Blackeyed Susan

Unhappy with the direction Britny Fox was heading in, singer “Dizzy” Dean Davidson, left that group to form a brand new band, Blackeyed Susan. From a musical perspective, Blackeyed Susan was probably a couple of steps above Britny Fox. The band had more of a bluesy rock sound in the vein of Aerosmith, that the hair metal sounds of Britny Fox. The metal screams that were commonplace on the Britny Fox albums were also gone. Dean Davidson sings in his natural voice on “Electric Rattlebone”. Blackeyed Susan did have a song that was a minor hit called “None of It Matters”. This song incorporates a middle eastern flair in the guitar sound, which is kind of cool. Check out the video “None of it Matters” at this link. “Sympathy” is a bluesy rocker that has a very cool slide guitar, mixed with some funky ragtime style piano playing. “Ride With Me” reminds me a lot of the more acoustic bluesy numbers that Cinderella was doing on their album, “Heartbreak Station”. “Old Lady Snow” is one of those songs with simple lyrics, but it is upbeat enough for it to get in your head and stay there. “She’s So Fine” should have been a hit for Blackeyed Susan. It has catchy lyrics, good guitar work, and a very good beat. This song is one of my favorites on this record. Even though the music on this disc was superior to anything else Dean Davidson had done previously, this album was a commercial failure. Mercury Records pulled the plug on their tour, and Blackeyed Susan crashed and burned. When this album originally came out, I expected this to be another hair metal CD, and this is nothing of the sort. I didn’t enjoy this very much back in the 90′s, but over the years, my taste has changed. I have grown to appreciate the music on “Electric Rattlebone”. If you enjoy good bluesy hard rock, “Electric Rattlebone” is a disc you will want to pick up. This under rated gem has been out of print for years. You can find used copies of this CD, for next to nothing in the HRH music store.