Go Go Harlem Baby

Last updated
Go Go Harlem Baby
Go Go Harlem Baby.jpg
Studio album by
Released1991
Recorded Easley-McCain (Memphis, Tennessee)
Genre Punkabilly [1]
Length39:47
Label Sky
Producer Jim Dickinson

Go Go Harlem Baby is an album by the American punkabilly band Flat Duo Jets. [2] [3] It was released via Sky in 1991. [4] [5] The band supported the album with a North American tour. [6]

Contents

The album was reissued by Third Man Records in 2011; it was for a time one of Jack White's favorite albums. [7] [8]

Production

Recorded at Easley McCain Recording, the album was produced by Jim Dickinson. [9] [10] The majority of Go Go Harlem Baby was recorded in three days. [11] "You Belong to Me" is a cover of the Duprees' song; "Apple Blossom Time" is a cover of the standard made popular by the Andrews Sisters. [12] [13] "Wild Trip" is a cover of the Ventures instrumental. [14]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [15]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [16]
Orlando Sentinel Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [17]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]
The Tampa Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [18]

Trouser Press wrote that "the ultra-live sound of the speedballs renders some of them generic, although [Dexter] Romweber continues to excel on the slower cuts, offering an atmospheric reading of the instrumental classic 'Harlem Nocturne'." [12] Spin called Romweber "the Crispin Glover of rock'n'roll singers," writing that he emotes "with a creepy edge that Jerry Lee Lewis himself would be hard-pressed to match." [19]

The Orlando Sentinel thought that "for a rock 'n' roll animal, Romweber has an amazingly pretty voice." [17] The Washington Post opined that "wild-eyed, gravel-voiced singer/songwriter/guitarist Dexter Romweber remains an original, his genius and his preposterousness inextricably linked." [20] The Tampa Tribune said that Romweber's guitar "can screech with icy feedback or sing in a warm rush of echo." [18]

AllMusic wrote that the band's "deliciously dirty and rough brand of rockabilly is unrivaled, and this disc is perhaps their finest." [15]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Flat Duo Jets Anthem" 
2."The Dainty Song" 
3."Go Go Harlem Baby" 
4."You Belong to Me" 
5."Frog Went a Courtin'" 
6."No Greater Love" 
7."I Don't Know" 
8."Harlem Nocturne" 
9."Wild Trip" 
10."Rock House" 
11."Stalkin'" 
12."Don't Blame Me" 
13."Love Has Its Joke Sometimes" 
14."TV Mama" 
15."Apple Blossom Time" 
16."Ask Me How I Live" 

Personnel

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References

  1. 1 2 The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 249.
  2. Unterberger, Richie; Hicks, Samb (August 25, 1999). Music USA: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides.
  3. "Flat Duo Jets: Bow to Primitive Rock". Calendar. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 28 May 1992. p. 7.
  4. 1 2 Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 3. MUZE. p. 491.
  5. "Flat Duo Jets Biography & History". AllMusic.
  6. Pahnelas, Bill (1 Apr 1991). "Minimal Rock Soars to Maximum Effect". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. A11.
  7. "Blues Genes: 15 of Jack White's Biggest Influences". Rolling Stone. May 29, 2014.
  8. Sullivan, James (5 June 2009). "A man out of time – the 1950s". The Boston Globe. p. G22.
  9. "Dexter Romweber: Beyond the Flat Duo Jets". Perfect Sound Forever.
  10. Earles, Andrew (September 15, 2014). Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996. Voyageur Press.
  11. Popson, Tom (10 May 1991). "'Psyched-up' rockabilly from the Flat Duo Jets". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. M.
  12. 1 2 "Flat Duo Jets". Trouser Press. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  13. Hyden, Steven (May 17, 2016). Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me: What Pop Music Rivalries Reveal About the Meaning of Life. Little, Brown.
  14. Menconi, David (15 Mar 1991). "One dynamic duo". Weekend. The News & Observer. p. 3.
  15. 1 2 "Go Go Harlem Baby". AllMusic.
  16. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 432.
  17. 1 2 Gettelman, Parry (17 May 1991). "Flat Duo Jets". Calendar. Orlando Sentinel. p. 30.
  18. 1 2 O'Neill, Mike (12 Apr 1991). "Flat Duo Jets". Tampa Bay Times. The Tampa Tribune. p. 19.
  19. Menconi, David (May 1991). "Spins". Spin. Vol. 7, no. 2. p. 74.
  20. Jenkins, Mark (19 Apr 1991). "Don't Judge Bands By Their Label Size". The Washington Post. p. N18.