Innholdsfortegnelse for Sept/Oct 2019 i Vintage Rock

She was just six when she first told her dad of her plans to become a singer and she meant it – Wanda Jackson would go on to completely redefine what it meant to be a woman in music. Despite what Capitol Records told her when she first approached them, she showed the industry that girls do sell records, lots of ’em. And she was happy to point out that girls could rock as hard as any man. Faced with a lack of material she could relate to, she vowed to create her own, and the likes of Mean Mean Man sparked off that nascent desire to sing songs from a woman’s perspective. While the mainstream media of the time presented women as kitchen-dwelling husband-pleasers, Jackson was the dichotomy of…

WANDA JACKSON (US CAPITOL T 1041) WANDA JACKSON The debut LP from the Queen Of Rockabilly, these original US copies are getting increasingly difficult to find in top condition. MINT VALUE: £250 BE BOP BABY (EXCELLO 2044) THE PEACHEROS Described as the ‘holy grail’ for collectors in the R&B and doo-wop circles, good luck finding this top rarity from 1954… MINT VALUE: £2,500 BLUE SUEDE SHOES (SUN EP 115) CARL PERKINS It’s always hard to beat the original! Sun didn’t produce that many EPs from this period and as such you don’t see this cracker coming up for sale very often. MINT VALUE: £500 SLEEP WALK (CANADIAN 78RPM – CANADIAN AMERICAN RECORDS – 103) SANTO & JOHNNY This all-time classic from Santo & Johnny Farina was issued in Canada on…

Just like Jerry Lee Lewis, one of the other few rockers ‘left standing’, Wanda Jackson is blessed with a feisty spirit. Like Lewis, she recently suffered a stroke – luckily caught in time – and has experienced up and down health of late. In April this year, Wanda told Rolling Stone that she was to retire “due to health and safety”. As a pioneering female performer, in the 50s she shared bills with the greats such as Elvis, who encouraged the young country singer to rip it up in the emergent world of rock’n’roll. As a rare woman capable of both a cooler take on country and rocking up a storm, Wanda paved the way for other female entertainers to follow. She spent some 65 years on the road: first…

Interestingly, Wanda’s hotly-anticipated upcoming album comes as a result of the singer feeling not completely satisfied with her last album in 2012, the Justin Townes Earle-produced Unfinished Business – “which then created unfinished business!” she later said. As initially reported on broadwayworld.com in July 2018, with Joan Jett producing, Wanda went to Nashville to record some tracks, written by herself as well as by hit Nashville songwriter/singer Elle King and Angaleena Presley of The Pistol Annies. Back again in the mix is four-time Grammy award winner Vance Powell, of the Wanda/Jack White 2011 tour de force No.17 Top Rock Album/No.58 Billboard scorer, The Party Ain’t Over. (Aged 73 when released, she broke Mae West’s 1966 record for being the oldest female vocalist to make the chart). That will be hard…

1959 • COLUMBIA RECORDS Side 1 Apron Strings (George Weiss & Aaron Schroeder) 2:40 My Babe (Willie Dixon) 2:21 Down The Line (Roy Orbison) 1:59 I Got A Feeling (Baker Knight) 1:48 Jet Black (Jet Harris) 2:13 Baby I Don’t Care (Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller) 2:08 Donna (Ritchie Valens) 3:06 Move It (Ian Samwell) 2:09 Side 2 Ready Teddy (John Marascalco & Robert Blackwell) 1:47 Too Much (Lee Rosenberg & Bernard Weinman) 2:16 Don’t Bug Me Baby (Leon Luallen & Johnny Bragg) 2:16 Driftin’ (Hank Marvin) 2:46 That’ll Be The Day (Buddy Holly & Jerry Allison) 2:09 Be-Bop-A-Lula (Gene Vincent & Bill “Sheriff Tex” Davis) 2:13 Danny (Ben Weisman & Fred Wise) 2:54 Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On (Dave “Curly” Williams) 2:59 CLIFF RICHARD LEAD VOCALS HANK MARVIN LEAD…

