Crazy Cavan 'n' The Rhythm Rockers - Our own way of rockin'

Crazy Cavan and The Rhythm Rockers with a rockin' re-release of a seventies album.

1.Boppin' 'n' shakin' 2.Whatcha gonna do 3.Old black Joe 4.My own way of rockin' 5.Drinkin' wine 6.That's my house 7.My little sister gotta motorbike 8.Why don't somebody 9.Tennessee border 10.Teddy jive 11.Gotta be my baby 12.Monkey and the baboon 13.Gonna rock, gonna roll, gonna boogie 14.Saturday night

Crazy Cavan and The Rhythm Rockers - Our own way of rockin'

Crazy Cavan 'n' The Rhythm Rockers with an album originally issued in 1977. It contains the hugely popular 45 of the day (track 7) along with other tracks that are still much-requested items at Crazy Cavan's gigs to this day.

In the beginning - just like it's been said - there was nothing but a crowd of rough dudes hanging about in Newport, South Wales playing rock'n'roll because it was exciting and that way it was easier to get somebody else to buy you a pint of light and bitter. Then they introduced Crazy Cavan And The Rhythm Rockers who haven't ever seen any future in compromising, musically or any other way. In 1969 South Wales wasn't such a bad place to start. They got 'Crazy' Cavan Grogan; a dynamic, mean-looking and rubber-legged singer with the longest pair of drainpipes in the business. Lyndon Needs, fresh from school and the guitar shop; ready to play all the flashy leads, and if you gave him an inch of stage he'd leap miles in every direction. Terry Walley, who doffed a rhythm guitar and a cowboy hat and hasn't been seen without either since. Mike Coffey, a tubs man with a fearful backbeat; who, you might be forgiven for thinking, learned to play drum by sinking piles in Cardiff dockyard single- handed. And, of course, a Mr. Bassman. First it was Don Kinsella, a powerful anchor for six years. Now new boy Graham Price (a fully paid-up Welshman) has slotted in neatly as the four-string backman. They kept the first prototype - Count Dracula And The Vampires - firmly the other side of the Severn Bridge.
     But when the Rhythm Rockers headed their first battered Transit down the M4 you could see it was time to look out. They weren't just a bunch of old greasers trying to revive seat slashing or sock hops - no sir, this was something else again. They'd taken Rockabilly - raw, powerful Deep South Rock 'n' roll with a backbeat you couldn't lose and guitar solos that cut right through you - and added the much lamented British skiffle, a touch of Country, and the odd dash of jukebox rock 'n' roll... and there you had it. Fervent, frantic and foot stomping Crazy Rhythm. And just to keep all thoughts of being just another rock 'n' roll revival band firmly back in Tiger Bay Lyndon Needs and Cavan Grogan began writing songs. Before you could say Charlie Feathers they had an EP out on their own label. With 'Teddy Boy Rock 'n' Roll' and 'Wildest Cat In Town' on it, it didn't stay in the shops for long and already it's a collector's item.
     By then a Crazy Cavan concert was something to look forward to. There could be crowds of Teddy Boys on the stage singing the chorus to 'Real Gone Lover'... or throngs of London nightclubbers who couldn't resist the temptation to bop when Cavan came on. Now, two LP's later, they've hit a peak with 'Our Own Way Of Rockin'. The first was 'Crazy Rhythm', packed with excitement; but rushed and raw. Then the first Charly album 'Rockability', produced by John Schroeder and with every song written by Grogan and Needs. It was a step away from live excitement and towards studio maturity, yet with all the beef, burl and bounce it was takeably Cavan.
     'Our Own Way Of Rockin' has the best of both worlds. It's back to the roots on one hand and the fresh, original best of Crazy Rhythm on the other. All the wagon-whipping fervour of Roy Brown's 'Saturday Nite'... a classic stomping treatment of the immortal 'Old Black Joe'... a romping 'Tennessee Border'... hiccuping, echoing vocals and a mean back-beat on 'Gonna Roll, Gonna Rock'... and the humourous urgency of 'My Little Sister Gotta Motorbike' to name a few. It's all there - the best, the zest and the rockingest. It's a live sound; direct, full and authentic; and powerful enough to wear out anybody's brothel creepers on the living room carpet. Mike Coffey kicks hard into his drumkit, Graham Price and Terry Walley hold down their rhythm wall, Lyndon Needs slices razor-sharp solos off his top strings as he splits and leaps about and Crazy Cavan grabs the microphone. One leg - encased in tight jeans - trails behind him, moving with the beat. He attacks the words and they echo compulsively through the speakers with a brutal urgency... Crazy Cavan And The Rhythm Rockers are back in town and they're not here to mess about. Just like the live show you've got a slice of prime-time good rockin' tonight, see? The influences and the originals and the Grade A goods... the main men doing it their way and there isn't none better. How about getting stuck into their way of rocking, before it sticks one on you? Original sleeve notes - John Shearlaw (The dog-eared reporter!)

Crazy Cavan and The Rhythm Rockers