Bergers with Mayo
Live at Pete's
The Renovators
Berger Platters
2000
10 tracks
This is rock and roll the way it was meant to be: not some glossy production programmed for a world-wide marketing campaign but the music you might expect to hear some boys playing for fun at a club with a simple name like... well, like Pete's. The music here is down and dirty, with no evidence it was ever intended to be otherwise. These raw sounds strip rock and roll down to its bare bluesy roots. At Pete's, the special of the day is no cordon bleu cuisine but down to earth homegrown Bergers with Mayo.
Bergers with Mayo is Bob Mayo on guitar, Ted Hemberger on drums, and Al Hemberger on bass. All three sing lead vocals on this release. Together with Bob Rasero on guitar [not on the menu for this release], they make up Bronxville, New York's hard hitting blues-based rock and roll band, The Renovators. On this live release [actually recorded on December 7, 1991], they've lived up to their name, taking ten once-new songs that may be getting old and tired and renovating them with driving beats and gutsy vocals.
One of the more interesting items served up is vintage Elvis Presley but with a difference. Thirty years later, 1961's "Little Sister" has more solid rock and roll drive that the Elvis version ever had. The big Seventies Seger intro runs straight into a pumping, driving rock and roll song that makes this "Little Sister" hotter than she's ever been before.
Something similar happens to the three Jimi Hendrix songs on this release. Hendrix became big right at the beginning of the "Rock" era, with its complex music and elaborate themes. He was a large influence on that era, but his music was based strongly on the simpler blues of days gone by. Bergers with Mayo takes the music of Hendrix back to its roots, bringing it a hard rocking backbeat and imbuing Hendrix' late sixties guitar riffs with a straightforward Fifties blues edge.
"Fire" is perhaps the best example. The Bergers with Mayo version is as much Mitch Ryder as it is Jimi Hendrix, a big Detroit hemi rebored, fired up with nitro and ready to tear up the track. Okay, that's not a food metaphor, but it sure enough describes the kind of drive this recording has. "Little Wing" has a slower, bluesier groove but the same hot power plant drives this song forward. "The Wind Cries Mary" has the slow rhythm-and-blues roll of a soulful fifties two-step. This one is less a race car than a bulldozer, driving relentlessly across the emotional field of the listener.
Played rough with a bit of a Memphis beat behind it, "It's All Over Now" breaks out with a rocking sound typical of The Rolling Stones before 1965, when they were only beginning to make their mark. Here is a raw, live rock and roll sound carried forward by a definite hard electric blues influence. Mayo fills the bridge with a massive guitar solo that's sure to drive a live audience crazy.
"Hideaway" is a cool, grooving mid-tempo boogie blues instrumental that's got to get the crowd jumping. The band is tight, the groove is steady and rocking, and the Fifties feel is undeniable. From tots to Gran and Gramps, listeners will want to be up and jiving when Bergers with Mayo rolls this one out. In my opinion, this is the best song on this release and the one song that makes the whole set worth owning. This is over six minutes of pure, unadulterated rock and roll.
There's also a seasonal surprise on this release: an extra track. "Rockin' Good Christmas" is a solid blues for the Christmas season commissioned specifically for "All My Children," the popular soap on ABC and also available on The Renovators' excellent Christmas album, Renovators Rockin Christmas. You can find samples from this and their other releases on their mp3.com site.
If you hunger for rock and roll that's gritty and blues served up with a groove that's guaranteed to rock you, then you may find a good serving of Bergers with Mayo is just what you need to satisfy your taste.
You can find out everything you ever wanted to know about Bergers with Mayo aka The Renovators at Renovators-Music.com. You can find an earlier review of The Renovators on Sound Bytes.|
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