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review by Mike Bond

DAN SARTAIN - FLIGHT OF THE FINCH

" an inspired clash between Johnny Cash, Dick Dale and The Stray Cats, proof if proof were needed that Sartain is most assuredly the real deal. "

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Flight Of The Finch / Besame Mucho
ONE LITTLE INDIAN RECORDS

Delivering pitch black rockabilly that sounds like a clash between Johnny Cash, Dick Dale and the Stray Cats, Birmingham, Alabama singer/songwriter Dan Sartain is someone steeped in classic Americana tradition, dark, mysterious and ultra cool.
Taken from long player, JOIN, new single FLIGHT OF THE FINCH finds Sartain manoeuvring his way through a mariachi waltz; exhibiting a softer side than his usual snarling rockabilly, crooning gently over exuberant brass eruptions and some of the best twangy guitar action since Dick Dale last held his axe. With flipside BESA ME MUCHO, the mood is kept tender and lovestruck; a stylish and romantic ballad that fits somewhere between Julio Englesias and Los Lobos.
FLIGHT OF THE FINCH is a single that finds Dan Sartain on superb form, an inspired clash between Johnny Cash, Dick Dale and The Stray Cats, proof if proof were needed that Sartain is most assuredly the real deal.

BIOGRAPHY
Music solid as lead, black and airy like night draped over by Birmingham, Alabama. It slowed like a river. It throbbed like a pulsating eye buried deep in a wormy ditch. It tasted sweet as fried weeds trampled by beasts. It tasted wet as wigs of moss anchored between the rocks of that river. A child's cry rallies a chorus of fear. A mother's kiss and a father's hand germinate a seed that would one day grow to be a strapping tree fed by the water of the river. Years pass, fruit ripens, sapling becomes man. No, a preacher, an advocate says he. His bursting fruit drop to the river and are taken far beyond his voice's reach. Follow the water and listen to this showman's role in Rock N Roll's development and how he can help us better understand the complete culture of America. Finally, now this culture is ready for him as he extends it's vibrations to the rest of the world where others are primed and waiting. He is "The Man-boy"tm, "The Slayer of the Hangers-On"tm, "The Punisher of Shenanigans"tm, "The Veiny Transformer"tm, "The Ivory Godfather"tm. He is DAN SARTAIN! Expand into Dan's world with a song that grabs your soul, tenderly but firmly. Walk down Broadway with Dan and let him musically describe the "Drama Queens" trippin' and trickin' along the way. Take your favourite lady in your arms, turn the lamps down and let Dan Sartain rap in your behalf with his smooth rendition of BESA ME MUCHO. Hear Dan inside out, clear as Technicolor with a sound bigger than all outdoors. Dan Sartain is smoother than buckskin. Dan Sartain is funkier than ten cans of razor bump solution. Dan Sartain is mellower than Mister A's Cordon Bleu. Dan Sartain is as righteous as Webster's definition of truth. Dan Sartain is a man of many moods and many grooves, but more important...Dan Sartain is the "Ivory Godfather"tm and we needed one for so very long.
-Swami John Reis

LINE UP
Dan Sartain
Ben Moore
Raj Parmely
Brian Moon
Al Sartain
Mariachi Real de San Diego
John Reis
Gar Wood

DISCOGRAPHY
JOIN (One Little Indian Records>2007)
Drama Queens
Totem Pole
Gun Vs. Knife
Flight Of The Finch
Young Girls
Thought It Over
The World Is Gonna Break Your Little Heart
Replacement Man
Hangers On
Besa Me Mucho
I Wanted It So
Second Coming
Indian Ink
Shenanigans
Love Is Black

FLIGHT OF THE FINCH (One Little Indian Records>2007)
Flight Of The Finch
Besame Mucho

LINKS
One Little Indian Records>www.indian.co.uk

FURTHER LISTENING
The Stray Cats
Johnny Cash
The Meteors

Review date: February 2007