Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Your Sister Can't Twist (But She Can Rock 'n' Roll)

If "Crocodile Rock" successfully evoked the mood of Del Shannon and other Fifties artists, then "Your Sister Can't Twist" spins it into overdrive.

Easily one of the most manic tracks in John's classic ouevre, "Sister" begins with a basic Chuck Berry guitar pattern (played by Johnstone with that pinched, compressed guitar sound which he was beginning to experiment with at the time and reached its apex on "The Bitch is Back") accented with the same Farfisa organ sound that defined "Crocodile", sped up double time and spiced with doo-wop style backing vocals. After John sings the first few verses, the organ strikes up a circus-carousel melody, the backing singers ooh-ooh-wah a la the Beach Boys, and deliver an inspired instrumental break that just soars before shifting back to the main melody, delivering one more hyped-up reprise of the verse and bringing the whole thing charging to a finish via repetition of the title, with the doo-wop BVs ending abruptly and segueing right into the cracking drumbeat and rock guitar riff of the next track, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"- a perfect intro for one of John/Taupin's hardest rocking efforts.

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