Reviews of "It's Still Rock'n'Roll To Me"

5-Star (out of 5) Recommendation in the "What to buy" section.

"The Jime is back! You betcha! The first chords of 'It's Still Rock 'n' Roll To Me' already had shivers goin' up and down my spine. What a sound, full living stereo and what a bass on this Billy Joel original. Vince Gordon wrote: 'From the first time I heard this song in 1984, I wanted to do a neo-rockabilly version of it. When I was pickin' out songs for this album I found an old tape of mine. It was one of only two tapes I put together when I was young and the ONLY ones I used to listen to, and sure thing this song was on it.'

It only took Vince three minutes to write 'There's A Thing About Love'. Wow, wish I could write a review that fast. Listen to that guitar break howling through your speakers, awesome! Guitar breaks huh? Well, the super fast 'Wanna Rock, Wanna Bop' has got FIVE. No kiddin'!! Vince 'The Guitar Wizard' Gordon at full speed! And like The Jime did 'Train Kept A Rollin' on their album 'Mean Side of Town', they're now spawning a super neo version of Johnny Burnette's 'Lonesome Train'. Actually, this is a shorter version than the one they play on stage, Vince cut one solo out (that hurts) coz he figured it seemed to fit better on a recording...

Some authentic stomping rock'n'roll thunders in with 'Rock It! Rock It!, could have been a Wild Angels song, a basic pounding to get you in the groove. Vince Gordon about 'Looking For A Girl Like You': It's a song about girls, cars and rock'n'roll. What more do you need? Stop whining!'

The Tom Petty original 'Learning To Fly' was right up Vince's alley, and he just had to make a rockabilly version of it. And does it rock! On 'Had Enough Of Love', Vince recalls that he was very drunk when he recorded the guitar licks, a little drunk when he did the piano, and almost sober when he did the vocals. He says, 'When you you record a good version, then the song is DONE and you can move on to the next song.' Since this is the inevitable ballad, let's just do that and move on to some more rockin'...

'Around The World' is a very happy basic rock'n'roll song, Vince remembers he wrote this song the day his mother died, and he still wonders how he could write a joyful song on a day like that. A friend suggested he might have had a co-writer! Some more excellent rockers pass the revue, the hot rockabilly song 'Sign Of The Times', the bluesy 'Time Gone By' and the fast neo-rocker 'Wild, Wild, Wild'. 'Do It' is a basic revival rockabilly Stray Cats style song, written by Vince some ten years ago, about time too he recorded it!

What's that I hear on 'I Wanna Hold'? A Hammond organ? Right... Let's pretend I didn't hear that, and move on to the next song - 'Help', a Beatles original of course, that really didn't need rearranging I think, but Vince's guitar licks are great as ever. Last but not least 'On The Other Side', another Vince Gordon orginal is incomparable to anything you ever heard before and can only be labelled as 'The Jime Sound' - lotsa echo, ultimate stereo and Vince's scorching lead guitar. The entire album was produced, recorded and engineered by Vince Gordon. What a guy!"

Marijn Raaijmakers, The BlackCat Website, Holland.

Jungle Records in Finland gave it (4½ out of 5) but 4 of their customers gave it (5!) he, he =;)

"Sweeping aside the trend of primitive recording techniques within rockin' music, The Jime perform well crafted, well produced Neo-Rockabilly inspired by the likes of the early Stray Cats output and the later recordings by The Bluecats. Maintaining all of Rockabilly's most appealing aspects (catchy guitar riffs, pumping slap bass), The Jime present their excellent third album!"

Howard Raucous, Raucous Records, UK.

"Whooo-weee heck yeh! The Jime sure know how to whip up a rockin' fury with a Gretsch hollow body guitar, an old-fashioned upright bass, and a savage barrage of drums. Perfectly complementing the jaunty, knee-knocking instrumentation is a vocalist who robustly croons, yelps, and wails like a crossbred mutation of Elvis, Carl Perkins, and Eddie Cochran. Most of the sixteen songs on here are full-blown rockabilly rave-ups that are guaranteed to knock your goose loose, quiver your liver, and shake'n'bake your backside silly. But the lonesome, smoky, piano-driven melancholy of 'Had Enough Love' has heartbreak and misery stamped all over it, and if it doesn't melt your insides and inspire a flood of tears, then, man, you just ain't got no soul. The bluesy, alley-roaming swagger of 'I Wanna Hold' sounds like it was recorded after hours on a rainy night in a dimly lit pool hall located on the wrong side of the tracks. And, lord a-mercy, let me not forget to mention the raucous rockabilly renditions of Billy Joel's 'It's Still Rock'n'Roll To Me', Tom Petty's 'Learning To Fly' and The Beatles' 'Help'. All in all, this spectacular bone-shakin' disc is packed to the gills with the finest of today's neo-rockabilly sounds. I do declare! The Jime are the new kings on the block!"

