Disco de The Detroit Cobras: “Love, Life & Leaving”

Forget everything you've heard and read about the White Stripes for a minute. Oh, sure, they're cute in their red and white togs and all, despite Jack White managing to look like he's just vomited in almost every photo you see of him, but on a grass roots level, they barely register on the radar in their hometown of Detroit. I should know - I live there...

And despite Meg White's ability to master her drum kit in much the same way a left-handed pre-schooler masters tying his shoelaces, it's women like Wendy Case of The Paybacks and Rachel Nagy of the Detroit Cobras who are the real queens of the roost around here. Live with it.

Although they've been tied up in my own back yard since 1994, it wasn't until an on-line acquaintance sent me a mix CD last year that I got my first taste of The Detroit Cobras. Quite simply put, Nagy's voice, whether she realizes it or not, is a gift from above.

"Shout Bama Lama," a cover of the old Otis Redding shouter, just may be the best thing the Cobras have ever done. It's stop-and-start cadence and churning glam/punk guitars, Nagy purring "She's bustin' bricks now," actually forced me to pull my car over to the side of the road the first time I heard it.

We may be dirty and broke here in the Murder City, but we're also smart. Look no further than the Detroit Cobras for proof positive.

The Detroit Cobras have a healthy disregard for musical fashion and play almost exclusively brilliant, scorching covers of favourites from their vinyl collections from the fifties onwards, paying welcome particular attention to artists with a Detroit connection. There have been a number of line-up changes over the years but always with Rachel Nagy's vocals backed up with Maribel Restrepo on rhythm guitar and backing vocals, and on this record with Dante Aliano (guitar), Eddie Hawrsh (that's how it is spelled on this record)(bass and keyboards) and Damian Lang (drums).

Although fourteen songs are thoroughly dealt with, the whole album is over in half an hour because when a song is done, it's done, and sometimes this only takes a minute and a half. If only more bands would adopt this policy!

Hey Sailor is actually Mickey Lee Lane's Hey Sah-Lo-Ney, which he cut for Swan back in 1965. The Ronettes are an obvious source of inspiration and for He Did It the Cobras reach back to their pre-Spector days at Colpix, and a song co-written by Jackie DeShannon (now a Cobras' fan after hearing their versions of He Did it and Breakaway). Find Me A Home is more properly known as Home In Your Heart when first recorded by Solomon Burke, who also had the original of the much-covered Stupidity. Oh My Lover may be known to you if you ever turned over your copy of the Chiffons' He's So Fine and played the other side. Cry On is a cover of an early Irma Thomas hit written by Allen Toussaint (contrary to other reviews it has nothing to do with Ronnie Mack). Mary Wells wrote Bye Bye Baby for Jackie Wilson but when Berry Gordy heard it, he had Mary Wells record it herself at United Sound in Detroit for his new Motown label, her first single in 1960, making her sing it in a hoarse voiced style which makes it a natural for Rachel's naturally throaty vocals.

Boss Lady is the band's re-interpration of local band's Davis Jones and the Fenders' Boss With The Hot Sauce. Laughing At You takes us back to the Gardenias (not the Guardinias as printed in the booklet), who wrote and recorded it for Detroit's Fortune label in 1957 as I'm Laughing At You. Bob Dylan played it on his Theme Time Radio Hour special on laughter. Ike and Tina Turner had a regional R&B hit with You Can't Miss Nothing That You Never Had (disguised here as Can't Miss Nothing) in 1963. That leaves Right Around The Corner originally by the Five Royales in 1956, written by Charlie Singleton and Rose Marie McCoy; Won't You Dance With Me was by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels when they were still known as Billy Lee and the Rivieras; Let's Forget About The Past was on the flipside of Clyde Mcphatter's huge 1962 single Lover, Please; and finally Shout Bama Lama, possibly the definitive version of this song, was by Johnny Jenkins' Pinetoppers in 1961, featuring a novice singer called Otis Redding.

This is a great album, over too soon, but short enough to play all over again straight away, even louder, which I recommend you do.

Very cool album. Nagy's got pipes. "Hey Sailor" is flat out powerful. A couple of the other tracks have an ampling Big-Bopperesque beat that is a little too simplistic...maybe could have been amped up a bit more...just not as strong as some of the other tracks, and pale slightly by direct one after another comparison.

In any event, I bought 5 very good CD's this month and this is the one getting all of the time in the player. I will be picking up more Cobras. I also want to see them live, but haven't seen where they make the trip over to GR very often.

Goes nicely with city that is re-inventing itself as we speak.

It's a little rock, a lotta soul, and a whole lotta danceability. I love it. This record starts strong and never lets up and that's why I love it so much. Good old rock and roll covers of all sorts of different tunes. There's no sense in going into specifics as the entire album is awesome. Fitting for this to come from the motor city as it feels like it has an engine and won't stop until it breaks down. This isn't a hype, it's a fact.

You've never heard of the Detroit Cobras? What a shame. This group out of (you guessed it) Detroit is a traditional rock and roll group covering oldies you have never heard, in a way you have never heard. Fronted by a female lead singer with a gritty but perfect voice, this group ROCKS! But more than that, they're FUN - every song they do is just great fun - perfect party music.

I was turned onto this group by my wife, who has seen them play live (and met the singer in the bathroom afterward). After hearing how much she loved them, I bought all the CD's I could find of them, and we love them all. Highly recommended - you won't be disappointed!