Mars Attacks are one of the best ambassadors of Rockabilly music in Europe. For this album they have re-recorded some of their favourite songs (including the covers!) from their earliest releases. Though surprising at first, it turns out to be a good idea, their old material being either only available on vinyl or out-of-print. So why not reissuing it with today's sound? The result is 26 killer tracks. It's no use to write a song-by-song review, you just have to know that these guys are top musicians.
If you already know Mars Attacks, you know what I mean, if you don't, this is the perfect album to discover this quartet.

Fred "Virgil" Turgis

Mars Attacks returns with a brand new album featuring 14 tracks to celebrate their 10th anniversary. It comes in a nicely designed digipack (as usual with Blue Lake Records) with a booklet containing the lyrics and a poster.
As you can guess it’s full of very good rockabilly. The set opens with two hot numbers, reminding the style of Rip Carson on My Simple Life. After another good rockabilly with a title reminding the late Ronnie Dawson (Awful Bad At Being Good) the band switches to Sonny Burgess mode with trumpet. They should do more like that. «Next Time» is a country bopper with fine finger pickin’ and brushed snare. They do justice to Billy Lee Riley’s Got the Water Boiling (wild vocal here!) and mellow with «Not Only In Dreams» under the double influence of Roy Orbison / Elvis Presley. It wouldn’t be out of place on a Paul Ansell’s Number Nine album. It’s time to get wild again with the Johnny Burnette influenced (think Train kept A Rollin) «You Only Like The Fast Songs» that features great lyrics like «Speed It Up, don’t Get Too Slow / We don’t wanna sound like Mr Mannilow». «Full Moon Rock» adds a touch of blues to the set followed by a ballad with a country edge and a heavy rocker with loud guitar and drums. Nice! The instrumental «Jazz Attacks» (with quotes from Chinatown My Chinatown / Take 5 / Big Noise From Winnetka) closes the set. Though it’s not bad, I don’t find it essential and ending the album with «Nice Mr Heavyweight» would have been more efficient.
Warmly recommended!

Fred "Virgil" Turgis

If you were at the 10th rockabilly rave you’ve probably have seen this austro-swiss band. I managed to see them playing with the great Sonny Burgess and they really impressed me. Sadly I missed their own show and listening to this cd I really regret that. This is a kind of thematic-concept album made of love (as the title suggests) songs (10 originals and 4 covers). The lyrics are exploring every steps of a relationship from the desire (I’m Gonna Get Ya) to the rupture (I Just Feel So Sad) via the happiness (In My Dreams) and every feelings in between. In term of authentic recording JCR recording service is one of the 2 best place in Europe (with Berlin Lightning Recording Service). Combine a good studio, the knowledge to use it and most of all a killer band with good songs of their own and the result is explosive. Mostly a pure rockabilly album (“She’s Gone” one of the best here had a hell of rhythm section on it) you find some “traditional” rock’n’roll too like “Rome Wasn’t Build In A Day”, “Misunderstood” in a very Presley-esque style, a bit of country ala Johnny Cash (the cover of “King Of Fool”) and “Leavin’ It All Behind” shows the influence of Sonny Burgess with its trumpet part played by singer Roland Riedberger. Charlie Rich’s “Rebound” is for some obscure reasons one of my favourite song and let me tell ya that their cover is just perfect. To be short this album is probably one of the best European relase I had the chance – yes this is the word - to listen to this year, even the cover, a beautiful digipack, is perfect. As an extra bonus you have a short movie of Mars Attacks in the studio or to be honest a movie of the band drinkin’ in the studio .

Fred "Virgil" Turgis