Saxist Jimmy Cavello And His House Rockers learned how powerful Freed was in 1956 when Alan’s business partner Jack Hooke approached them at an audition. “Jack says, ‘Come on, jump into the cab. We’re going down to the studio right now. Alan wants to hear the band in person!’” said Cavello. “So we went down there. We just threw the cases in the car. We had our horns in our hand, carrying the big bull fiddle in the middle of Times Square! And we went to the radio station, WINS.” Freed listened to the young white band play between spinning platters during his airshift and liked what he heard. “He called Coral right then and there,” said Cavello. “We hooked up with Alan Freed and Coral Records at the same…

“Being there right at the beginning of rock’n’roll with Elvis was so exciting,” says Brenda. “I’m so glad to have been a part of that era – rock’n’roll was something else. I first met Elvis in 1957 when he was just getting ready to go into the army. I think I’m right in saying that I was one of the few females to ever appear on the same bill as Elvis [Wanda Jackson and Barbara Pittman were others]. Elvis and I did one appearance together at the Grand Ole Opry on 13 December, 1957. He appeared exclusively alone after that. I had already had a hit, he was starting out. He sang That’s All Right and Blue Moon Of Kentucky. The audience absolutely loved him, he was electric without even…

If Darrel Higham is the Rockabilly Don, Eddie Cochran is his specialist subject. Alongside the authoritative biography he co-wrote with Julie Mundy, Don’t Forget About Me: The Eddie Cochran Story and his highly rated The Cochran Connection albums, Vols 1 & 2, as well as his frequent tribute shows, last year he hooked up with Jerry Chatabox, organiser of successful weekenders like the Rockabilly Rave to stage the inaugural running of The Cochran Connection. It was such a success it’s back again this year. “We’re only in the second year but we’ve already established our template, which is to get in a band we know will appeal to the dancers, while I handle the Eddie Cochran tribute so there is no pressure on the other bands to do his music.…

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The Kokomo Kings FIGHTING FIRE WITH GASOLINE RHYTHM BOMB Top marks for this well-seasoned Scandinavian outfit who mix up-tempo blues with rockabilly, write excellent songs and perform them in unaccented English, and have now released their third CD without setting the world on fire. Maybe this release will change that. All 12 songs on this new album are written by bassist Magnus Lanshammar and are given full justice by lead vocalist Martin Abrahamsson. There are three guitars in the line-up – Martin himself, Ronni Busack-Boysen and Magnus, too, which means on some tracks there’s a delightful mix of slide and lead. It’s difficult to choose a favourite track, because there’s not a duff one among them. All members of the group have backed the biggest names in R&B, so it’s…

Rock’n’roll had well and truly gripped the world by the time it hit the box office in June 1959. Billed as “The Biggest Rock’n’Roll Picture Ever!”, Go, Johnny, Go! was masterminded by DJ Alan “Moondog” Freed and producer-director Hal Roach Jr. As with many of these Big Beat spectaculars, it was weak on plot, heavy on music. Freed himself stars as a talent scout, with teen pin-up Jimmy Clanton as the lead and pop chanteuse Sandy Stewart as his love interest. Taking top billing in the music stakes were Jackie Wilson, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, The Flamingos, The Cadillacs, The Moonglows’ Harvey Fuqua and, of course, Chuck Berry, who performs Johnny B Goode. “While anyone over the age of 21 would probably do well to avoid subjecting their eardrums to…

How do you view Wanda’s place in the pantheon of rocking greats? Successful female singers who could both rock and sing country were admittedly rare in her day but they did exist (notably Janis Martin from ’56, to Brenda Lee slightly later). How do you think Wanda’s unique in comparison? I view Wanda as a pioneer, but that’s something she never actually consciously set out to be. It was while touring with Elvis that he encouraged her to try recording “his” kind of music, as opposed to the strictly country fare she’d recorded up to that point. What’s unique about Wanda’s story is that, once she signed with Capitol Records, she did the bulk of her recording on the West Coast, rather than in Nashville or Memphis. California’s brand of…