Rockabilly Revue #4 2003, USA.

"A very good band in full control" , R.O.C.K. magazine, Norway

"A must for all Rockabilly fans" , Rockin' Fifties Magazine, Germany

"This third release is without doubt modelled on the early Stray Cat sound, so if you like that sort of thing, then you will love this album with 16 very well produced tracks. ... fine tunes with great vocals..." , Billy B Bad, Southern Rock, UK

"One of the best, if not the best, rockabilly bands of today." , Anchormans Stray Cats site , Holland.

"At the moment this band is being celebrated worldwide as the best new "Neo-Band" , Sillybilly website , Germany

"The Jime komt uit Denemarken en we bespraken drie jaar geleden Mean Side Of Town, hun vorige cd. The Jime is een trio bestaande uit Vince Gordon (voornamelijk zang/ gitaar), Kris 'de Duke' Andersen (contrabas) en Jan 'Sticks' Frifelt. The Jime speelt of speelde af en toe met een Nederlandse drummer, maar die is hier blijkbaar niet van de partij.

De titeltrack is een cover van de gelijknamige Billy Joel song, in 1984 een hit in Amerika maar in Nederland vrij onopgemerkt gebleven. Ik vind, en vond het niet echte rock 'n' roll, met The Jime is daar nu geen discussie meer over mogelijk: dit is rock 'n' roll! Een wél van origine 100% rock 'n' roll song en moeilijk acceptabel te coveren song als Lonesome Train blijft warempel een 100% rock 'n' roll song, maar dan in een vette neo-rockabillyjas. Daar heb ik wel eens ergere versies van gehoord.

Maar de meeste songs zijn zelfgeschreven, en wel door frontman Vince Gordon. The Jime laat horen dat neo-rockabilly heden ten dage nog steeds verfrissend en spontaan kan klinken. Want geef toe, veel neo-rockabillies proberen toch die sound van hun idolen The Stray Cats te benaderen. En dat hoeft The Jime niet. Niet qua sound en niet qua songwriting. Dat neemt niet weg dat er flink gebeukt wordt in oppeppers als There's A Thing About Love (dat als een soort bluesbopper begint en tevens wat Burlison gitaarkneepjes in zich heeft), Wanna Rock Wanna Bop (rechttoe rechtaan, recht voor zijn raap rock 'n' roll), Rock It Rock It (swingende piano rock 'n' roll), Wild Wild Wild (wild, wild wild...!). The Jime is ook van andere rock 'n' roll markten thuis: Around The World is een jiver, Had Enough Of Love en I Wanna Hold zijn zelfs ballades en samen met enkele niet direct in een duidelijk afgebakend hokje te plaatsen songs maakt dit alles deze cd tot één van de betere neo-rockabilly cd's van dit moment."

Frans van Dongen, Boppin' Around Magazine, Holland.

Diego Geraci, The Hot Rod Guitar Website & Adels, Italy.

After hearing the Jime's latest release "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", I was surprised that I have not heard of this neo-rockabilly trio from Denmark before. Released on Nervous Records, "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" is the Jime's third release to date and contains some of the best neo-rockabilly I've heard in quite a while.

Starting off with a cover of Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" (if you hadn't already guessed), the CD is done in what lead singer/guitarist Vince Gordon describes as a "fat American sound". To me it sounds very dynamic and full in range, a departure from the usual mid-range sound that most neo-bands tend to shoot for. The rhythm section is flawless and Vince pulls out some leads that would even make old Setzer himself a little green with envy. Stand outs o­n the CD are "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me", "There's A Thing About Love" (best track in my opinion) and "Rock-It!Rock-It!" (guaranteed to get your toes a tappin). I also dug their treatment of Tom Petty's "Learning to Fly" quite a bit as well. Be sure to check these guys out!!!

