Search - Moon Mullican :: Seven Nights to Rock

This is where R&B, blues, country and rock met

Patrick Wall | Waterford, Wateford Ireland | 07/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD is both a must for longterm Moon Mullican fans like myself and beginners. It also is a history lesson in origins of rock 'n' roll. Tracks like "Grandpa stole my baby", a cover of a Roy Brown jump blues, sound exactly like the type of music Elvis would do in 1956 on RCA (Elvis even backed his vocals with piano like Moon does here on some 1956 tracks!), while "7 nights to rock" and "I'm mad with you" show us Moon's answer to rock's arrival in 1956 itself.An obvious inspiration to Jerry Lee Lewis, Moon (like Jerry Lee) was a singer/pianist who was comfortable with all aspects of roots music. Rock fans will love the above mentioned tracks and note Moon's position in the music world as a founder of rock 'n' roll - but, that alone doesn't do justice to him.Country fans will go for tracks like the excellent "Crippled for life" (which inspired "Long black limousine", which is in effect the answer song to this 1954 classic by Moon), while "So long" mixes jazz, blues and bluegrass all in one. Moon also co-wrote "Jambalaya" with Hank Williams, and Moon's terrific version is here. Another great cajun-style song, "Hey Shah" (albeit with more Iranian than Cajun French lyrics!!) is also featured.Swing and oldtime pop were among the best styles Moon sang, and "Maybe it's all for the best", "If you don't want no more of my loving", "Sugar beet" and "Think it over" all feature Moon's best jazz-swing vocal and piano stylings. "Too many irons in the fire" mixes swing and country at will.The alternate takes of "Wanted" and "Without a port of love" are obviously not as polished as the master takes I own on other albums, but are still great to hear. However, the more polished version of "Wanted" is not yet on CD. The alt takes feature more bluesy, impassioned singing, though (but are in no way commercial like the master takes)."Keep a light in the window for me" and "You don't have to be a baby to cry" feature some excellent vocalizing, that pointed towards the styles of Jerry Lee and Jim Reeves. Moon even manages to breath new life into the calypso novelty standard "Honolulu rocka rolla" and the rather silly country standard "Jose the Mexican boy".What I can never understand, though, is why much of this material was not on CD already. "Think it over" was completely new to me (I had most other non-CD items here on 45 RPM), and I can't see why it was not more famous as it is one of the best songs Moon ever sung and one of Moon's best performances as well.For all the above reasons, this is one of the best CD releases of all time. Anyone who likes blues, swing, country music and 1950s rock 'n' roll should get this."