Shaking Street by The Sick Rose
The Album you are holding in your hands represents an Italian underground piece of history.
It is the first digital issue of Shaking Street, the second LP by the most devastating garage band Italy has ever encountered: the Sick Rose.
Way back in1989, when this album was released – originally on Claudio Sorge’s Electric Eye label – the Italian and the international underground r’n’r scene was evolving very fast. A strong wind from USA was bringing harder and more aggressive rock and roll sounds, that within a few years will develop into a phenomenon that today is known as grunge. At this point of their career also the Sick Rose was moving to a much more guitar oriented sound, partly abandoning the original garage-punk with folk and psychedelic influences of their beginning (their legendary 7” Get Along Girl! and the seminal debut album Faces), getting closer to the classic American rock’n’roll bands like MC5, The Real Kids and The Flamin’ Groovies. Besides the natural evolution of the band, a further contribution to the style change was given by a line-up turnover that saw the replacement of the farfisa organ player Rinaldo Doro by a second guitarist Jacopo Arrobbio, the group’s former roadie.
With this new line-up – Luca Re (vocals), Diego Mese and Jacopo Arrobio (guitars), Maurizio Campisi (bass) and Dante Garimanno (drums) – the Sick Rose recorded Shaking Street. An explosive album, with an absolute balance among original songs (“Little Girlie Pearl”, “She’s Got”, “Like The Other Kids”, “A Kiss Is Not Enough”) and three perfect cover versions: the title-track “stolen” from MC5 repertoire, “Raining Teardrops” by the obscure mid Sixties Australian band Sir Barrington Power Pack and “Up Is Up” by the Real Kids from Boston. Two years before the Sick Rose had released, again on Electric Eye, a double 7” that you can also find for the very first time on a CD. “It was a “buy-one-get-two-records” deal” – that is the explanation for the title Double Shot”, recalls Luca Re today. Two originals and two covers: the opening track that displays a heavy, very much guitar oriented sound (“It’s Hard”), followed by an outstanding synthesis of garage sound and Hammond beat (“When The Sun Refuses To Shine”) and two vibrant remakes, “Nothin’” by the Canadian Ugly Ducklings and “My Time” by the Golden Dawn from Texas.
The new edition is completed by two previously unreleased bonus tracks, two unreleased demo recordings from 1989 done on a small 4 track recorder: a fascinating acoustic version of “Shaking Street” and a cover of “Yesterday Numbers” by Flamin’ Groovies, at that time one of the band’s major influences. The second phase of the extraordinary artistic adventure of the Sick Rose can be found in its entirety here. All you have to do now is to turn on your cd player and play these song at maximum volume!
Tracklist
| 1. | Little Girlie Pearl | 2:58 |
| 2. | Like The Other Kids | 4:20 |
| 3. | Shaking Street | 2:51 |
| 4. | She's Got | 2:16 |
| 5. | Raining Teardrops | 3:01 |
| 6. | A Kiss Is Not Enough | 2:58 |
| 7. | Don't Keep Me Out | 3:27 |
| 8. | Little Sister | 4:07 |
| 9. | Up Is Up | 2:59 |
| 10. | Teenage Nightdrive | 3:59 |
Credits
License
All rights reserved.
Leading Garage Band in the 80s with the groundbreaking Faces album, The Sick Rose evolved through the decades into adulthood as a true r'n'r band, beyond all typical stereotypes with critically acclaimed works like Blastin' Out and No Need For Speed. Someplace Better, the band's 7th album, represents the sum total of all their influences and experiences.