Mattfink , Planet Rockabilly, USA.

The Jime ist seit Ihrem Album "Mean Side Of Town" einer meiner Lieblingsbands. Das neue Album, frisch auf Nervous herausgekommen, ist fuer alle Neo Rockabilly Fans ein Muss, aber nicht nur fuer die. Mittelpunkt bei The Jime ist Saenger/Songwriter/Guitarist Vince Gordon. Bis auf 4 Coverversionen sind alle Songs selbstgeschrieben.

It's Still Rock'n'Roll To Me (Billy Joel)
Lonesome Train (Johnny Burnette)
Learning To Fly (Tom Petty)
Help (Beatles)

Aussergewoehnlich, diese drei Pop Hits einmal im Rockabilly Sound zu hoeren. Ebenfalls aussergewoehnlich ist die Lonesome Train Version von the Jime. Ich habe schon zig Versionen dieses Klassikers gehoert, dies ist mindestens die drittbeste.

Aber nun zum Besten, den selbstgeschriebenen Songs. 5 davon:

There's A Thing About Love (Gordon)
Rock-It! Rock-It! (Gordon)
Sign Of The Times (Gordon)
Wild, Wild, Wild (Gordon)
Do It (Gordon)

There's A Thing About Love wurde von Vince in nur 3 Minuten Rekordzeit geschrieben. Erinnert mich stark an Restless, absolutes Hammerstueck. Wild, Wild, Wild ist, der Name sagt alles, ein schnelles, wildes Neo-Rockabilly Stueck. Do It ist ein schneller Song im Stray Cats Stil, der bereits vor 10 Jahren komponiert wurde und jetzt endlich aufgenommen wurde.

Meine Empfehlung: unbedingt reinhoeren, The Jime hat seinen eigenen Stil mit excellenter Guitarrenarbeit, aussergewoehnlichen Songs und einem satten Stereo Sound.

Ralph Brabrand, Rockin' Fifties Magazine

The Jime from Denmark play Neo Rockabilly and are convincing with their third album. The titelsong 'It's Still Rock'n'Roll To Me' (a Billy Joel original) is absolute Neo Rockabilly dynamite. They also do convincing covers of Beatles 'Help', 'Johnny Burnettes 'Lonesome Train' and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 'Learning To Fly''. The remaining twelve songs are self-compositions.

From their musical ability and professionalism they are probably closets to the Stray Cats in comparison but that doesn't mean they sound like Stray Cats as they have their own style and that's good.

The CD is a good overview of their class. Sometimes slower piano numbers like 'Had Enough Of Love' or faster Rockabilly numbers like the brilliant 'Wild, Wild, Wild'. The band started out in 1983 according to the info. Perhaps this year you have the luck to have a toast with them on their 20 year anniversary as they're touring all over Europe.

With one giant leap, the Rockabilly monster breaks free from the shackles of 'golden oldies' and 'authentic recording techniques'. Building on the foundations of the early Stray Cats and later recordings by The Blue Cats, The Jime takes Rockabilly into another dimension, with the big sound of modern recording techniques allied to the intrinsic shaking rhythms, twangy guitar and slappin' bass of Rockabilly. The whole thing has been recorded with the latest digital technology and mastered using 'state of the art' valve (tube) technology for a modern full sound coupled with the 'warmth' of analogue systems.

This is the second CD from The Jime, who hail from Denmark and are led by vocalist, guitarist and producer Vince Gordon. This CD has covers of songs by Billy Joel, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Beatles and Johnny Burnette.

Roy Williams, Managing Director of Nervous Records, UK.

The Jime are somewhat gentler than the previous act (Ed: The Head Cats), even if their Web Site states that they continue, where the Stray Cats left off (Aren’t they still at it?).

The voice is exceptionally good, deep and energetic. The musicians accompany themselves on the usual Rockabilly instruments, which are: Upright bass, half acoustic guitar and drums.

Exceptionally good is also their Web Site (wenn gewünscht, auf deutsch!). Their sound is considered as Neo Billy, which I actually don’t like very much, but with The Jime I'm making an exception. Well done, with joy-of-playing, and the necessary temperament.

Country Home, CD recommendations June 2006, Germany.

Customer review on the Crazy Love Store - online by Torsten Gaul, September 2004.