The promise evidenced by Doll by Doll's Remember -- released earlier in 1979 -- is fully realized in Gypsy Blood. Fronted by vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist Jackie Leven, with new bassist Tony Waite (also the album's producer), Gypsy Blood is a big-sounding record; some of its tracks were deeply influenced by the production styles of both Phil Spector and Jack Nitszche. Musically, the soundboard is the same: big drums (David McIntosh) and guitars (Leven and Jo Shaw) up front with Leven's astonishing wide-ranging voice soaring over the entire proceedings. The songs, however, are shorter, and full of theatrical dynamics and near pathological passion. Teenage Lightning kicks off with the sound of snares and muddy tom-toms followed by silvery guitars riffs. Leven and Shaw sing in tandem with a purely harmonized classic '60s pop intro on the verses, when Leven explodes in the last couple of lines to push the entire band into some orgiastic pool of rock bliss (think Love crossed with Scott Walker) christened with a choir of female backing vocalists. The themes are pure rock romance: speed, cars, girls, attitude, and danger infect the track. The title cut follows; it's pure old-school (à la Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison, and doo wop) rock roll introduced by a jazzy Fender Rhodes line that could have been played by Georgie Fame at Ronnie Scott's. The "oooos" that commence barely prepare the listener for Leven's raw angry confessionalism: "I'll tell you this John boy, I'm not so green/I was married before I was 16 and/Rings on the finger of speed/I feel out of reach." The bridge is full of Rumi-esque poetry (or perhaps it's by Hâfez ranting about God and love) with crashing prog guitars knotting up the middle.

1		Teenage Lightning
2		Gypsy Blood
3		Stripshow
4		Human Face
5		Hey Sweetheart
6		Binary Fiction
7		Hell Games
8		Forbidden Worlds
9		Highland Rain
10		Endgame
11		When a Man Dies
12		One Two Blues

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