Ashrawilly Deville

US R&B/rock & roll band (1974-1986) fronted by Willy DeVille. Passed away august 6 2009 .Though starting out in San Francisco playing gay leatherbars as "Billy de Sade and the Marquis" (Billy being Billy Borsey, Willy DeVille's original name), the band changed its name To Mink DeVille (and Borsey became Willy DeVille) in 1975 and became one of the housebands in the famous NY club CBGB. CBGB was the epicenter of NY punk - and other house bands such as Blondie, Television and Talking Heads got Mink DeVille categorized as part of the punk/new Wave underground to which they never belonged musically…

A true legend! Hardly any other musician has experienced as many musical styles in their career as singer-songwriter Willy DeVille. From his early days with Mink DeVille at New York’s famous CBGB’s club through to his later career, he has always created a unique blend of blues, pop, Cajun and soul seasoned with pure DeVille magic and that wonderful smokey voice. Willy DeVille was a regular visitor to Montreux and this album captures him at his absolute best in 1994 with a stunning band and a superb set list.

Disky boils down the wild and varied career of Willy DeVille and concentrates on his legendary New York band, Mink DeVille, and their brand of no-nonsense, razor-blade Spanish stroll Jersey soul; it was a musical blend that had more in common with Phil Spector's 1960s than the CBGB '70s, but that's where it came from and it connected with the punks big time. This is roots rock with soul, swagger, and slither; it's a combination of catchy hooks, sweeping early rock crescendos, and DeVille's in-the-cut vocals that could melt the pants off a teenage girl at 50 paces – well, at least back in the day they could…

This 22-track import collection of Mink DeVille tunes contains over two-thirds of the tracks cut by the original band – before Louis X. Erlanger and crew left and Willy DeVille continued with different musicians – and culled from Cabretta, Return to Magenta, and Le Chat Bleu. Issued in the E.U. and distributed by Caroline Records in the United States, this collection was produced and annotated brilliantly by former Creem editor and writer Ben Edmonds…

After Le Chat Bleu, this Mink DeVille record foretold the depth and dimension of Willy DeVille's talent and the lengths he would go to as a vocalist and songwriter to get the right mix of emotion, drama, and rock & roll attitude. Featuring the core band from Coup de Grace – Louis Cortelezzi on sax; Kenny Margolis on keyboards, including accordion; DeVille and Rick Borgia on guitars; and Tommy Price on drums – the seam in the album comes on the second track, "River of Tears," with its stunning soprano saxophone lines, marimbas, accordions, and howling, raw, Gato Barbieri-like tenor lines in the choruses. When DeVille sings, "Every night lonely, empty dreams/Here comes that tide washing over me/Not again/Oh no/Not again/I don't want to cry/But there's tears in my eyes/I don't want to cry/That river of tears," the horns and accordion swirl around him until the final 16 measures, when the guitars and marimbas envelop all his loss in their warmth. His voice is the grain of every rock & roll lothario's Waterloo. DeVille follows this with a scorching Cuban son called "Demisado Corazon," featuring full salsa horn and percussion sections.