Duke the Drivers were contemporaries of the J. Geils Band and opened for them on many a bill. Where Eddie Kramer produced their first LP, Deke Richards came aboard to oversee this second and final album for ABC Records. In the early '90s, the band would release a CD of a live performance thanks to original bassist Greg Morton, owner of Jelly Records. Their penchant for reworking old blues tunes and putting the "Duke" stamp on them is evidenced here. Two titles from Eddie Bocage, who co-wrote Keep a Knockin' with Little Richard, appear on this disc, Check Your Bucket and Check Yourself. Bucket was a Boston-area favorite when the band opened for Leslie West and Lou Reed in the '70s. The title track, Rollin' On, written by guitarist/vocalist Sam Deluxe -- whose real name is Joe Lilly of Lilly Pharmaceuticals -- sounds like an extended sequel to the Bachman Turner Overdrive hit from the year before, Roll on Down the Highway. Duke the Drivers were very clever in being blatant about their inspirations, but camouflaging all the musical stuff that turned them on. The result is hardly original, but that is their charm. The only other original on the album is Cadillac Jack's Love on My Hands. "Jack" is actually Henry Eaton, who became a newsman for Boston's WLVI, TV 56, and in 2001, is an elected official, Assistant District Attorney or something. A far cry from rocking and rolling on Boston stages. The song is another Boston RB meets the Philly sound. It sounds cool decades after the fact, but when recorded it was totally annoying. Pre-rap, rockers were really against disco, and this song is some weird hybrid of the two. Check Yourself has Sam Deluxe sounding so much like Peter Wolf one wonders if it is a tribute band with sax performing on this cut. D. Greg's Let Me Be Your Handyman reads like an inverted Sunshine of Your Love riff with sentiment heavily borrowed from Jimmy Johnson's 1960 hit Handyman. I'll Take Good Care of You, written by producer Deke Richards, opens side two. It is very unlike Duke the Drivers, the sound of Philadelphia over a melody and keyboard fragrance which may have inspired Billy Joel's 1983 hit Allentown. The similarities are striking. Recorded at Northern Studio in Maynard, MA, and the Sound Factory in West Los Angeles, Rollin On fits nicely next to the J. Geils Band's earthy RB-flavored rock. ~ Joe Viglione, Rovi

1		I Need Your Lovin'
2		I Ain't Particular
3		Love on My Hands
4		Check Yourself
5		That Kind of Love
6		Let Me Be Your Handyman
7		I'll Take Care of You
8		People Sure Act Funny
9		Check Your Bucket
10		Rollin' On

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