No Going Back
Leina
Page Records Spring 2007
By Grant Britt
The Deal: Philly Indie rockers redefine skate punk.
The Good: Leina sounds like a punky version of the Go-Gos: faster, with better guitars and more funk. But this aint no girly pop. Leiana the singer and the band deliver their message about as subtly as a punch in the nose. The songs are little thought snippets, pounded into place with Treeces sledgehammer guitar and nailed down with Leianas punky, adolescent -sounding vocals. Its billed as skatepunk, but its more interesting than the fast-paced industrial sludge/speed-metal fusion that usually defines that genre. This stuff has plenty of punch provided by big power chords played at a headlong gallop. Guitarist Chuck Treece plays guitar Leslie West would be proud of. "Suffer" sounds like Belinda Carlyle fronting Mountain; big fat, crunchy riffs that slide greasily down the fretboard.
"Friend" is an interesting standout, the closest thing youll find to pop, but with a snarly enuff attitude that you wont mistake it for teenage angst. "Me Again" is full tilt head-banging, and "No Going Back" sounds like it just dropped out of Metallicas setlist.
The Bad: Its recycled Go-Gos, but done well enough to make it seem new and interesting.
The Verdict: If you missed your morning caffeine fix cause your local stop-and-rob was out of Jolt Cola, this is a fine substitute.
Wanda Jackson
I Remember Elvis
Goldenlane Records
A lot of people remember Elvis, but few got to share a stage with him, and fewer still were lucky enough to share his life. Wanda Jackson already was already getting noticed as an up-and-coming country star when she shared a stage with Elvis in '54. She and Presley saw each other offstage as well, and Presley offered Jackson career advice between romantic interludes. "Without the encouragement of Elvis Presley, I may have ever recorded rockabilly or rock and roll," Jackson says, introducing her latest, I Remember Elvis. "So this is just my way of saying thank you to a dear friend." She then rips into "Good Rockin' Tonight."
She sounds like a slightly huskier, hipper version of Brenda Lee. It takes a lot of guts to try to cover Elvis' signature tunes including "Love Me Tender," "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky." But Jackson doesn't just cover 'em, she makes them her own.
You can't tell from her vocals that she's nearly 70. There's still plenty of punch in her delivery, and enough twang to cause vibrations at Elvis back yard resting place at Graceland as he tries to twitch along with her.
Wanda Jackson isn't Elvis, nor is she trying to be. But she's a proud standard bearer for his music, a vigilant keeper of the flame for the King's burnin' love and a queen worthy of the rockabilly throne.
Grant Britt
Angela Strehli
Blue Highway
MC Records
Her voice is the essence of Texas blues-high,wide and lonesome. But on her latest MC Records release, Blue Highway, Angela Strehli proves she can rock as well. Her tribute to Clifford Antone, founder of Austin's premier blues venue, Antones, is more slam-bang rattly rock and roll than blues.
Strehli also strays from the blues when she takes on Ernie K. Doe's "Hello My Lover." It's a daunting task, since she's got two great versions to compete with-Ernie's rambunctious ramble and also Willie DeVille's gritty, back-alley creep. Strehli pulls it off easily, slinging enough sexual innuendo around to get everybody excited including gravel-throated duet partner Paul Thorn, who admits at the end of the cut that Strehli has gotten him so worked up with her throaty promises that he's experiencing performance anxiety.
Strehli has always had plenty of punch in her, and she demonstrates that throughout the record, whether covering Ann Peebles' "Slipped Tripped and Fell In Love" or punching out a big, blustery take on Inez Anderson's " Lord Don't Move the Mountain."
The most moving cut is "SRV," a tribute to Vaughan that's one of the best of that ilk. Though it's all been said many times since Vaughan's death, Strehli manages to sound neither trite nor maudlin. Its a moving, heartfelt tribute to a man who, as she says, "left a hole in fans' hearts the size of Texas" when he passed.
There've been too many holes left in the heart of the blues scene recently. Let's hope that Strehli will be around for a long time to come to light up the world with her robust voice and her big heart.
Grant Britt 
