No Reservations Review by Canadian Cath

Canadian Cath -The Groove- a publication of the Blues Association of South East Queensland :

Boogie in the Barnyard – Shades of Louis Jordan or what. And upon checking the CD liner, yep, there it was L. Jordan (additional lyrics by I. Dittman) Good stuff! From what I can see there are only two covers (out of 14) track 1 and track 14 Rufus Thomas – Walking the dog. The rest are all penned by Ian Dittman and John Russell with a little help from Omah Gourd?! on The Sheik (of Bondi Beach ) These guys got a great sense of humour. Anyway The Bellhops are a six-piece Sydney based band and No Reservations is their second album, the first being Room Service also on Full Moon Records.

The Bellhops are: John Russell (lead slide and Dobro guitars), Mark Roulston (bass and harmony vocals), Ian Dittman (lead vocals and rhythm guitars), Steve O’Connell (tenor and soprano saxophone), Ed Schots (baritone saxophone and bass clarinet) – it’s good to hear a band with some brass – and Steve ‘Wrongway’ Lovarini on drums.

OK back to No Reservations. Hard for Me and Have I Got the Blues for You, both well done -not bad for an entrée … Mains: Bellhop Boogie – yes, I’m a sucker for a red hot boogie and this one sizzles. Reminds me of the Big Bad Wolf in his zoot suit, fedora and the Three Little Pigs Courtesy of Warner Bros’ Looney tunes. Crazy Feet – what can I say? This is what The Bellhops said ‘A Hi-Fi-Bre retro dish served with foot tappin’ sauce’. I like the lyrics that go: She got big brown eyes, She got funky thighs, She got long dark hair, She got stuff Everywhere!

One of my most favourites is Lord, Lord – a New Orleans sounding gospel song that I don’t think they would sing in church. Listen to the lyrics and you’ll get what I mean. And now for something completely different – The Sheik (of Bondi Beach ) It ain’t Chad Morgan, thank God … more like a mock up of Rudee Valee. This CD is a lot of fun and well put together. Make sure you have No Reservations at your next party!
Cheers

Canadian Cath