Smoking In Heaven
Sunday Best SBESTCD44P
Tomorrow - Will I Ever - Baby Don’t You Know - Don’t Make A Fool Out Of Me - I’m Going Back - Paan Man Boogie - Messing With My Life - What Quid? - You’ll Soon Be Here - I’m So Sorry - You’ll Be Sorry - I’m Coming Home - Smoking In Heaven.

Maybe it’s the double bass, their look or the old-fashion way they have to cut their records (mostly live with vintage microphones), but Kitty, Daisy & Lewis have been hastily tagged “Rockabilly”.
But it’s a very reducing view and if you listen closely, you’ll hear that Rockabilly is just one small ingredient in their musical stew.
After a first album mostly made of covers, “Smoking In Heaven” a joyful musical mess featuring 13 self penned songs, comes to prove that Kitty Daisy & Lewis are not stuck in the 50’s. Thus, next to the rockabilly of I’m Going Back and the Arthur Crudup-esque You’ll Be Sorry, one can find tracks with a rocksteady beat (“Tomorrow” and “I’m so Sorry” that sees the Durham family augmented by a trumpet and a trombone) and harmonica led jam that sounds a bit like Creedence Clearwater Revival extended jam at the end of Keep On Chooglin (Smoking In Heaven). You’ll also be rewarded with a good dose of swing (Will I Ever), country skiffle (I’m Coming Home that features a great guitar solo from Lewis), piano led boogie woogie (Paan Man Boogie), 60’s British blues with Hammond ala Animals (Baby Don’t You Know) and hypnotic Chicago Blues revisited by T-Rex (What Quid an obsessive 7 minute instrumental). And if you still believe they’re a retro, just listen to the funky groove of “Don’t Make A Fool Out Of Me” (that reminds me a bit of G-Love & the Special Sauce) and the totally unclassifiable “Messing With My Life”.
And because they’re young, they approach all those styles without any complex but with a highly infectious and fresh attitude.
Of course, they’ll loose some fans on the so-called purist rockabilly scene who don’t see farther than their pompadour, but Kitty Daisy & Lewis are precious because they’re bringing new blood, solid songs, original ideas and most of all… they rock!

Fred "Virgil" Turgis