The Paladins | Re"jive"inated

The Paladins is - or was, since they seem to have parted their ways - a real live band. With an average of 200 gigs a year, they were always on the road for over fifteen years in a row. The title of their live album Million Mile Club says it all, I guess! As goes for The Paladins' studio records, there's not such a high standard as with their live shows. The 1988 (or maybe 1987) self titled debut album had a strong '50ies atmosphere, honky tonk rockabilly blues at its' best and is a favorite of a great deal of their fanbase, partly due to Kim Wilson's bare-bones production. With Years Since Yesterday and Let's Buzz they delivered some fine tracks as well, more orientated on the blues but with a less original sound - more '80ies, production-wise - and on the whole not as great as the debut. Luckily enough The Paladins released Ticket Home in 1994 and showed they surely knew how to catch their live sound on tape. Ticket Home contained more creative and adventurous song-writing, a modern yet rootsy rockin' approach and an excellent production of Los Lobos' Cesar Rosas. They continued their high quality rootsrock with Million Mile Club (1996), after which The Paladins unfortunately returned to the rockabilly with a country flavour and left the real rockin' to others. Slippin' In, Palvoline No. 7 and El Matador are not even a close to the level of their mid-nineties albums. The main reason for the ups and downs lies in the rhythm section: when playing with drummer Jeff Donovan, frontman Dave Gonzalez was pushed to another level. That's a whole different thing than the jazzy, not-so-tight and cosy style of drummer Brian Fahey. The Paladins haven't split up officially, but nowadays Dave Gonzalez plays with Chris Gaffney in The Hacienda Brothers, an outfit that plays some damn fine country. Although Gonzalez doesn't rock as he used to, he did go back to playing with class A musicians and thus he got back to the higher level he once had.

Anyway, you say, where the heck is Re"jive"inated?

O.K.! Re"jive"inated is the 1999 re-release of Ticket Home, after it was originally released under influence of 'record company marketing decisions' and got out of print in the U.S. of A. The Paladins kept control of their masters and waited until they could re-release the album as they originally intended it to be, with a couple of extra tracks and a different setlist. The main reason this album is my favorite Paladins record lies in its' deep soul and sincerity, more than any other album they did. Mature songs like Ticket Home, Comfort You and One Love are genuine for their breathtaking arrangements, dynamic and tasty musicianship and, most of all, a band singing and playing right from the heart. This stuff gets to you. The rolling-down-the-road bluesy rock of One Step and 15 Days are groovin' and definately movin', as well as the jazzy Re"jive"inated track, the rockabilly fire-cracker (Lil') Irene and the slow, moody Who's Been Sleepin'. The laid back rockers Every Time I See Her and Brand New Heart add some dynamics to the build-up, as they reveal some of the sympathetic attitude of The Paladins. The've been around the block, they wore the T-shirt (and didn't even pay for it!), they simply uplift themselves to the highest rootsrock level. Gonzalez proves to be one hell of a singer and in this period his guitar slingin' is obviously under the influence of early Clapton, Canned Heat and Stevie Ray Vaughan. There are a LOT of guitarplayers that try to get there too, but Gonzalez understands where the originals come from and makes them his own. That's a whole different thing than to imitate those cats! The other strong persona in this era of The Paladins is Jeff Donovan: he gets Gonzalez to places he couldn't (re)visit with any other line-up the band ever toured or recorded with. Thomas Yearsley isn't all that present on Re"jive"inated as a bassist, although he gets one third of the writer's credits and sings a tune or two in the typical Yearsley-madman style.

Even with the extra tracks on Re"jive"inated, I think Ticket Home is a stronger album. I can understand this raises some eyebrows, for all songs on Ticket Home are also featured on Re"jive"inated, but the differences lie in the somewhat superfluous extra tracks (Look What You're Doin' To Me, Wastin' My Time, Time After Time and the humurous rocker Elvis' Sister) and the order of the songs. Ticket Home starts off with Ticket Home and Every Time I See Her, then some rockin' with 15 Days, One Step and Lil' Irene, followed by a couple of unbelievable soulful songs, concluding with two 'fillers', Re"jive"inated and Ruby Lee. Re"jive"inated hits off with the three rockers to get the party goin', but with Look What You're Doin' To Me, Wastin' My Time and the two 'fillers' it looses tension. Then it feels as if you're turning the LP over, to continue with the soulful songs for which I love this album. For the folks who'd like to hear as much of the mid-nineties Paladins as possible, Re"jive"inated is a welcome reissue and shows how good San Diego is to this world, sharing this band with us 200 nights a year. My advice would be to burn a CD-R following the Ticket Home track order, without the extra tracks. Maybe you'll agree, maybe not! Any other way you'll have a strong and moving album by The Paladins at the height of their creative peak.

Mike

www.thepaladins.com
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