Missouri rockabilly singer and guitarist
Marvin Jackson never had more than a regional hit, but something about his straight-ahead, don't give up approach to early rock & roll is deeply affecting.
Jackson camps out right where the rougher sounds of rock & roll began to emerge from country, and starting with his first self-released singles in the late 1950s all the way through to his lone album, which came out in 1985, he never veered from that template, churning out simple, driving rockabilly with no frills and not one iota of sophistication.
When You Rock and Roll collects all of
Jackson's independent singles, the complete 1985 album, and several previously unreleased tracks into what amounts to his life's work. There isn't a lot of variation here, and the lyrics have a serious case of arrested development, but
Jackson is so obviously doing music he loves, that the end result is rather winning. The best tracks (although everything here wears the same clothes) are "When You Rock and Roll," "Peek-A-Boo" (which sounds like low rent
Buddy Holly), and the second of two takes of "Gee Whiz, Miss Liz," the closest thing
Jackson ever got to a hit. Rockabilly fanatics will love this release, while casual listeners may well see it as 60 minutes of the same maddening song. ~ Steve Leggett