A Rockin' Decade

Album Review

Sleepy LaBeef is a giant of a man, with a booming baritone voice and a deep, rumbling guitar tone to match his size, and his live shows are legendary, non-stop country rockabilly romps, full of good-humored energy. Unfortunately, a good deal of that energy gets bottled up when it's unleashed in the studio, and LaBeef's recording legacy pales next to his live shows. That said, the recordings he did for a reconstituted Sun Records in the 1970s, the best of which are collected here, come as close as we're likely to get to capturing the hurricane force and feel of one of his shows. Track after track catches fire and roars off, and there are plenty of highlights here, like Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business," a rampaging run through of Carl Perkins' "Matchbox," an exploding, kinetic take on Junior Parker's "Mystery Train," and a wonderful version of Kokomo Arnold's "Milk Cow Blues," although everything included here shares the same territory. Again, the best way to really get this guy is to catch a live show, but failing that, this is the set you need.