Gyan Dookie & Telecaster Combo (FINLAND)
20 Years After
BNCD006
©Blue North Records 2007
Gyan Dookie & Telecaster Combo: 20 Years After
A sudden stir was heard among the restaurant crowd when the night's orchestra entered the stage. Five young men dressed up in suits dating back to their grandfathers' time, began to play their primitive looking instruments. Although blues had by then emerged as a party music especially favoured by young adults, this time it also featured distant echoes from the earlier decades. "So what is all this about now?", were uncertain listeners wondering. "Well, this is Gyan Dookie & Telecaster Combo, don't you know", advised a member of the Finnish Blues Society who was sitting in the same table, "a group, that aspires to bring an authentic early 1950's blues band to the futuristic 1980's".
A special reason to be proud of was Telecaster Combo's EP record released on blues society's own Blue North label. Although the group's well groomed outward appearance with brim hats and limelight sparkling silk neckties, in its way, reflected the time's narcissistic atmosphere, first and foremost all the band members were skilled musicians deeply acquainted with the blues style they had chosen. The goal of Gyan Dookie & Telecaster Combo was to catch the magical 1950's sound of Chicago's most significant record company Chess. Naturally the label's most glorious blues artists, Muddy Waters and Little Walter, the king of blues harmonica players, became their leading role models.
For being one of the most popular blues groups of its time, Telecaster Combo's active period limited surprisingly to only a couple of years. They didn't do too much recordings either. Besides the previously mentioned 4-track EP Telecaster Combo appeared only on Blue North label's compilation album "Living Finnish Blues".
In the fall of 2007, the band assembled once again to perform after a hiatus of twenty years. To honour this comeback, Finnish Blues Society now reissues all their historical recordings, finally on CD, even added with newly recorded material. These songs are more than tailor-made to prove that Telecaster Combo's still got that old magic of Chicago.
|
