Innholdsfortegnelse for Jan/Feb 2020 i Vintage Rock

The big news on planet rockabilly as Christmas draws near is the recent discovery of four unreleased Carl Perkins recordings made in a tiny Tennessee studio way before he began his tenure at Sun Records (but more on that inside). Inspired by that incredible find, and fast-forwarding the clock just a little, this issue we’ve chosen to leave the well-told tale of Carl’s early days behind and instead retread his steps once Sam Phillips’ hallowed Memphis studio was behind him. After Blue Suede Shoes had showed so much promise tracking Elvis up the charts, a nasty road accident and the resulting personal tragedy meant Carl’s career slumped, and he was only able to watch on as his peers inhabited the Billboard on a weekly basis. But he was far from…

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 Wreckin’ Ball 15 February FEATURING Batmobile, Frenzy, Epileptic Hillbillys, Long Tall Texans, DJ Rock Ape VENUE Fiddlers, Bristol BOOKING eventbrite.co.uk Nell’s Presents… The Polecats 22 February FEATURING The Polecats VENUE Nell’s, London W14 BOOKING seetickets.com Restless & Special Guests 28 February FEATURING Restless, Darrel Higham & The Enforcers VENUE 100 Club, London BOOKING seetickets.com; 0871 220 0260 The Western Stars… 21 March FEATURING Bob Butfoy And His Band, Rusti Steel & The Star Tones, The Bullets, The Deadshots, Delta 88 and The Retrobaits VENUE Paintworks, Bristol BOOKING eventbrite.co.uk The Hangar Stomp! Rockabilly All-Dayer 16 May FEATURING Sonny West, Darrel Higham, The Bluecats, The…

Carl Perkins was the first rock’n’roll singer there ever was, even before Bill Haley,” said Gene Vincent in a late interview. “Even Elvis will admit it if you ask him. Bill Haley will admit it as well, and if it hadn’t been for that crash when he wrecked his back, Carl Perkins would have been the biggest rock’n’roll singer ever.” Strictly speaking, the earliest, previously unreleased, recordings made before the artist joined Sun in 1954 on the new vinyl LP from Bear Family, Discovering Carl Perkins – Eastview, Tennessee 1952-53, don’t entirely reinforce Vincent’s argument. They actually confirm him as an authentic country performer whose vocalising was underpinned by a keen and soulful sense of the blues, or as he would have put it, “blues with a country beat.” His…

Born in San Antonio, Texas, Rosie Flores’ family moved to San Diego when she was 10 years old. Growing up in Southern California in the late 60s and early 70s, she fell in love with country music and played in several country rock bands. She fully embraced the rockabilly beat in 1979 when she founded the band Rosie And The Rebops. Since then, her career has run the gamut of American’s roots music, including country, rockabilly, blues and Western swing. Some outstanding albums of her career include her 1987 self-titled debut solo album of honky-tonk-style country produced by Dwight Yoakam’s producer and guitarist Pete Anderson; 1995’s Rockabilly Filly, which brought Wanda Jackson and Janis Martin back into the spotlight; A Little Bit Of Heartache, her 1997 duet album with original…

When Jackie Wilson, at the pinnacle of his popularity in the 1950s, was tagged “the black Elvis”, the king of rock’n’roll himself retorted, “I guess that makes me the white Jackie Wilson.” The two artists were mutual admirers and good friends. They first crossed paths in 1956, when Elvis was wowed by Wilson fronting Billy Ward’s Dominoes in Las Vegas. Later the same year, during the famed Million Dollar Quartet session at Sun Studios (where Elvis jammed with Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins), Elvis enthused, “There’s a guy out there who’s doing a take-off of me, Don’t Be Cruel. He tried so hard’til he got much better, boy, much better than that record of mine.” Elvis saw Wilson live whenever opportunity presented itself. He assimilated many of…

The Stargazers’ one and only Epic album Watch This Space never got the exposure it warranted after its release in 1983. Whatever the somewhat torrid experience of recording it, it now plays like a classic of its time. You can hear the tracks along with all others the band did for Epic and which were officially released, plus three other tracks, originally made for the album but never released, on The Stargazers: Epic Rock’n’ Roll, a 22-track CD released on former Stargazers bass player Anders Janes’ label Rhythm Rock-it. It’s the first time all these recordings have been brought together in this way. Also available from the label is a new 25-track compilation from The Big Six, Don’t Stop… Rock! After Ricky Lee Brawn, The Stargazers’ founding drummer, left the…

