Saturday Rolling Around

Recorded during one of only six performances in the summer of 1981 and not released for ten years, the GPs' Saturday Rolling Around was probably never meant to see the light of day. Finally made available in 1991 thanks to Dave Pegg's Woodworm Records and public demand, the record reads like a primer of great American songs and influences from Nashville to Detroit and Oklahoma to New York (Buck Owens, Hank Williams, Holland/Dozier/Holland, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis). The British folk-rock supergroup, devoid of ego and pretension, rip through a collection of ragged but right favorites, along with a few originals, like a great pub band on a Saturday night. Ralph McTell, best known for the folk classic "Streets of London," alends his rich vocals to cuts like the Eddie Cochran rocker "Cut Across Shorty," a touching "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and a folk-rock version of "Pretty Boy Floyd," while Richard Thompson flexes his rock & roll muscle on the Band-derived arrangement of Marvin Gaye's "Don't Do It (Baby, Don't You Do It)," a powerful "Going, Going Gone," aon which he plays the part of both Dylan and Robbie Robertson, and a torrid "Great Balls of Fire." The rhythm section of Pegg and Dave Mattacks, with their potent backbeat, hammer home the fact that this is not a bunch of folkies trying to play rock & roll. Though it may only be of interest to fans, Saturday Rolling Around is a chance to hear a group of great musicians and friends get together to play some great tunes for the sheer love of the music. ~ Brett Hartenbach|