At the grand old age of 81 Wanda Jackson has chosen to hang up her boots and box up her infamously flamboyant touring wardrobe. A hero to many stars that followed including Bob Dylan (who dubbed her the “Hurricane in Lipstick”), Cyndi Lauper, Imelda May, Adele and numerous others, Wanda’s career has had many varied highlights. Plenty of storming performances are missed out here, from the incendiary Mean Mean Man on Town Hall Party to the serene Right Or Wrong on vinyl, but nonetheless, here we handpick 10 of her finest, fieriest and funniest performances on stage, on record and on television – chosen from across the length and breadth of her incredible career. 1 I Gotta Know Augumented by some superb fretting from ace guitarist Joe Maphis, Bakersfield stars…

Cliff was not only the long-player introduction of Cliff Richard to the world, but also the full-length introduction of one of the first truly great British rock’n’roll bands, The Shadows. Formed in March 1958, the original line-up of “The Drifters” included guitarist Norman Mitham, drummer Terry Smart and singer and guitarist Harry Webb (who would soon change his name to “Cliff Richard”). Ian Samwell joined the group a month later, just as the mania for their live appearances began to take off, a process that transformed the rechristened “Cliff Richard And The Drifters” into stars. After the chart success of Richard’s first single, Move It, in the autumn of 1958, it became clear the group needed a stronger guitar player than Mitham. Richard’s manager, Johnny Foster, found two — Hank…

Unlike the way it was in Cleveland, Alan Freed wouldn’t exclusively own the R&B airwaves when he arrived in New York City in 1954. There would be competition from other DJs, notably Tommy “Dr Jive” Smalls. His daily late-afternoon programme on WWRL radio already had him positioned as the man to beat. The Savannah, Georgia-born Smalls had been his hometown’s first black DJ when he manned the mic at WSAV in 1947 before relocating to New York in 1952. As Dr Jive, he specialised in playing R&B and doo-wop on WWRL, and he presented live R&B shows at the fabled Apollo Theater. The rest of the country became aware of Smalls on 20 November, 1955, when TV variety show host Ed Sullivan allowed Dr Jive to emcee a groundbreaking R&B…

Brenda ‘loved’ the Fab Four, and had a special mutual appreciation with John Lennon – her ‘favourite, unique’ Beatle. Lennon was already a fan of Lee, having previously declared: “Brenda has the greatest rock’n’roll voice of them all.” As for their famous support slot at Hamburg’s Star Club in 1962, Brenda recalls: “I remember standing backstage listening to them sing songs I’d never even heard before. When they came off, I said to John, ‘Where do you get those new songs?’ He said that they wrote them. I knew then that they were special. It was like witnessing the birth of the next different music to come. I asked John could I take a tape of I Want To Hold Your Hand back. I also took a picture of them…

This is the story of two brothers from Brooklyn, New York; Santo, born 24 October, 1937, and younger brother Johnny, who was born on 30 April, 1941. In 1959, they created and recorded a song that’s been used in countless movies, international commercials and other projects, and its popularity shows no signs of letting up. Johnny, who currently presides over a Manhattan-based record company, Aniraf Inc, says he still averages three weekly requests from people wanting to license Sleep Walk. It’s been recorded or performed by the likes of Eric Clapton, The Shadows, Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, James Burton and Les Paul. In 1998, Stray Cats leader Brian Setzer won an American Grammy award for Best Instrumental Pop Performance with the song, which has also been considered an inspiration for…