When Elvis died in 1977, David Wade was asked if he would continue organising fan pilgrimages to America. He replied that he probably wouldn’t. Not only did he not want to cash in on the King’s death, but he doubted whether the demand would be there. Little did he realise that his first posthumous trip to Memphis would attract twice the number of people who had travelled when Presley was alive or that, four decades later, the Elvis Travel Service would be busier than ever. In 1979, the Elvis Festival in Great Yarmouth was established by the company as a closer-to-home gathering for those who couldn’t make one of the Stateside tours and this year it celebrated its 40th anniversary in style by extending the event from its usual seven…

Beyond his irreplaceable bass rhythm on record, in many ways Bill Black had been the backbone of Elvis’ early live performances with an effervescent on-stage persona that was often relied upon to warm up an audience. As has been widely publicised, however, Col Parker didn’t like anything that distracted from his boy. Nonetheless, Bill was destined to entertain with or without Elvis and when The Blue Moon Boys eventually parted ways with Presley, Bill Black’s Combo was quickly assembled with hotshot guitarist Reggie Young. In December 1959 debut instrumental 45 Smokie, Part 2, issued through Hi Records, landed at No.17 in the Billboard. Young would get his own draft papers soon after……

Carl Perkins was influenced by many classic country artists, including Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and the relentless hitmaker Eddy Arnold. He also admired the bluegrass maestro Bill Monroe, remarking that some of his songs “are so close to rockabilly it’s scary.” As well writing Daddy Sang Bass for Johnny Cash, and playing guitar on some of his other recordings like A Boy Named Sue, he also wrote for George Strait (When You’re A Man On Your Own), Dolly Parton (Silver And Gold) and The Judds. On their Let Me Tell You About Love, which gave the mother-daughter duo their last country No.1 in 1989, he also played guitar. So it’s surprising that he had only limited success as a country recording artist in his own right, certainly nothing on the…

Annette Funicello wasn’t the only young female singer to achieve US teen idol status, although they weren’t as plentiful as their male counterparts. The rockabilly ranks spawned some of the earliest; although she started out as a country artist, Wanda Jackson followed in her good friend Elvis Presley’s rocking shoes by pursuing the teenage market. “He said, ‘It’s gonna be the next big rage in music. You should be recording it, because the young people like it, and they’re the ones who buy the records!’” said Wanda. “When I signed with Capitol, I started immediately doing that rock stuff.” Pint-sized Brenda Lee was another country music convert, scoring her Decca contract at age 11 and unleashing a gritty set of pipes that sounded a lot older, culminating in her 1960…

Vince Taylor wanted to be the King of Rock. For a time, in France, he was. However, he later became a character so fantastical, he would inspire David Bowie’s pop star creation, Ziggy Stardust. His larger-than-life persona left its mark on other musicians, too. Of the pioneer rockers who met him early on, Vince Eager thought him a “flash American” with talent but “illusions of grandeur that stood out a mile”. In Jukebox Heroes, the BBC documentary on Taylor (2001), Van Morrison mused, “He was an enigma. He wasn’t like any of the other rock stars. He didn’t have any commercial success but he had a lot going for him.” To Joe Strummer of The Clash, in terms of British rock’n’roll, “Before him, there was nothing.” Electric onstage, erratic off,…

The physical resemblance is uncanny, but it’s the voice and the dynamic movement on stage that really confirm Bobby Brooks Wilson as a chip off the old block. Jackie Wilson’s prodigal son was given up by his mother as an infant and afflicted by health problems throughout a childhood in which he was fostered. It wasn’t until, as an adult, Bobby was appearing as part of the Legends show in Atlantic City, that he found out the identity of his father from The Four Tops. “One or more of them remembered my mother, and said it made sense to them because they didn’t think I could have been so much like Jackie Wilson without being a relative,” he said of the meeting. “‘You are him and you don’t even know…

