Here's a treat! This little CD contains some of the most enjoyable rock'n'roll imaginable from a four piece Scottish rockabilly band that has spent the last fifteen years honing and sharpening its music to the point where it's just right.
Lead vocalist Steve Smith has picked the best material available from the repertoires of Buddy Holly (‘Blue Days Black Nights’ and ‘Early In The Morning’), Dion (‘Donna The Prima Donna’), Johnny O'Keefe (‘Real Wild Child’) and Santo and Johnny (a roaring version of ‘Sleepwalk’) as well as writing some memorable songs himself. ‘Had To Let You Know’ is a glistening glob of extra-fine doowop self pity and ‘She Moves Me’ is an upbeat blast of jangling guitar chords and heartfelt lyrics assisted with a wide-open rocking feel generated by lead guitar whizz Dave Burnette that transports you right back to the fifties. Smith's best tune though, is ‘Gonna Be With You’ which sounds like a jam session with The Crickets and Bobby Fuller. It's a gem. It simply steams along with great lyrics, tremendous vocals, a punchy rhythm section and a spot-on guitar solo. This band wouldn't have been out of place on the soundtrack of American Graffiti.
The Accelerators have just made one of the best rock'n'roll albums I've heard in a long time.
Ken Smith
Red Lick

This Superb 4th album by Scottish 4-piece The Accelerators is a wonderful release which combines precise performances, great material and faultless production. The band has set a high standard with their previous work, which they manage to exceed on ‘Let’s Turn It Up’.
The first track an Accelerators original called ‘Gonna Be With you’, opens with a Buddy Holly beat. Predictable maybe? As this thought crossed my mind the song hit full flow and covering the Rockabilly, Country and Pop genres, mixing the classic Holly rhythms and hints of Scotland’s 1980s Rockabilly heroes The Shakin’ Pyramids. By the end of track one I was already won over.
Buddy Holly makes his presence felt throughout – obviously a strong influence on the band – but there is plenty of variety here on what is essentially a classy Rockabilly album that mixes sharp original material with some well-known cover songs. However, don’t let the fact that some of these covers aren’t exactly obscure put you off – they are meticulously well performed but have the Accelerators stamp firmly embedded.
That a rockabilly band can pull such a good cover of Dion’s ‘Donna The Prima Donna’ out of the bag is simply amazing. Being firmly of the mind that Dion is one of those artists whose songs you just shouldn’t cover (you can’t better the originals and if you mess with the arrangement you’ll probably only wreck it) I was blown away by this performance that stays true to the original yet sounds fresh. Singer Steve Smith’s vocal is excellent. The uninitiated should take note that Smith has one of the best voices of the Rock n Roll genre. That said, his musicians are certainly up to scratch, as is the artwork, production and songwriting on this excellent CD.
The remaining tracks maintain the levels in terms of song writing on the originals, and performance throughout. The covers are particularly enjoyable, respectfully covered without being note-for-note copies, with Buddy’s ‘Early in the Morning’ (originally a Bobby Darin song) being another standout, the arrangement enhanced with some nifty fiddle playing.
I heartily recommend ‘Let’s Turn It Up’, a quality release from a band with the musical ability and commercial appeal to be one of the Rock n Roll scenes top names, but are perhaps restricted a little by the logistics of being based so far north.
Howard Raucous
Raucous Records

A Jerry Allison style drum roll introducing ‘Gonna Be With You’ gets this latest CD from The Accelerators off to a flying start. It’s a fine number which, like many of Steve Smith’s compositions, owes much to Buddy Holly but in this case is spiced up with a little Bob Dylan. Steve has a fine voice which effortlessly achieves power without straining, never once losing its clarity. Particularly so on ‘Sugaree’ and ‘Donna The Prima Donna’, the latter being a fine band effort on which words and harmonies come over loud and clear. Continuing with the Buddy Holly influence, ‘Blue Days Black Nights’ is equally harmonious but appropriately enough (it was a long time ago) is more reflective and shows maturity.
Reflecting the many strands of Rock n Roll, saxman Billy Young drops in to add some oomph to the R&B-styled ‘Let It Roll’. In contrast, ‘Had To Let You Know’ is pure street corner doo-wop and as such ideally suited to Steve Smith’s vocal range. It would come as no surprise to hear that the number was from the 1950s originally or that it had been written specially for him, which in a way it was because he wrote it himself.
More Buddy Holly in ‘She Moves Me’ which true to the tradition is a song with a story line and in ‘Pretty Baby’, up-tempo rock and roll for the dance floor. Stay on the floor (as they say) for ‘Real Wild Child’ which is great rock n roll, another great band effort, and ‘Early In The Morning’ with Steve effortlessly gliding over the high notes. Guest Bluegrass artist Jim Hyndman adds some neat fiddle playing. Slight pause of breath with the instrumental ‘Sleep Walk’ and then back to more glorious 1950s rock n roll with who else but ‘Little Suzie’. It does your heart good to know that numbers like that can still be written in 2010.
Chris Woodford
Now Dig This