Innholdsfortegnelse for Nov/dec 2019 i Vintage Rock

When it first reared its rather stylishly pompadoured head, rockabilly music sparked one of the most provocative movements the States had ever witnessed. Theirs was a soundtrack that took no prisoners. Led by a vanguard on the peripheries of society, this disparate gang of maverick rockers mounted an assault on the social and cultural landscape that managed to do the one thing that every generational tribe has since tried – and largely failed – to do… it actually changed things. Crystallising the sounds, styles and atmospheres that emanated from rhythm & blues, country, bluegrass and boogie-woogie, this thing called rockabilly emerged instantaneously. Young guns from all over the States were called to arms to try their luck, for the most part thanks to Elvis’ arrival on the airwaves. For this…

ARMPIT #6 C/W THE PAST (RED TOP RECORDS 126) SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS Crazed, primitive and extremely rare, this monstrous double-header from the one and only Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was released in tiny numbers on Red Top Records in 1958. MINT VALUE: £350 THEIR GREATEST HITS (FEDERAL 295-90) THE MIDNIGHTERS That The Midnighters could release a compilation in 1954 goes to show how scorchin’ their early output was! Almost impossible to track down is the original 10" release on Federal Records. MINT VALUE: £2000 ALBINO BAT (SOLID GOLD RECORDS 6401) THE REGENTS Jumping rockabilly crossed with moody garage, this short, infectious mover was only distributed in minute numbers by Indiana label Solid Gold Records in 1964. MINT VALUE: £250 GO BO DIDDLEY (UK LONDON LP, HA-M 2230) BO DIDDLEY Bo’s second…

Tommy McLain, who has been described as the Cajun Hank Williams, and the Godfather Of Swamp Pop, burst on the scene in the UK with track one, side one, of DJ Charlie Gillett’s Another Saturday Night – Classic Recordings From The Louisiana Bayous in 1974. He performed that same song, a re-working of Fats Domino’s Before I Grow Too Old, in London in a series of summer Sunday night sessions earlier this year, and proved why, at the age of 79 – and in fine voice – he is regarded as a legend. His biggest track, a cover of Don Gibson’s country ballad Sweet Dreams, made No.15 in the Billboard charts in 1966. Vintage Rock caught up with this jovial character, immaculately dressed in silver shoes and rainbow socks, for…

Released on Checker Records in July 1959, Go Bo Diddley was Bo’s second album, but the first to appear on his regular label, Checker Records. When Chess Records began releasing LPs in 1956, Leonard Chess was still unsure about the sales prospects of the long-playing format. Rather than establish an LP series for each of the Chess family of labels (Chess, Checker and Argo), he initially released LPs under solely the Chess imprint, no matter which label the artist was signed to. As a result, the first Bo Diddley LP, Bo Diddley was released on the Chess label in July 1958. Two other Checker Records artists — Little Walter and Dale Hawkins — also released their first LPs under the Chess imprint. By early 1959, the LP format proved profitable…

Teen prodigy Chubby Checker asked his mother to pray for a hit single after his debut, The Class, peaked at a disappointing No.38 on the Billboard chart in 1959. Her prayers were answered with Hank Ballard’s The Twist. “She said that she had a dream that I would record a song that would belong to someone else, and it would cover the entire world,” the artist formerly known as Ernest Evans, recalled. That someone else was Hank Ballard, whom Checker, still in high school at the time, had seen perform the song with The Midnighters at the Uptown Theatre in his native Philadelphia, and heard the original version many times on the radio. But little did he know his version would go on to achieve the kind of immortality that…

“Recording-wise, two highlights really stand out. First was our 2012 cover recording of Smokestack Lightning by Howlin’ Wolf. It was one take and all live recorded to tape at the Wild Studio, and it included some light improvisation at the end that we had never done before. It worked so well that we simply saw no need to run a second take. “And of course our most recent recordings at Soil Of The South studios in Valdosta, Georgia. I’m really, really happy with those. We made a decision, we packed up our stu. and drove three days across the country, and we put down the best possible music we could as a team with a brand new incredible producer. And when I hear the recordings, I’m truly proud of what…

In the Britain of the early 1980s, the rockabilly revival was in full swing. The Stray Cats were flying the flag for neo-rockabilly, but on the fringes of the rockin’ scene, a new sound was waiting for the lightning bolt to strike that would give it life. This musical Frankenstein’s monster was assembled with body parts and organs taken from rockabilly, garage rock, 1950’s B-movies, and the DIY-spirit of punk, and it took its name from a throwaway line in the Johnny Cash track One Piece At A Time. It was loud, lewd, and ferocious, and it answered to the name of psychobilly. Nowadays Alan Wilson is the proprietor of the Western Star Recording Company and Western Star Records, but once upon a time he was frontman of The Sharks,…

