Rumble in Freiburg!

My name is Jan and I live very far from most of you in the USA. I live across the Atlantic in a West German city called Freiburg.   Freiburg is a very small but beautiful town with a population of roughly 200,000.

I'm not a record company man. I'm only a fan who loves (liebe) rock `n' roll music (musik). Rock `n' Roll - has always meant something positive for me; Something that would help me when I was feeling down; Something that offered a good time!

Can you believe that I never saw Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers perform live? I missed the one time the band played in Hamburg, Germany on the “Rumble” tour. But, I have followed Tommy’s career and listened to Tommy’s music for the last thirteen years.

I got into Tommy Conwell in early 1989 when I was eighteen. My best school mate handed me the “Rumble” cassette saying something like…….. “This is gonna kick your ass.” He was so right!

Tommy Conwell had it all. He had the looks, the attitude, the music, the songs, the band, but most off all……..he had the VOICE. Pick any song on `Rumble'- you can't get around that voice. `Have you heard all the talk in the neighbourhoo-hood?' He sang as if his life depended on it. And the Rumblers rocked. And they had heart, not letting what was correct get in the way of what felt right. And they played what the songs needed - no showing-off. To me, it was completely positive music. The kind of music you dig when you hang out late with your best buddy, and the kind of music that you don't grow tired off. After all, the reason why Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers completely swept me away was quite simple:

There was a lot of promise in Tommy's first major release- “Rumble.” I was so sure Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers were going to be big time. I was ready to follow Tommy from the small clubs to the arenas. Unfortunately, I missed the Young Rumblers gig on their first and only tour of Germany in early 1989.

I always thought `Guitar Trouble' to be an ambitious follow-up record, but it did not grow on me the way `Rumble' did - I guess I was looking too much for `Rumble Volume 2'. `Guitar Trouble' is no such record. I still think it is sometimes a little bit too polished (`too good', in a way, at least for my ears), but, hey, that's only a minor drawback on an excellent record that is very original and - yes! - cool. You can't beat a song like `Good Love Bad'! Anyways, I was sure that those songs that lingered in my ears as being to produced would really come alive in concert.

 

 
My guess would be that `When You Finally Come Knocking', `Play Your Music' and `My Mae Mae' were recorded for `Guitar trouble' (or at least could have made it onto `Guitar trouble'), but that the record eventually took the more `produced' course `Rejoice' is a witness of. All three songs are just great, in my opinion, and they really would have added to `Guitar trouble'. `When you finally come knocking' is just a cool rocker, it's tone a bit like `I'm not your man'. And who's that on backing vocals on `Play your music'? Both songs are further testimony that Tommy knows how to deliver a seemingly simple song effortlessly, not making it sound forced or even contrived. Seems like it came Naturally to Tommy Conwell (and the Young Rumblers) what, after all, is so hard to do. `My Mae Mae' is simply my favorite song of both CDs and has instantly become one of my all time Tommy Conwell favorites.

The songs of the unreleased `Neuroticus Maximus' record, however, leave me completely puzzled and in awe. I don't know whether `Neuroticus Maximus' would have been Tommy's breakthrough. (And I don't even dare to guess how often the experts get it wrong!) I think it's an excellent stretch of songs. I find it very interesting, indeed fascinating, because the music gives a glimpse of where `Guitar Trouble' might have gone, and because it shows that Tommy Conwell did by no means disappear into some void after “Guitar Trouble.”

The 1980’s ROCKED! Thanks to the Young Rumblers. Thanks Tommy Conwell.