The Happy Drivers
  We Shall Be Going On
Babe Please Don’t Go – We Shall Be Going On – My Bopping Rocking Babe – The Fun Of It – Midnight Train – Popeye – Low Rider – Old Black Jack – Long Blond Hair – You Will Never Come Back Again – Oh Babe – My Daddy’s Banjo
When you listen 20 years later to an album you liked a lot as a teenager, it’s very hard to actually know if you like it for good reasons. Does this album have real qualities or is this just pure nostalgia? For “We Shall Be Going On” the answer is : both.
On one hand, if you want to be objective, you can say that the sound is a bit thin, Jean Christophe’s voice is from time to time out of tune and his pronounced French accent a bit present. But this album has its own qualities. The boys wrote their own songs (even if Low Rider sounds very close to Stray Cats’ Built For Speed) with varied influences from straight rockabilly to blues, with detours by neo-rockabilly and bit of country too (you can find a banjo on some songs). The covers, including Dave Phillips “The Fun Of It” are very well chosen. All this elements, and I can’t deny a bit of nostalgia too, make of this debut album an enjoyable listening experience, even two decades later.
Fred "Virgil" Turgis
     
  Indians On The Road
Indians – I’m Not A Hero – Tear It Up – Nervous Man – Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You – Crawdad Hole
This time, there’s not the shadow of a doubt and nostalgia has nothing to do here, this mini 10” album is plain good. The Happy Drivers, on a short distance that advantages them, deliver 6 songs : 2 covers (a raucous version of Tear It Up and a banjo led Crawdad Hole) and 4 solid originals. Since their previous release, they have hardened their sound. Not exactly psychobilly, but no longer 50’s rockabilly, they created their own brand of modern rockabilly. “Indians” features the appropriate drum beat, as you can imagine, and a citation of The Shadows’ Apache (of course). Next you have “I’m Not A Hero” a wild modern rockabilly that shows how tight the band was at that time. “Nervous Man” is nervous for sure, a really heavy number (strong guitar and raspy voice) that prefigures what will follow with “War” their third album. JC has really worked on his voice and you also hear that the band benefited of a real studio and enough time to work their sound. The fourth self penned number, “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” is simply perfect, a frantic rockabilly. With this 10” the Happy Drivers had a level rarely reached by French bands.
Fred "Virgil" Turgis