CARL PERKINS: BORN TO ROCK (1989)
1) Born To Rock; 2) Charlene;
3) The Rain Might Wash Your Love Away; 4) Hambone; 5) A Lifetime Last Night; 6)
Cotton Top; 7) Baby, Please Answer Your Phone; 8) Till I Couldn't Stand No
More; 9) Don't Let Go; 10) Love Makes Dreams Come True.
As the Eighties rolled about and rock music
started to develop a historiographic tradition for the young 'uns, Carl Perkins
was dutily enshrined, wrapped in plastic, and revered for his 1950s backlog, while
at the same time politely prevented from putting out new material, lest the
legend be soiled and tarnished by subpar additions. Admittedly, the man himself
had little interest in catching up with the rest of the world, not to mention
having to battle with personal problems, such as alcoholism, so it's not as if
he had all that much to offer. In fact, most of his public presence at the
time was linked to his far more famous disciples — he worked on a Tug Of War song with Paul McCartney
(ʽGet Itʼ was quite a fun little number), and then took part in a 1985 rock
show with George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Dave Edmunds (A Rockabilly Session, now available on DVD and quite a fun little
concert).
Whatever albums he did release, though, were
few and far in between; never charted; quickly went out of print; and more than
often never went back in print again. Apparently, after the rather ridiculous
1978 «comeback» album he no longer stooped to recording collections of «golden
oldies», aside from such oddities as 1996's Go Cat Go, which was really more of an all-star tribute to Carl
than a proper Carl record; but it is not easy to ascertain what exactly he did record, given that most of his discographies
are fairly messy, and some even contradictory.
Out of this mess, as one last cohesive nugget,
I will fish out Born To Rock, a 1989
album that Universal Records actually released on CD, so you can find a digital
equivalent somewhere out there if you put in a little effort. At that time, in
the late Eighties, Carl did a little collaboration with The Judds (Naomi and
Wynona, that weird country duo of mother and daughter where you couldn't really
tell who was the mother and who the daughter), so, in retaliation for his
services, he got their producer and bandleader to produce a new record all for
himself. If you know what The Judds sound like — and you'd better not — you'll
probably smell disaster in the air, but, fortunately, Carl never let those
other guys get the best of him, and thus,
Born To Rock sounds nothing like a
typical Eighties' album.
If it doesn't quite sound like a typical Carl
Perkins album, either, it is mainly because Carl does not play a lot of guitar
on it, or, at least, a lot of lead guitar. I am not sure if this is due to
health problems that he was going through at the time, or if it was a conscious
decision on his part, but take heed, my friend: Born To Rock is a Carl Perkins album with very little Carl Perkins
lead guitar on it (most of it found on the title track). He sings, he covers,
he composes (a bit), but the days of jubilant six-string noises are mostly
over.
But nevertheless, Born To Rock is a fun ride if you can get it. Carl Perkins can be
boring when he simply re-records his old hits, or when he limits himself to
generic country, yet whenever he puts his mind to the task of coming up with
something a tad less predictable, his charm, humor, and subtlety always make it
work. And work it does, particularly on the new songs co-written by Carl with
his sons, Stan and Greg Perkins. The title track is in the man's classic
rockabilly style, with anthemic, humorously self-aggrandizing lyrics to boot;
ʽCharleneʼ is a re-write of some Chuck Berry number, accommodated to Carl's
needs and riding on a simple, but effective pattern from piano player Bobby
Ogden; and the two country ballads, although hampered somewhat by unnecessary
backing vocals, still sound unusually heartfelt and «humanly» tender — perhaps
because they were freshly written by the Perkins family rather than borrowed
from the usual Nashville conveyer belt. ʽLove Makes Dreams Come Trueʼ, in
particular, is the kind of song that I usually cannot stand because of all the
corn syrup, but Carl's vocal delivery indicates that he really cared — it's
one of those rare occasions on which he could rival Johnny Cash in terms of emotionality
and direct human appeal, so to speak.
There are a few re-recordings of Carl's older
obscurities as well (ʽHamboneʼ, ʽCotton Topʼ), and a couple new songs from
outside songwriters that are relatively easy to forget, but on the whole, not a
single tune here is unlistenable — if anything, the importance of Born To Rock is in showing that, until
the very end, Perkins preserved a decent sense of taste, and, unlike many
others, never allowed himself to be dragged into suspicious avenues.
Synthesizers, drum machines, questionable technologies, pop-metal guitars,
adult contemporary — forget about that. Cleaner production, sharper mixing,
occasional straying away from the stereotypical rockabilly formula, that is allowed, but the man simply
would not allow anybody to try and turn him into something he was not, and in
the end, it paid off handsomely. Had he «sold out», he would probably not have actually
sold many more records, but soiled his reputation. As it is, I am happy to say
that I still have to hear a «bad» Carl Perkins album. Boring, yes, as the man
pretty much let go of his songwriting skills past 1960 — but «bad», as in
«embarrassingly» or «ridiculously» bad, never (well, Ol' Blue Suede Shoes comes close, perhaps, but still, even those
re-recordings were «unnecessary» rather than «awful»). So take this last thumbs up
as referring not just to Born To Rock
as an album, but to Carl's messy, obscure, and sometimes quite gratifying post-1960
career in general. Sometimes charisma and integrity may actually mean more than
songwriting skills and dazzling musicianship — I'd say Carl is a prime example
to illustrate that statement.
Check "Born To Rock" (CD) on Amazon
"but Carl's vocal delivery indicates that he really cared"
ReplyDeletePlus the arrangement is, for country, unusually minimal. It's the overemotive approach that makes countryballads as unbearable as powerballads. A bit even more minimal and Love makes Dreams come True is not that different from When a Blind Man Cries. Totally enjoyable afaIc.