Description
Lovers of good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ gospel, jungle blues, doo-wop and dancehall tunes alike, rejoice: the Stoneking is back.
While it’s not quite boogaloo, the Aussie musician has certainly overhauled his sound. Not only has Stoneking replaced his preferred vintage National guitar and banjo for a ‘shiny gold Fender’, but he has also dropped the horns from his backing band, the Primitive Horn Orchestra. The result of this is pure rock ‘n’ gospel bluesy goodness. Gon’ Boogaloo is a raucous party album; an unrestrained, devil-may-care, lo-fi affair that is a total joy to listen to. Quite impressive considering Stoneking recorded it in just two days on a 2-track Ampex 351 1/4 tape recorder, with two microphones and no over-dubs or edits.
The making of Gon’ Boogaloo was said to be a drawn-out and generally exasperating process, or as Stoneking himself put it, ‘a headf—k of gargantuan proportions’. Listening to the album, you do get a sense of his desperation and desire to just get it done; with the end result being anything but exasperating to listen to. It’s difficult to fault a man whose music pays true homage to an already much-adored and well-executed style of music, and besides — you’ve got to admit he does it pretty damn well.
