Gusha-gusha Music

Album Review

Following on from the exquisite Funky Afternoons, former Roogalator frontman Danny Adler's first solo album of the 1980s caught him in an unforgiving mood, driving through an album of relentless intensity, built around some of the finest songs of his career. From the opening "Solid Sender," both titled and styled after ex-Feelgoods guitarist Wilko Johnson's last band, through the wry irony of the closing "God on a Mudguard," Gusha Gusha Music is angular blues fed through the deepest boogie, which rarely loses sight of Adler's sharp eye for pop hooks. "Fantasy Pants" is Elvis Costello meets "Lipstick on Your Collar"; "Rockaround" predicts the imminent emergence of the Stray Cats et. al; "TGIF" is solid Philly soul; "Kiss It Goodbye" is the Beatles caught in the Cavern; and all building up to the frenetic final salvo of funk ("Gusha Gusha Woman"), blues ("Ghost Train Ride"), and self-fulfilling prophecy — "The Ten Commandments of the Boogie." All of which could have emerged as an absolute mish-mash, disparate styles ricocheting off the listener's head and leaving only confusion in their wake. But Adler's vocal is the glue that binds them, and his guitar simply doesn't know when to quit, layering every song with such stylish licks and leads that he could play through every genre in the book and never give your ears a nasty jolt. Which might well be what the title phrase is getting at — "Gusha Gusha" isn't in any dictionary you'll ever read. But one listen to this magnificent album and you'll know precisely what it means. Gusha gusha...great, great!