Exactly 70 years ago, Hank Williams had his first No.1 hit, Lovesick Blues, and his career in country music exploded. Today, his 22-year-old grandson, singer-songwriter Sam Williams, sits in the corner of a Shepherd’s Bush bar with a cold drink and an open smile, just a couple of hours before his support slot at the Empire next door. It’s high time he talked about what it all means, and why he avoided treading the same path for so long. “Honestly,” says Sam Williams, “the legacy for me is sometimes very pressing and it defines my whole life. And sometimes I’m completely separate from it and I’m totally normal.” When he went to see the 2016 movie, I Saw The Light, in which Tom Hiddleston played his grandfather Hank Williams, it…

SUPERB RECOMMENDED AVERAGE PATCHY AVOID Darrel Higham THE SONGS OF TONY LINDER FOOT TAPPING RECORDS This is a touching tribute to one of the many artists who never chased fame but remained creative. Higham has covered four songs by Tony Linder, a London-based engineer and draughtsman who sang and played guitar solely for his own pleasure. Playing all the instruments himself, Darrel has really done a sterling job of rock’n’roll archaeology by finally bringing these unheard late 1950’s compositions to a wider audience. By the sounds of it, Linder was quite a talent and to hear these songs in their full-blown glory is a revelation. Degenerated DOWNFALL OF HUMANITY KILLJOY RECORDS If you are looking for an earful of rough’n’ready rockin’ this Berlin group’s two-track o.ering will certainly blow away…

MURDER IN SOHO WESTERN STAR This disparate group was formed specifically to record a one-o. tribute to the late Chas Hodges, one half of rockney duo Chas & Dave, and it grew from there. Yes, that tribute is here, the poignantly titled There’ll Never Be A World Without Chas Hodges, written by Western Star boss Alan Wilson, founder member of 80s psychobilly outfit The Sharks, with vocals by diamond geezer Pat Winn. Cli. Hall on piano drives the number along, and it is eerily reminiscent of a Chas & Dave favourite. But there’s much more to this fine 13-tracker that manages to mix hilarity, nostalgia and genuine pathos, sometimes in the same song. The murder of the CD title references boxer and Six-Five Special TV host Freddie Mills, and there’s…

WEST STREET MAGIC Harmonica genius Steve “West” Weston has stepped out of the sidesman shadows to release his first self-titled CD to mark 40 years since he first played harp professionally. And what an album it is, boasting 11 original numbers written by the man himself, who backs himself on not only harmonica but keyboards, too, and handles lead vocals in entirely professional fashion. Steve is harpist of choice for American bluesmen visiting his native UK, playing with The Broadkasters, Bluesonics and Scandinavia’s Trickbag, and has tasted chart success working alongside Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey. This was recorded in Finland with Scandinavian players, and the numbers, while all blues-based, feature an enjoyable variety of subject matter and tempos. The opener, Your Dog Keeps Looking At Me, sums up the…

Having been in showbiz now for over 62 years I can honestly say that I’ve been blessed with many wonderful friendships from all walks of life, and because of the many amazing experiences we’ve shared I’ve endeavoured not to take life too seriously. A good example of trying to stay grounded was when my good pal Michael Cox, No.1 hit recorder of Angela Jones, and I were appearing for a summer season in the Isle Of Man. When on tour it was girls, girls, girls, and we were so lucky as they were chasing us. We were the envy of many, yet we knew it could end as quickly as it started. WHEN DANNY RIVERS, Michael and I worked together we would often car share and hang out together so…

The Polecats 8 November FEATURING The Polecats supported by The Zipheads VENUE The Underworld, Camden, London BOOKING theunderworldcamden.co.uk Rockabilly Blowout #6 9-10 November FEATURING Fat’n’Furious, Dollar Bill, Joe King And The Jesters, Carlos And The Bandidos, The Rimshots, Marc And The Wild Ones and more VENUE Drayton Manor Park BOOKING eventbrite.co.uk Rhythm Riot 14-18 November FEATURING Ezra Lee, Benny Peters, Scotty Baker, Pat Capocci, The Hi-Jivers, Tammi Savoy & the CC Combo, Ray Collins’ Hot Club and more VENUE Pontins, Camber Sands BOOKING rhythmriot.com Neo-Mania: A Night Of Frantic Rockabilly! 25 January FEATURING The Blue Cats, Restless, The Deltas, The Uproars and DJ Rock Ape VENUE Fiddlers, Bristol BOOKING eventbrite.co.uk The Western Stars… 21 March FEATURING Bob Butfoy and his band, Rusti Steel & The Star Tones, The Bullets, The…

