JOHNNY CASINO & THE SECRETS - Live On 3PBS

JOHNNY CASINO & THE SECRETS  Live On 3PBS CD 2009
Cowboys And Indians / I Am Who I Am Not Who You Want Me To Be / The Ballad of a Thin Man / Brother Grahame Says / Can't Find My Way Thru The Door / Nothing Left to Hide / Stop and Think It Over / Take Me Down to Your River / Outcast / Messin With The Kid.
Recorded live by Jim Walter.
Johnny Casino And The Secrets: Johnny Casino: vocals, guitar / James Saunders: guitar / Cris Wilson: drums / Michael Evans: bass.

To witness Johnny Casino on stage is to witness a man in perfect harmony with the spirit, narrative and essence of rock’n’roll. Head thrown back, sweat pouring from his forehead, his liberally tattooed arms thrashing, plundering riff after glorious riff. Others may pretend, but Casino is the real deal.
In late 2008 Casino and his Melbourne tribe of Secrets – James Saunders, Cris Wilson and Michael Evans – wandered into the studios of Melbourne’s PBS public radio station, ostensibly to play four or five songs on Phil McDougall’s Sunglasses After Dark radio show. Like a rock’n’roll version of mathematical induction, for every brilliant song another was born, until the studio finally called time 45 minutes later.
Live on PBS captures Casino’s set in all its potent glory – from the heavy Chuck Berry riffage of ‘Cowboys and Indians’ and ‘Brother Grahame Says’ to the pounding take on Bob Dylan’s ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’ and the plaintive ‘Can’t Find My Way Thru the Door’. In ‘I Am Who I Am’, Casino pleads the integrity of his case: “I am who I am, not who you want me to be.” Meanwhile, the weight of emotion in ‘Nothing Left to Hide’ demolishes any suggestion of artistic pretence.
After a suitably spirited take on Greg Cartwright’s ‘Stop and Think It Over’ – cut down to four minutes from its customary eight- to 10-minute live mark – it’s down to the water’s edge for a baptism of rock’n’roll fire in ‘Take Me Down to Your River’. The set concludes with a cover of The Saints’ ‘Messin’ With the Kid’. It’s as powerful as the fiery rhetoric of a head-strong youth challenging the institutions of authority – and just a little bit more.
As with any Johnny Casino set, the end is tinged with disappointment: if only the moment could exist in perpetuity then all might be good in the world. But then we’d have nothing left to look forward to. P.Emery

The good people at 3PBS radio in Melbourne Australia asked our favourite rock'n'roller Johnny Casino to come on down and play some songs for radio 3PBS live music week . Johnny took his Melbourne lineup of Cris Wilson (Warped!) on drums , Michael Evans [Tiger by the tail] on bass and James Saunders (Redshift) on guitar and tore thru a hand full of songs when the producers at 3PBS told them to keep playing as they were having so much fun !! the band ended up playing 10 songs and the result is what you have here on "live at 3PBS" as live as you'll get no overdubs no 'lets do that one again' just as they were played , with a slaming version of Bob dylans 'ballad of a thin man' the live fav version of the Complusive Gamblers 'Stop and think it over' a stomping version of the long lost Animals hit 'Outcast' and the soaring version of The Saints 'Messin with the kid' , we reckon it's the sounds of a band having a good time, GET SOME ! Source
BUY IT HERE !