Reviewed by Kurt Shoemaker at SA Rock Digest, Sunday, 3 December 2000
After I bought Little Sister’s While No-One Was Looking, their greatest hits, I wanted their other CDs. A natural place to start was the first Little Sister release, Ready and Willing.
The personnel on this disc are:
Ready and Willing was produced by Ron (Bones) Brettell, Bernie Millar, and Sandy Robbie.
To guess by the inner sleeve photo, Marc looks like a fun hambone, while Johnny Burnett looks like he has a wry outlook on life. And the Lonmon Sisters… I suspect they are a nice combination of tough and sensitive.
Little Sister’s Ready and Willing has: rockers, smooth ballads, a cool anthem, a serious song that was a hit, and an extended cut of the opening track, “Little Sister” (aptly sub-titled the “Crank Up the Guitar 12″ Mix”). Not only is this CD to my taste, but my daughter spontaneously sings along to many of the tracks. To appeal to such a range is no little feat but rather is a testimony to a fine debut rock album.
I enjoy writing about songs as I listen to the album. If you know the album well I hope this is meaningful. If you don’t, I hope it makes you curious about the album. I also hope that my explications are not vivisections from which the patient does not survive. Anyway here’s my song-by-song, play-by-play, of Ready and Willing, a fine and rockin’ album:
“Little Sister” – Start the entertainment with a sterling rocker, this isn’t chick rock, it’s rock, a song that it demands your attention. This one and “A.C.T.I.O.N.” are my daughter’s favorite cuts on this CD.
“Young Hearts” – Slow the pace down a notch to a pretty melody. Here it seems like the Lonmon sisters decided to show their range, going from rocker to ballad in the first two tracks on this disc.
“Ready and Willing” – They rock again, just in case we were wondering they were going to wimp out on us after the strong open. Cool bassy break, too.
“No Man Shall Fall” – One of my favorites on the disc. This one builds to a plaintive, sincere choir-like refrain. This is the one song written by outside songwriters.
“You Got My Heart” – A bouncy poppy number with some nice guitar work. While most of the songs on this CD are written by the band and the producers (the names Lonmon, Millar, Brettell, and Robbie dominate), this one was co-written with Robbie by some ou named Benjy Mudie…
“A.C.T.I.O.N.” – A show opener? A cool song that somehow makes me think of partying at the beach even though it does not mention the coast. It only has that spirit. You, too, can sing along to the chorus the first time around. Come on everybody: “The boys want girls, but the girls want men!”
“Lovesick” – Sandy Robbie’s opening guitar right away lets us know this is a tough and aggressive tune. If doubts existed, Jenni lets the guy she’s singing to know that she’s had enough, she means it, “I’m just sick of you!”
“Dear Abbie (One Night of Passion)” This number avoids being depressing, emerging as poignant instead. This was also the hit from this album, and deservedly so. Jenni has a touching, convincing voice.
I consciously do not compare SA artists with artists from around the world because I view performers individually; even if working within a certain style, sincere artists are their own man or woman. But I tell you what, the Lonmon ladies can take a song that is potentially depressing and make it, as said, poignant – unlike Janis Ian, who is so often merely a drag. Right now I’m glad I’m listening to “Dear Abbie” instead of “At Seventeen”. (Don’t tell Janis I said that, she is such a vulnerable artiste that it would hurt her feelings.)
“Watch My Lips” – An assertive rock song. Tell him how it is, Sisters. Like “Lovesick” this is a get-out-of-my-life-song. Nice mix of tough song with sweet female background vocals. This song and the next one both rock hard for the big finish before the “Little Sister” remix.
“Daddy Was a Rocker” – The title is reminiscent of classic rock ‘n’ roll, but this has a modern heavy guitar ‘n’ pounding drums sensibility, told from the life-hardened point of view of a girl raised on the road because her father wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll star.
“Little Sister (Crank Up the Guitar 12″ Mix)” – Added effects, as one might expect with an extra minute-and-a-half running length, and, also as expected and welcomed, a cranked-up guitar. So we end where we began, but with more at the end.
You know, the musicianship on this CD is great, and the production is nice and clear – but one thing that strikes me about the Lonmon sisters is the sincerity they sing with. When rocking, loving, or breaking up, I believe them – especially Jenni, the lead vocalist.
Gosh, and at only R60 at One World I feel like I got a deal, even with overseas shipping.
One of the things I like about South African music is that there is a welcome lack of throwaway filler tracks on SA CDs. This album is typical in that each track is a welcome song. Ready and Willing does have the energy and advantage of being a first album, so I’ll see how the other discs match up as my Little Sister buying program continues.
The Sisters are back in the studio and making a new album. This is a band whose catalogue I’ll certainly end up with, from the first release to the next one.