Album Notes

The Jelly Bean Bandits have never been afraid to take chances. Now, as they enter their fortieth year of making imaginative, challenging music, their latest CD testifies to that fact and then some. The title, "Rock & Roll Is Keeping Me Alive," pretty much says it all. It's their first all-original release since their legendary debut LP on Mainstream in 1967, and it serves up ten killer tracks that continue to reflect the Bandits music diversity and extreme originality.

Southern rock attitude mixed with Sixties San Francisco stylings make titlesong "Rock & Roll Is Keeping Me Alive" a powerhouse anthem for The Jelly Bean Bandits at this point in their long and varied career.

"Lady In MY Past" is Latin pop-rock at its finest, and both this and the CD titlesong feature the virtuosity, dexterity and imagination of guest guitarist Steve Horrell.

"Taylor's Tale" is a riff-rock sci-fi homage to the original "Planet of the Apes" that was half-written in 1967 and finished 40 years later. Drummer Joe Scalfari shines with his Ginger Baker / Mitch Mitchell power playing. It is also a classic rock tribute to the late Charlton Heston who appears briefly (?!) in the tracks.

Country music takes center stage with "Simply Amazing" and
"Stranger In My Dreams" featuring Jack Dougherty on steel guitar. Jack is one of the few guitarists who can list credits on his resume that include both playing hard rock guitar on a classic psychedelic recording and guesting on Grand Ole Opry playing doubleneck steel.

Every JBB recording has one fun opus and the track on this
outing is "My Beret" which features bassist Fred Buck at his whimsical best in a song that celebrates individuality and insanity in equal measures.

Sixties flavorings of the Yardbirds and the Animals blend with a lyrical vision of today as "Internet Queen" gives a musical wink and lascivious nod to those fantasy ladies who make their living doing interesting things on your computer screen.

Crunching percussion, relentless rhythm and razor-sharp lyrics propel "This Time The Floods" to be a haunting re-telling of Hurrican Katrina's devastation of New Orleans,
while ending with the positive chorus of "we will return."

Honoring great musical artists of all genres who have passed on and the influences they left behind that surround all we do in music now is the essence of "Ghosts Around The Piano." A music video is in the works.

"If You Believe" is an uplifting song that appears on the
soundtrack of the much-honored short documentary "Church of the Good Thief" which was produced by keyboardist Mike Raab, and features guest appearances by Pam and Shorty Watkings of the Radio Flyer Band.