Rabbitt
Rock Rabbitt

Tracks:

1. Rush Hour Scores
2. Mr. Muso
3. Love In My Heart
4. Within These Words
5. Rock 'N' Roll Part I & II
6. Getting Thru To You
7. I've Been Aware
8. Without Her Love
9. Hello And Welcome Home
10. Goodbye And So-Long

Release information:

1978, JoBurg Records, TJC(X)13025

Musicians:

• Duncan Faure: Vocals, guitars, keyboards
• Ronnie Robot: Bass
• Neil Cloud: Drums

Webpage:

• Rabbitt

Review:

Were Rabbitt made up of Trevor RABin plus a BITt? The South African public was about to find out when a post Trevor Rabbitt released 'Rock Rabbitt'. Song writing responsibility now lay solely with Duncan Faure and the threesome took no chances in the studio with Julian Laxton co-producing alongside the band, Patric van Blerk as executive producer and Greg Cutler and Laxton taking engineering credits. All of these were already stalwarts of the SA music scene.

Few bands have survived the loss of one of its major talents, and Rabbitt turned out to be no exception as they called it a day after this release. However they did leave SA with an album of rather pleasant rock tunes, featuring some fine vocals and keyboard work from Faure. There is more than a shade of Supertramp on the album and none more so than on 'Mr Muso' although this album was released a full 2 years before Supertramp released their classic 'Breakfast in America'. There is also some nice racing paced rock in 'Rock n Roll Part One and Two' and 'Without her Love' that encourages one to obey the 'PLAY LOUD' command common on albums of that era (although not found on this particular album).

The Rabbitt sound is still present throughout the album and is probably at the fore in the Beatles-ish 'Hello and Welcome' a great tune of textures and shades with beautiful harmonies and swirling chorus. This is probably the best track on the album and leads into the poignant and apt closing track 'Goodbye and So-Long' which I'm sure was responsible for the great tissue sale boom of 1977 as young girls around the country said farewell to SA favourite rock band for ever.

One can ask what could have been. What if the boys had accompanied Trevor overseas? Would we be writing about US number 1's by South African groups now? Would "Rabbitt Rules OK?" have been emblazoned on banners in a packed Wembley Stadium? What if Allan Faull had accepted the job as Trevor's replacement, would we all have been eagerly awaiting the re-release of 'Johnny Calls the Hairdresser' earlier this year? Who knows? As it happens, the 3 remaining members made a worthy farewell album that probably never got the recognition it deserved.

John Samson, SA Rockdigest #133, December 2001