Start searching for the crème de la crème of rockabilly tracks from the 50s and early 60s and the further down you dig the harder it gets. Such was the intense difficulty of the task that the Vintage Rock team set themselves with this definitive list of 100 rockabilly classics, that on a different day this list could have looked very different indeed. There are just so many exemplary examples of the rockabilly sound – from chart-topping mainstays to deeply-buried treasures, emanating from right across the length and breadth of the United States during that period – and a fair few good ’uns from the UK. For starters, in this list you will find a plenitude of recordings to have come out of Sam Phillips’ celebrated Sun Records studio in…

The rock act trading in theatrical gore has a long tradition, from the pantomime of Screaming Lord Sutch and the psychedelia of Arthur Brown, to the harder rock of Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and Kiss. But arguably none of them had an ounce of the talent of their spiritual godfather, a very strange man from Cleveland, Ohio, born Jalacy J Hawkins, who really wanted to be an opera singer. Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, as he became known, is often listed as a one-hit wonder. Technically, he wasn’t even that. I Put A Spell On You was considered so disturbing on release in 1956, with its animalistic grunts and suggestions of cannibalism, that many radio programmers denied it airtime. It may have accumulated an estimated one million in sales over the years,…

They say you should never meet your heroes – but, for Hank Ballard, it was more a case of you should never meet your hero-worshippers. When he was touring with The Midnighters in the 50s, a regular member of the audience member on Georgia dates was none other than James Brown. Yes, that James Brown. “James used to follow us around. I used to be his idol, He was all Hank Ballard at one time,” said Ballard. Fast forward to the next decade, and Ballard was part of James Brown’s revue. Brown even produced the funky How You Gonna Get Respect (When You Haven’t Cut Your Process Yet)?, No.15 on the American R&B chart in 1968 for Ballard. The two continued to work together in the 70s, with Ballard anchoring…

The eagle-eyed/eared will already have noticed that the band’s song Run And Hide from 2015 album Howlin’ appeared in season two of Netflix show From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series. Meanwhile, an award-winning documentary from 2013, Los Wild Ones, features the Bomber boys on typical fine form – alongside other Wild Records artists. An eye-opening insight into a very unique record label, at the time it won Best Documentary at the Phoenix Film Festival. Los Angeles-based Wild Records is run by Reb Kennedy, an Irish Americana aficionado, whose rockabilly label mainly comprises a talent roster of performers of Mexican heritage. Directed by Elise Salomon, the film goes behind the scenes with multitasking Kennedy, (“who wears many hats in running his business, and perhaps too many”, as some of his musicians…

ALAN WILSON’S PSYCHOBILLY SELECTION “The Tall Boys, Another Half Hour ‘Til Sunrise: When I first got that track, I just couldn’t believe how great it was and I remember thin king that’s a record I wish I’d written. That’s a good example of an early psychobilly track and then where psychobilly is at, at the moment, there’s a band called Henry And The Bleeders on my label and they’ve really got that kick-ass psychobilly attitude but they don’t sound like they come from 1982. They’re a little bit harder. Harder again, there are bands like Stagefright. The original bands like Batmobile are still doing really, really good work. Because they’ve been touring with the same line-up for 30 or 40 years, if you go to a Batmobile concert, that’s a…

Sam Williams grew up in Paris, Tennessee, two hours outside of Nashville, where his father, Hank Williams Jr, had moved to hunt and get away from people. Then Sam moved back to Nashville when he was 18 to take entertainment classes at Belmont University. His head was turned by politics when he took classes in international relations, and was never pushed towards music. “I was never exactly sure what I wanted to do, but I was always into other countries, how the world worked and how we interacted with other nations. I’m a fan of some of the older, classic American presidents, maybe not as much now! I was definitely a big fan of John F Kennedy. Am I different to the rest of my family? Yes, my dad goes…

SUPERB RECOMMENDED AVERAGE PATCHY AVOID Spade Cooley COLLECTION 1945-1952 ACROBAT Spade Cooley, fiddle player and band leader, vied with Bob Wills for the title of King Of Western Swing, but was more of a character than mild-mannered Bob. Spade’s career was cut short when he was jailed for the brutal murder of his wife. But we separate the artist from his output, and this whopping two-CD 54-tracker covers his whole recording career, and is the authentic sound of pre-Nashville country. Small wonder that one of his biggest hits, included here, was I’ve Taken All I’m Gonna Take from You. Wild Wax Combo FLAT OUT EL TORO A Danish trio of guitar, bass and drums achieve the somewhat thin sound rockabilly fans regard as authentic, with accentless English and a great…