‘Accidental producer’ Nick Lowe apparently gained the nickname ‘Basher’ for knocking out records quickly and saying they could tidy them up later. When he was taken on as Stiff Records’ in-house producer by Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson, he recorded his own single first. So It Goes/Heart Of The City was knocked out for just £65 in the hot summer of 1976, a pre-punk mini classic. Then it was straight into producing The Damned’s pioneering punk single New Rose, and their thrice self-titled album, Damned Damned Damned. The Pretenders and Chrissie Hynde made their breakthrough with the fabulous single Stop Your Sobbing, produced by Lowe, who then bowed out and left the rest of their songs in the capable hands of Chris Thomas (“a much better pop record producer. It…

Various Artists ROCKIN’ BLUES KINGS EL TORO RECORDS Interest in the earliest roots of rock’n’roll has never been stronger and there are a barn-full of bands out there now who take their influences from before the 1950’s. Capitalising on this demand, El Toro have released a beautifully packaged series of six singles featuring a quartet of blues belters on each EP from the likes of Washboard Sam, Billy Boy Arnold and Little Johnny Jones. These singles plunder the back catalogue of labels like Chess, Flair and Savoy to deliver only the finest, undiluted shackshakers. Probably the most collectable amongst these half-dozen seven-inchers is the offering from Little Walter which features Mercy Baby, an earlier version of his track My Babe, which has never been previously released on vinyl, but for…

It’s common knowledge that Liverpool was possibly the first UK city to recognise the abundance of rock’n’roll in America due to the amount of sailors who worked on the ships sailing between Liverpool and New York. Whilst in America the thrifty sailors would purchase the latest American hit records and once back home would sell them to the Scousers. Liverpool was already a city steeped in music hall history with many of Britain’s finest funnymen and women hailing from the city on the River Mersey, and it was soon to become famous for its musicians born out of American rock’n’roll. One of these such musicians was a youngster who grew up to be the lead singer in The Midnighters, a popular Merseyside group. Their popularity grew due to their lead…

Born in a log cabin in Locust, Kentucky in 1935, but based since his teens near Indianapolis, Indiana, Art Adams cut just two classic rockabilly singles in 1959 and 60, but what records they were! Released on the Scottsville, Kentucky label Cherry Records, Dancing Doll and Rock Crazy Baby may have received scant attention at the time but they were embraced by rockabilly revivalists in the 80s and have set dancefloors aflame ever since. When did you first get into music? I can’t remember a time when I didn’t sing. I used to get a broomstick and get up on the hayloft in the barn and pretend I was on the Grand Ole Opry. My mom bought me a banjo when I was about 10. I loved bluegrass, which we…

✶ According to Wanda back in the day, “The musicians would come up with arrangements on the fly, everything was done quickly. We didn’t put as much weight on recording then. A record was just something to help you get more live gigs. We never imagined that anyone would still be listening to records in a year, much less 50 years down the road!’ ✶ She recorded (though disliked) a novelty calypso song, Don’a Wan’a, suggested by her producer Ken Nelson. ✶ She was the first woman to host her own syndicated TV show in the 60s. ✶ Wanda cites ‘female Elvis’ Janis Martin as another rockabilly girl pioneer. Like Wanda, Janis appeared on Rosie Flores’ ’95 album Rockabilly Filly, and was also rediscovered on the revival circuit. However, the…

Rock and roll’s mid-1950s explosion made instant stars of the genre’s groundbreaking first generation. Those icons weren’t the only dynamic voices that teenagers dug daily over the American radio airwaves. A battalion of mellifluous, motor-mouthed DJs spun the latest hits and promoted the latest discoveries, their manic patter complementing the savage music they championed. Those major-market disc jockeys wielded incredible power over what aired during their shifts. They could instantly make or break a new act because the majority of them programmed the records they played during their airshifts. It soon became apparent to a lot of them just how much money could be accrued under the table from the hordes of independent record labels and distributors eager to lock down crucial airplay that would make their records national hits.…

