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Sweet Jeena and her Sweethearts shake and serve a groovy coctail of rock'n'roll, rhythm'n'blues, rockabilly and country, with a tasty slice of jazz and truckloads of grazeology. Jeena is a rare treat in that she sounds old and new at the same time. Hillbillies of the twenties don’t know what they missed or helped to create. Together this foursome brings rockin' black and white crime fiction to the CD era. Pictures twisted a little, very romantic but nostalgic? No way! Stop, look and listen!
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Now Dig This Magazine, England SWEET JEENA AND HER SWEETHEARTS Don’t Talk Baby / More More More / Tongue Tied / Lovers Like Me / Spare Parts / Hard Drivin’ Mama / Indian Moon / Hard Runnin’ / Lovely Summer Night / Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots / Waiting For Your Call / Rock’n’Roll Picnic The first thing that hits you with this CD is the lavish full colour booklet that would normally be associated with a top selling chart CD. It is very stylish, with no expense shared. From Finland, the group were formed in 2007 and the blurb inside says that they "shake and serve a groovy cocktail of Americana, old time rock’n’roll, rhythm’n’blues, rockabilly and country with a tasty slice of jazz and truckloads of crazeology" (whatever that means!). If I were to say Jeena was in the Imelda May bag, that would be incorrect. There are some similarities as they both experiment with musical styles, but whereas Imelda is sexy and sultry, Jeena is sexy and sweet. She kicks off with a Pee Wee King / Red Stewart oldie, "Don’t Talk Baby", a cool number with Sweethearts guitarist Risto Klemola impressing as Darrel Higham of their band (although he plays in his own style). "More More More" is very jazzy with Jeena scat singing and the guitar really excelling. Changes in pace and rhythm enhance the overall performance. "Tongue Tied" is pure raunchy hell cat rockabilly – more Wanda than Imelda on this one. "Lovers Like Me" is pure popcorn. I’ve always love teen ballads like this and the sweet guitar just hits the right spot. In complete contrast, "Spare Parts" stomps along at breakneck pace complimented by some neat neo guitar. "Hard Drivin’ Mama" uses vocal overdubs to the full with minimal acoustic guitar and brush drum backing to give an accapella feel before cutting loose with the whole band sound. This is very clever arrangement and puts this group way ahead of their contemporaries. "Indian Moon" has that Indian beat (‘Kaw-Liga’ style) and some neo guitar to add excitement. "Hard Runnin’" is real chill music and shows how talented a vocalist Jeena is. "Lovely Summer Night" has a lot of tremolo guitar providing the main instrumental backing to a song about the temptation. The old Leiber & Stoller classic "Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots" paints wonderful biker images and "Waiting For Your Call" is a cute little number in which the drummer comes to the fore a little more. The CD concludes with the title track, "Rock’n’Roll Picnic", and I believe we have definitely had that with this album. I’ve gotta play this over and over! Steve Aynsley |