NICK CURRAN AND THE LOWLIFES

REFORM SCHOOL GIRL

2010-03-24

Having earned his stripes as guitarist for Ronnie Dawson, Kim Lenz and, most recently, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, one might expect that Nick Curran would be turning out yet another blues based guitar disc. One might expect wrong! Kicking things off with the Little Richard style rave-up, "Tough Lover", Curran rips through 14 tracks of hot-wired 50’s rock, rockabilly, surf and punk with hardly a nod towards traditional blues- and that’s not a bad thing. With loads of attitude and both the vocal and guitar chops to back it up, Curran puts on one hell of a party. The rhythm section is supplemented by keys, a horn section and Ronettes style girl group back-up vocals, giving Curran the sonic company he needs to take the tunes beyond mere stylistic covers of the various genres. Hearing the buoyant fun of these tracks makes you wonder how music this raw and compelling ever fell out of favor to be replaced by the overwrought mess that often passed for rock in the late 70’s and then again in the 80’s and 90’s. Looking back through time it is clear why punk rock and bands like the Ramones had to emerge to blast the dust off the music. Curran takes on the same task for the new decade. Put this on, turn it up loud and remember what it feels like to surrender to wild abandon. Smitty