp classics “Big Time Operator”
(which Leady did record on the LeRoi Brothers' Check This
Action! release in the early '80s) and “Blues Stop Knockin'
At My Door,” Jimmy Reed's “Shame Shame Shame,” and a pair of
Leady compositions, the rocking “La Grand Mamou” and the
Cajun-flavored “Hold You (All Night Long),” on which he breaks
out the accordion.
As with the other
three volumes, everything sounds just fine and the performances
are awesome. For longtime fans like yours truly, these releases
were a wonderful reminder of what The Tail Gators provided us
from the mid '80s to the mid '90s, a wide variety of American
music styles like we'd never heard before. Thanks so much to Don
Leady for allowing these recordings to see the light of day, so
we can revisit those times.
--- Graham Clarke
