Jim Basnight – of the Moberlys, The Jim Basnight Thing, and The Rockinghams – has a new album out entitled ‘Jokers, Idols and Misfits.‘ It’s an album of covers that reveal where Jim Basnight has come from on his grunge/ power pop / just plain rocking journey through music.
Today’s song is a cover of a T-Rex classic, and if a song by the pixie of pop seems an odd thing to grace Americana UK’s pages let’s just recall that Bolan was a mighty player (along with Steve Took) in psych-folk, and that many a song with his later rockier band paid an homage to the likes of Chuck Berry. Jim Basnight hasn’t forgotten – and when questioned on his power pop credentials he has said of his music that ” “Power Pop” has been used to describe it and I think that’s fair, but I prefer rock and roll. I think rock and roll represents the best that we are as human beings on this planet. Unafraid of sharing each others music and collective experiences and rocking the boats of repression and oppression, while we’re at it.”