STEVE GRINSTER AND WILLIE STORM EL TORO A great idea to let two rockin’ disc jockeys choose their favourite vinyl and reissue the lot for the delight and education of others. Steve and Willie are regulars at Spain’s Screamin’ Festival, and it was fest organiser and El Toro label boss Carlos Diaz who came up with the idea of tapping into their collective knowledge for a collection notable both for its excellence, and otherwise obscurity. There are 30 tracks in total, and the informative sleeve by the hosts to this particular party define the numbers by category. Mac Rebennack, otherwise Dr John, cut the instrumental Storm Warning in the 50s, and this stormer opens proceedings in fine style. There are other big names here – James Brown and Gene Vincent…

Link Wray RUMBLE A revelation! The fact that you could make a hit record from playing just two chords – and not even complicated chords. The track was banned – always a plus in my book – for possibly inciting violence. To my ears it just shook up the world heroically. Rock Around The Clock caused riots in cinemas but Rumble has always put up my heart rate a smidgeon and probably helped me smile at strangers. I love the fact that Link – what a great name – thrust a sharp pencil through the speaker cone of his amp to get a rougher sound. Booker T And The MG’s GREEN ONIONS Yet another chord-structured ear-tickler. Totally brilliant riff but it is the perfection of the performance that makes this…

LIKE GUITARS? LIKE Chicano rock’n’roll? Then we urge you to seek out guitarist and author Ryan Sheeler’s latest publication entitled Ritchie Valens: His Guitars And Music. This new book takes a unique look at the Latino rocker’s famous collection of six strings as well as examining his dexterity around a fretboard, including a new transcription of La Bamba with guitar tablature of the intro riff, and a bonus transcription of the guitar solo from Los Lobos’ version on the 1987 film soundtrack. There are plenty of photos inside, as well as audio content in which Sheeler talks readers through the riffs while demonstrating them. It’s out now via Centerstream/Hal Leonard.…

Die Boogie Banausen are the fast-rising teenage rock’n’roll sensation from Germany. Well, two-thirds of them are teenagers anyway. Saxophonist Lorenz Knauft is 16, pianist/vocalist Dennis Taubner is 18, while drummer Michael Seyfarth is the veteran of the trio. “Michael is 19-plus, so he’s still a teen too,” laughs Lorenz, who was introduced to the rockin’ scene through his dad’s love of vintage cars. Signed to the label run by The Firebirds, Die Boogie Banausen released their debut album, Don’t Talk Around, this year and they’ve been rocking dancefloors from the Summer Jamboree to the Rhythm Riot and Viva Las Vegas. Lorenz, you first met Dennis at the Firebirds Festival, didn’t you? “It’s one of our favourite festivals. I was there with my old combo and Dennis was playing accordion right…

I gave the world the biggest dance craze ever,” boasts Hank Ballard in Ron Mann’s 1992 documentary, Twist. However disputable the claim – and that’s a dispute best mediated by dance connoisseurs – there’s no doubt that Ballard’s song, The Twist, remains one of rock’n’roll’s defining moments. Unfortunately for Ballard, that moment was defined not by his version, but by Chubby Checker’s, which went to No.1 Stateside on two separate occasions in 1960 and 1961, and also topped Billboard magazine’s all-time Hot 100 singles chart. Furthermore, it has been added to America’s National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for long-term preservation. Ballard wrote The Twist in 1958, adapting the melody of a previous composition, Is Your Love For Real (itself inspired by The Drifters’ What’cha Gonna Do), to…

“I’m not even sure if I can describe our music and I guess that’s a good thing; we’re a meat grinder of lots of old American music” Formed in 2008 – and delivering from the get-go a rock-solid mix of swampy blues, country and rockabilly with a contemporary twist – this four-piece quickly rose to become one of the best bands out of Las Vegas, Nevada. Fulfilling their provocative promise as providers of “Rock and roll in all its raunchy, dirty, and wild goodness”, they proved a must-see, must-hear experience of substance over style. With an impressive 32K followers on Facebook, to date the wonderfully wild title track Wolf from their 2012 album has garnered 1,073,918 YouTube views. On the strength of this second LP, the band fast gained momentum…

