Bonney & Buzz - Rock-Ola CD (Double Crown Records)

Pete "Buzz" Miller's latest project is Bang It Again (Double Crown DCCD29), with bassist Bill Bonney, a lovingly played and recorded tribute to the U.K.'s instrumental beat era. The CD by Bonney & Buzz echoes the style of the times while remaining fun and timeless. "The songs we chose are our desert-island tracks. I tried to select tunes not done to death by instro bands - many are traditional keyboard pieces. The guitars were me '62 Olympic White Fender Strat, a '58 Gibson ES350T, and of course Henry and Henrietta - '62 and '66 Gretsch Anniversaries. The signal went to two amps, a '59 3X10 Fender Bandmaster and a '64 Fender Deluxe Reverb, each mic'ed with a Shure SM57 and recorded to its own track. No compression or equalization was added during recording. Bill played a '68 Telecaster Bass, a '90's Fender VI, and a 1960 Danelectro Longhorn six-string bass with flatwounds. Echo was supplied by a Binson Echorec, a Watkins Copycat, and half a dozen various spring-reverb units.

GUITAR PLAYER MAGAZINE - October 2008

If you love early '60s-style instrumental twang-pop with just the right touch of kitsch, played beautifully on vintage instruments, and recorded old school, you can't miss with this brilliant disc, featuring guitarist Pete "Buzz" Miller (a.k.a. Big Boy Pete). - Barry Cleveland

British rock veterans Pete "Buzz" Miller and Bill Bonney have released their second album of guitar instrumentals, entitled Bang It Again! via the Double Crown label. The album includes a new version of "Can Can," which Pete Miller originally recorded with the Jaywalkers and "The Breeze and I," which Bill Bonney originally recorded with the Fentones, as well as 15 other instrumentals. Chris Earl of the Squires of the Subterrain makes a guest appearance on drums. (www.bigboypete.com / www.dblcrown.com)

PIPELINE INSTRUMENTAL REVIEW #77 - Summer 2008

Bill Bonney (The Fentones) and Peter "Buzz" Miller (The Jaywalkers) impressed with their first joint effort Rock-Ola (see Pipeline 70) and are back now to Bang It Again! Having first delivered an all original set, this time around they turn their attention to 17 hits from the days when instrumentals still meant something in the music business. "Amazing Grace" was a tune that Buzz learned on his very first guitar, it may seem an unlikely opener but the guys rock it up a treat with a pumping beat and slip a Bach prelude in as the break. "Goofin' Around", from Bill Haley & The Comets, is another rocker with Buzz tearing it up and Bonney banging away at his upright bass. I can't remember another guitar version of "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" but it works well with driving passages between the the sensibly retained creamy strings of the Sounds Orchestral version. "The Green Leaves Of Summer" gets a galloping rhythm and some fabulous dramatic guitar embellishments from Buzz, if The Alamo was remade as a spaghetti western then Dimitri Tiompkin's score could be heading this way. There's a nod to trad jazz with "Bad Penny Blues" where Buzz's searing, sawing guitar sounds like a fuzz violin in places, and then "Czardas" gets a refreshing arrangement with the lead played on acoustic guitar. A pretty "Last Date" and dramatic "El Bimbo" with it's flowing electric guitar take us on to The Jaywalkers' hit. Anyone would be on to a loser in trying to recreate the excitement of the original Can Can 62, and sensibly, Bonney & Buzz don't try. "Can Can" has keyboards and no saxes but the coda does add an effective final flourish. They also give "The Breeze & I" a twist with a ska-like organ stabs behind a fabulous lead, rather a shame because that guitar is soooo tasty. "Honky Tonk" swings rather jazzily as, less surprising, do "Swinging Shepherd Blues" and Thelonius Monk's "Blue Monk" before a lovely lowdown dirty take on Freddy King's "The Stumble" and an excellent pulsing "Raunchy". Can you imagine a 7 1/2 minute version of of "F.B.I". ? No neither could I, but the guys pull it off with a range of guitar sounds including a six-string bass solo from Bill. Finally Pete provides a neat closer with a lovely unaccompanied version of Duane Eddy's "Along Came Linda". You'll love it, and I'm sure Duane will be moved too. It's a fine end to an excellent album that should prove even more popular than Rock-Ola. --Alan Taylor--