On the cover on JK Rockets release, Songs from the Cradle of Rock ‘N’ Roll, is the quote, “Dedicated to keeping the original sound of Rock ‘N’ Roll fresh and alive”. This is a very admirable goal for Johnny Kay, a former lead guitarist for Bill Haley and The Comets, who I’m sure has been repulsed at least a time or two when listening to rock radio the last few decades. Here he is joined by his brother Stan and Bill Rapp as JK Rockets.
Sadly this album suffers from a critical flaw that is hard to recover from, a bad start. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and on “Text Me Baby”, JK Rockets really does the one thing you hoped they wouldn’t, they attempt to modernize a classic sound. I get the desire to appeal to the younger generation, but texting already seems somewhat outdated when Mom’s can do it and the listener feels uncomfortable with the way it comes off. In the middle of the album, you’d probably just skip it, but how often do you listen to an album when you’re already prepared to skip track one?
After track one, I think you get what you expect, classic rock, pop, and blues, reminiscent of the music that built the foundation for music forevermore. The songs are of course well written, just as you’d expect from these veterans. It does lack the youthfulness heard back in the sound’s heyday, but it sounds like what you’d expect from these artists making these songs today. I think a lot of people that wish they could still hear yesterday’s songs today will be very pleased with Songs from the Cradle of Rock ‘N’ Roll, but leave the attempt to be more current out.
Kevin Kozel-MuzikReviews.com Staff
September 15, 2009
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