Later known as Little Miss Dynamite, as a child star from a dirt-poor background, the former Brenda Mae Tarpley certainly had an incendiary start. She signed with Decca aged 11 in 1956, charting her first pop hit One Step At A Time, the following year. At 17 she was a millionaire. The 4ft 9" firebrand first shot to international fame in Europe. At the end of a triumphant headline tour of France, she was invited by producer Jack Good onto Oh Boy!. Belting out Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home?, her appearance on the UK’s must-see TV show catapulted her career into the cultural stratosphere. Brenda’s rockabilly back catalogue already included blasts such as Bigelow 6-200, Let’s Jump The Broomstick, Rockin’ The Bop, Ballin’ The Jack, Hummin’ The Blues…

“Bill Haley’s been airbrushed out of the history of rock’n’roll and I don’t quite understand why,” Darrel Higham says emphatically. “It’s a travesty because his influence was, and is, profound. There’s nothing wrong with rock’n’roll just being happy music, but people today seem to think there has to be some hidden meaning in lyrics for songs to be taken seriously. Throughout his life, Haley thought that rock’n’roll was a very positive source for youngsters, never saw the harm in it and defended it until the day he died. And the musicianship on those recordings he made at the Pythian Temple in New York was outstanding. Very few bands, even with all the technology available today, get close to replicating that sound, even if the likes of The Stargazers, The Jive…

Nick Lowe is at an age when some blokes might be tempted to get out the pipe and slippers and muse reflectively over their past. But despite having much to muse on and nothing to prove, with exemplary back catalogues as producer and artist, this 70-year-old musical chameleon keeps looking forward. He’s constantly setting new challenges, taking on new tours, even playing at Glastonbury 2019 – yet he still maintains he’s lazy. Very much the self-made music man, his work encompasses rock’n’roll, R&B, skiffle, pub rock, punk rock and even Americana and country, and his influence is felt across the decades. As a boy, Nick Lowe grew up in far-flung corners of Europe where his RAF dad was stationed, listening to exciting new rock’n’roll sounds on the wireless in the…

What would Elvis have made of his music being re-imagined on album and stage with the lush strings of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra? Jerry Schilling, one of the King’s oldest friends, can only speak for himself. “I’m pretty much a purist on Elvis’ music, but I remember being in Russia on a little boat going up the Volga River many years ago. It was all Russian language radio stations, and the remix of A Little Less Conversation came on. It was a little throwaway song from the movie Live A Little, Love A Little, but an Italian engineer updated the song and it was a huge hit. I remember thinking, wow, if somebody can do it properly and my friend can get new audiences and be listened to around the…

Various Artists WHITE GOSPEL BANGERS IDLE CHERUB RECORDS This is only Idle Cherub Records’ second release but already they are gaining a solid reputation for compiling some of the wildest country and rockin’ rarities onto vinyl. This collection releases 15 prime cuts from bygone eras, exhumed from long-gone labels. All of the hillbilly heathen-haters that feature on the album belt out their ditties with true conviction to a stripped-down rockabilly backbeat. If you chose the righteous path and track one of these beauties down there are 333 copies out there on God-bothering gold vinyl. Danny “O” & The Astrotones INTRODUCING… WITCHCRAFT INTERNATIONAL As assured debut albums go, this has to be one of the most impressive of recent years. Frontman Danny Dawkins and the rest of this combo have all…

Bill Haley And His Comets ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK 1954 When I was about four years of age my family would listen to Radio Luxembourg most of the time due to us not having a TV. My father was a big Johnnie Ray and Bing Crosby fan at the time and he loved up-tempo music so much that he decided to buy a copy of Rock Around The Clock. Unfortunately, one day I trod on it and broke it into three pieces. Being an industrious man my father didn’t let that deter him from playing it again as he glued it back together and, to our amazement, it played beautifully. Lonnie Donegan DON’T YOU ROCK ME DADDY-O 1957 I was about seven years old when I became interested in Lonnie…