If you want some warm, acoustic, good times Rock n’ Roll on these murky winter days, stop right here and listen. The trio nails early Fifties’ sounds down to a T: Swinging beats and sultry vocals.

There’s a small-ish Rock n’ Roll revival brewing for a year or so. When folks yearn for the Fifties, a good deal of the music is well intended but usually pretty lame - Imagine your auntie’s wedding band playing ‘Jailhouse Rock’ on a cable TV chat show…

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis’ debut album stands out for its light-handed approach, sounding more like Jonathan Richman than your average retro rockers. This pays off when the trio covers standards like ‘I Got My Mojo Working’, opting for an acoustic treatment rather than trying to, errm, ‘rock it up’.

The three teenagers from North London stay firmly on the jazzy, acoustic side when tackling their material. Wise choice - The only bands that ever sparkled playing Rock n’ Roll covers with a full on, distorted electric sound are Thee Milkshakes and The Cramps, period.

So the stand up bass gets slapped around on ‘Ooo Wee’ and ‘Mohair Sam’ and even a debatable novelty song like ‘Polly Put The Kettle On’ gets saved by a mean harmonica. All propelled by easy, swinging snare drum beats.

I mentioned Jonathan Richman above. Apart from the playful, almost primitive acoustic style, KD&L share a love of whacky song material with Messr. Richman, here present in form of not one but two Hawaiian style ditties: ‘Honolulu Rock-A-Roll-A’ and the self-penned instrumental ‘Swinging Hawaii’.

Both work quite well, thanks to their light bongos and steel guitar arrangements. Not too serious, just good fun.

The shortcomings of this fun approach to Fifties styles show on ‘Hillbilly Music’, a track that needs more brimstone and fire to work. Accordeons and banjos only fire up when played with single minded determination, I think.

Unless you insist on hearing authentic despair and religious fervour out of the grooves of your Fifties’ records, then you’re on a good thing with Kitty, Daisy & Lewis’ debut.

We say:

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