The Blasters: Non Fiction

The Blasters: Non Fiction

1983

Slash Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Red Rose  2. Barefoot Rock  3. Bus Station  4. One More Dance  5. It Must Be Love  6. Jubilee Train  7. Long White Cadillac  8. Fool's Paradise  9. Boomtown  10. Leaving  11. Tag Along


After being blown away by the self-titled album, I went out immediately and found the follow-up album, "Non Fiction."  In a way, I kinda wished I had heard this one first...I think after hearing the near-flawless previous album anything is going to sound a bit lacking in comparison, yet this too is a killer album...It's just not quite as killer...Whereas "The Blasters" put you right into the center of the heat, it feels like you're watching from a slightly safer distance on "Non Fiction"...Still, it's impossible to be unmoved when you're listening to rock n' roll songs as great as "Red Rose," "It Must Be Love" and "Bus Station." 

 Again, this is a smarter take on traditional rockabilly...Check out "One More Dance"...Its attributes are equal or superior to any classic sock-hop bop (catchy beat, a knockout horn section) but with a knowing bent to it...Same goes for "Long White Cadillac" which gives Hank Williams the kind of intelligent, literary sendoff his signature genre (country) could never quite muster: 

"Night wolves moan,
The winter hills are black,
I'm all alone,
Sitting in the back,
Of a long white Cadillac..."

I tried listening to Dwight Yoakam's (much-later) cover of this song but  it was so slow moving I couldn't do it...That's why I think The Blasters originating from the 80's punk scene makes such a difference to me...Why loiter on a great thing, when you can move on quickly to the next one...They assumed the audience could follow along, even though this probably moved waaaay too fast for the 50's folks who were the original audience for this kind of stuff...Listen to the meltdown at the end of "Tag Along" for a prime example of this...

 I almost think if this were recorded a little hotter and had a single catchy singalong equal to "Marie, Marie" or "So Long Baby Goodbye," I would probably prefer it to "The Blasters"...It's more self-assured, more their own thing...A great little record that really shouldn't be overlooked...Every single time I play it, it grows in stature for me...

Here's "Long White Cadillac" by the Blasters...Enjoy...