Having been overshadowed by their “temporary” band name, which a couple of them have been using while backing Neil Young, The Rockets never managed to get off the Crazy Horse ride, in order to continue their own one.
Still, their sole Barry Goldberg-produced 1968 album on White Whale, remains a proof as good as any, that they might’ve reached the stars, had they been allowed at least one more ignition.
Joined by the Whitsell brothers, Leon and George, and a prodigious violinist Bobby Notkoff, the original Crazy Horse “riders” Danny Whitten , Billy Talbott and Ralph Molina, already seemed comfortable enough within the infamous laid back groove, as heard in the white boy blues rave ups such as Let Me Go or the fuzzed-out Pills Blues, with the latter recalling the Allmans in a more garagey way.
While the ones that made them “above anybody’s understanding at the time”, as put by their producer, would be the pair of Hole In My Pocket (also covered by Goldberg himself on his “… reunion” album) and Mr. Chips, both sounding kinda like a punkish ‘Spoonful, the slo-mo waltzing popsike of Won’t You Say You’ll Stay, or the way-out Strech Your Skin, and it’s MGs-backing-Dylan vibe, while there’s also Eraser, the closing (almost) instro, with it’s quirky repetitive coda, being weird in a Beefheart/Zappa kind of a way.
The most (surprisingly) conventional they get, is when they get into the more blue-eyed-soulful mood, which they do with It’s A Mistake and I Won’t Always Be Around, with the latter being worth of The Impressions’ best mid’60s singles.
All it took was just a jam in the Whiskey A Go Go, for Neil Young to be fascinated enough, and to keep The Rockets stuck on earth forever.
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