They can be fast and furious as in ‘All Right,’ ‘Living In The Heart Of Love,’ ‘I Really Love Rock’n’Roll,’ ‘The Hook,’ ‘Some Kind Of Hero.’ Other times, the opposite is true.
What astounds is his ability to keep coming at you with meaty, chunky riffs that consistently hit you, that are so fresh, that are of the same family-but differ like sun and moon. It aims for the heart and the feet, classic in its execution and sound. This is r’n’b done Wilko-style, made to his taste. In this collection you can hear the depth of his talent. Instead he extended his palette, coloured it up. Crucially, Wilko did not deviate from his style, did not seek musical fields unknown to him.
WILKO JOHNSON GOING BACK HOME REVIEW PLUS
Wilko and Blockheads bassist extraordinaire Norman Watt-Roy plus drummer Salvatore Ramundo and then his replacement Dylan Howe, clicked. It was after his work with Dury that he moved into gear. He played on their album Laughter, went on tour. He then put together the Wilko Johnson Band, before being enticed to play with Ian Dury and his Blockheads. Johnson was a solid guy, a good heart beating just above his Fender guitar.Īfter Dr Feelgood, Wilko formed another band, The Solid Senders. And we suspected he took an awful amount of speed given his bulging eyes and manic playing.Īnd despite the intense staring, the lack of a smile on-stage, the pudding bowl haircut, the inability to wear any other colour than black, the frantic and frenetic music, we also knew that Mr. We knew he wrote lyrics that would configure a flurry of classic Dr Feelgood singles such as ‘Roxette’, ‘Down By The Jetty’, ‘Keep It Out Of Sight’ and ‘She Does It Right.’ We knew he adored Johnny Kidd & The Pirates guitarist Mick Green whose hammer and tongs style he had been attempting to emulate. We knew he used to teach English (it would have been great to have been in his class). His real name was John Peter Wilkinson, born July 12, 1947. That’s the connection, the DNA.”īy then we knew something of Wilko. That bridge is exclusively The Feelgoods, it allowed us to go from one thing to another. The Stranglers Jean Jacques Burnel said of Wilko’s former outfit Dr Feelgood, “I often say to journalists there is a bridge between the old times and the punk times. But by the time they’re finished you know you’ve been to a gig. Songs rarely reach the three-minute mark. If you have the good fortune to see him in the flesh, watch his hands (not his plectrum) chopping out mean riffs, chopping out brutal guitar solos, as he moves constantly, towards the crowd and away from the crowd. Songs that are sung from the heart and played from the soul. Including re-workings of Wilko penned Dr Feelgood favourites ‘She Does It Right’, ‘Twenty Yards Behind,’ ‘Sneaking Suspicion,’ and ‘Roxette,’ alongside further dynamic numbers such as ‘Turned 21,’ ‘Some Kind Of Hero,’ ‘Out In The Traffic,’ Barbed Wire Blues,’ ‘Down By The Waterside,’ and ‘I Really Love Your Rock ‘n’ Roll’- I Keep It To Myself / The Best Of Wilko Johnson is a splendid collection of high-octane rhythm & blues with that unmistakable Wilko Johnson Fender greatness stamped all over it. VIA PRESS RELEASE | Continuing his association with the reactivated Chess imprint, the label that issued so many of the tunes that inspired him in his youth, I Keep It To Myself / The Best Of Wilko Johnson draws together 25 tracks recorded between 20 by the legendary guitarist and songwriter with backing largely provided by Blockheads Norman Watt-Roy (bass) and Dylan Howe (drums), the same rhythm section that performed on Wilko’s enormously successful Going Back Home album with Roger Daltrey.
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