706 Union Ave And Beyond

This CD is downright essential, as the only compilation representing Jumpin' Gene Simmons' early career. The first 13 cuts on this CD represent Jumpin' Gene Simmons' complete official recordings for Sun Records, only two tracks of which -- "Drinkin' Wine" and "I Done Told You" -- ever originally surfaced officially. This is some of the best rockabilly music ever recorded; Simmons didn't have the singing range of Elvis Presley, but he had a sheer kinetic energy as a performer and personality that was almost impossible not to respond to, and rockabilly music brought that side of him out to great advantage. "Drinking Wine" and "I Done Told You" were, in fact, two of the strongest tracks among those he did for Sun, but almost everything here is in the same class with them; the exceptions are a pair of slow country ballads on "Down on the Border" and "If I'm Not Wanted" that fail to show off any of Simmons' strengths, but everything else is material devised to get people up and dancing. Of the other eight Sun-era tracks, two, "Shake, Rattle & Roll" and "Peroxide Blonde And Hopped Up Ford," are demos and a bit rougher than the finished songs, while six others are simply alternate takes of existing masters, several with rough vocal tracks. The "beyond" part of the compilation refers to ten decidedly slower, more heavily produced tracks from Simmons' stay on Hi Records, still with a great rock & roll beat, if not the frantic tempos of Simmons' prior music; even these have several highlights, most notably a stereo mix of "Haunted House." The annotation is minimal, the licensing information is a little sketchy, the title appears in two different ways between the CD and the jewel case spine (leading one to wonder about its origins), and some of the sources on the music itself sound a little less than perfect; but this disc is still a lot of fun and a guaranteed good time for any '50s rock & roll fan. ~ Bruce Eder