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American Bandstand host Dick Clark has long been regarded as a pioneer in bringing the races together on the long-running programme, which aired from 1952 to 1989. Billboard magazine described it as “a force for social good”, while Clark himself once claimed, “In 1957, we were charting new territory. I don’t think of myself as a hero or a civil rights activist for integrating the show. It was simply the right thing to do.” But according to Matthew F Delmont, in his book The Nicest Kids In Town: American Bandstand, Rock’n’Roll And The Struggle For Civil Rights In 1950s Philadelphia, this narrative ran counter to the historical record. “The real story is that American Bandstand was segregated for the whole time it was in Philadelphia, and it remained segregated until it…

“I don’t want to be nasty about other bands, but it would be nice if you could still hear the sound that puts it all together,” says Jeroen Haamers. “The Nekromantix are a totally different psychobilly than The Sharks or Batmobile or The Ricochets. The most recognisable things in the style are the quits and the double bass, so when you have a quit and a double bass, you must be a psychobilly band. Bands like Tiger Army from the United States are just as much a psychobilly band as The Ricochets from the UK, but when you listen to the music, I think they’re in comparable. It’s from a totally different planet when you hear both their sounds. I think that’s a little bit of an issue within psychobilly…

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry This is the bible of writing songs. It’s just the quintessential country song in relating the outside world and other stu. to how you feel inside. Jambalaya This is from that part of Hank that was in good spirits, who wanted everybody to have a good time, and wanted to be in love more than anything; I can relate to that so much. Lost Highway I am a humongous fan of this song. The lyrics say: “I was just a lad, nearly 22/Neither good nor bad, just a boy like you.” And I’m 22 now! It’s about how you make a lot of mistakes in your early life that don’t define necessarily your character, but they’re mistakes that you have to make to be…

SUPERB RECOMMENDED AVERAGE PATCHY AVOID Ronnie Dawson ACTION PACKED MULTIGROOVE RECORDS This well-designed 10" from France features a dozen of the blond bomber’s most frantic floorshakers. While there is nothing new to excite collectors this is pure catnip for rabid fans of the format (like me) and another opportunity to plug a gap in that classic collection of rockabilly vinyl that clocks in at just over the 25cm mark. For those unaware of this Texan troubadour’s early output then this is an essential purchase and whoppers included here such as Action Packed, Do Do Do, Rockin’ Bones, Slenderella and Green Eyed Cat will rock your world. Carl Perkins DISCOVERING CARL PERKINS – EASTVIEW, TENNESSEE 1952-53 BEAR FAMILY RECORDS Bear Family Records have a long-standing reputation for reissues and it is…

THE COLLECTION 1958-1962 ACROBAT When it came to record-collecting, I bought Sea Of Love by Phil Phillips & The Twilights, Endless Sleep by Jody Reynolds and Donna by Ritchie Valens. But when it came to live shows, be it the Saturday Morning Teenage Show at the local Odeon, or the West End musical Bye Bye Birdie, Marty Wilde, as our homegrown rock’n’roll hero, was an unmissable ticket. Amazingly, to this former teenage music snob, Marty’s early recordings show he had an excellent voice and was unburdened by inappropriate backings foisted on him by unsympathetic record label bosses. His covers were often the equal of the originals and, despite TV fame on shows like Boy Meets Girls, Marty successfully avoided attempts to turn him into an all-round entertainer or Vegas crooner.…

SURFIN’ BIRD CHARLY It was a glorious idea in 1964. At the height of the surfing craze, a four-piece combo from the landlocked centre of the States declared itself the top surf band in the mid-West. Then, to add to the confusion, they revived and conflated two tracks by vocal group The Rivingtons, Papa Oom Mow Mow and The Bird’s The Word, to produce Surfin’ Bird. In doing so, they maybe invented punk. This 22-tracker mixes rock’n’roll revivals like Jimmy Dee’s Henrietta, The Crickets’ It’s So Easy, and Barrett Strong’s Money, Dick Dale-style covers like Miserlou, Peppermint Man and Malaguena, with hot rod cuts including My Woodie, A-Bone and Whoa Dad!. A reissue of Surfin’ Bird in 2010 narrowly missed the UK chart top when it was featured in Family…

Looking back 60 years to 1959 reveals a vintage year for rockabilly and rock’n’roll with releases spanning both the genre and the oceans from Eddie Cochran’s Somethin’ Else through to Vince Taylor’s Brand New Cadillac, Freddy Cannon’s Tallahassee Lassie to Cliff Richard and The Drifters’ Living Doll. Rock’n’roll made up almost half of the year’s record sales in the United States, but as teenage heartthrob Frankie Avalon took his saccharine love ballad Why to No.1 that year, he ushered in the decade of the pop idol. Rock’n’roll’s days were all but numbered.…