The Stargazers drew on so many influences it’s almost futile to single out names. Most obviously there was Bill Haley and The Comets, plus the breakaway band The Jodimars. Bass player Marshall Lytle even guested on The Stargazers’ 1992 album The Speaking Clock Says…Rock! Other key outfits included the energetic Freddie Bell & The Bellboys, a great draw in Vegas. They featured in the Haley film Rock Around The Clock (1956), doing what would be their one UK hit, Giddy Up A Ding Dong. The Stargazers cut a far superior version of Bells’ Hey There You for the Watch This Space album. The Treniers were another exuberant live act who failed to become chart players, but whose visual antics made a deep impression. Evolving out of an earlier era than…

Arecurring question I’ve been asked on many occasions during my career is, “How come you never had a big hit record, Vince? You always seemed to be on the TV and you had one of the top acts on the rock’n’roll tours.” Well, it’s a very involved answer and I’ll do my best to address it as coherently as possible. IT WAS ON a Marty Wilde show in 1958 that Marty’s manager Larry Parnes first saw me perform. At the time, Larry was also managing Tommy Steele and Tommy’s brother, Colin Hicks. Tommy had a recording contract with Decca, Marty was with Phillips and Colin with Pye. Larry hinted to me that he would phone Decca as he was sure they would take me on. At 10am on the morning…

Determined to transcend rock’n’roll’s boundaries was Bobby Darin, whose childhood bouts with rheumatic fever left him with a weak heart and a strong desire to dominate the entire entertainment world. Even though the native New Yorker was dynamite with a pen and could double on the 88s, he was no overnight sensation – his first few singles for Decca and Atco bombed. Darin finally salvaged his career with the storming 1958 rocker Splish Splash, just as Atco was considering dropping him. He promptly encored with another self-penned hit bopper along the same lines, Queen Of The Hop, then took a smoother approach on his first blockbuster of 1959, Dream Lover. But Bobby wasn’t merely content to conquer the rock and roll arena. He was after Sinatra’s crown as king of…

“I’d come from the same place [Grantham] as Brian Locking, Vince Taylor’s original bass player. We’d played in a harmonica trio together, before discovering skiffle and coming second in the World Skiffle Championships. I was offered Larry Parnes’ management while Brian went to the 2i’s. “I saw Vince there at the 2i’s a few times and said hi but we didn’t really get on. We were opposites. He was very cocky, very aggressive. He was already dressing in black leather and acting moody. Apparently, he was annoyed there was another Vince on the scene – me! My brother was called Vince and I was a big Gene Vincent fan, hence my name change – while funnily enough, my real surname’s Taylor! Along with acts like Willie Harris and Dave Sampson,…

While on tour in Spain this year, we locked ourselves in the Sleazy Records studio with the usual Belgian ‘A’ team, to work on our new 45. We nailed the A-side within the first hour, called it a day and went off to celebrate! While the guys were sleeping off the celebrations, I left in the early hours with Deke Dickerson and Mel from The Phantom Surfers for Tangier, Morocco. Even though we were only there a day and a night, we had a pretty wild time. I went expecting things to be as they were, kind of traditional. The architecture and the mix of different nationalities was awesome. But in the first five seconds of walking to the casbah, we received a group death threat! A gang approached us…

Between 1956 and 1958, RCA Victor in the US released nine singles and one EP by Janis Martin. In addition to the 22 released masters, RCA recorded four additional songs that remained unreleased until 1979. The most interesting and rarest of Martin’s RCA releases are the 1957 EP Just Squeeze Me which came in a cardboard picture sleeve; the 1956 Japanese EP Elvis Presley Vol 2 featuring three Presley songs along with Martin’s Will You, Willyum; and the South African 10" LP, Janis And Elvis, with four songs each by Presley and Martin. On sale for only a few weeks, the LP was withdrawn due to objections by Presley’s manager Col Tom Parker. In 1960, Martin recorded four songs for the Palette label that were released as two singles in…

I think he was the most gifted vocalist of his time, with the ability to perform at a level no other artist has achieved, who tackled and perfected all styles of music to perfection,” Bobby Brooks Wilson told Vintage Rock after his late father Jackie Wilson’s star was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. It’s a tribute that might be impelled by familial pride, but one that few of us would argue with. Though perhaps Motown legend Smokey Robinson, a contemporary of Wilson’s, put it best when he proclaimed at the ceremony, “Jackie Wilson was absolutely the man. I am so happy that he finally got his recognition and he will be on this street for all times.” “Smokey Robinson put it best when he proclaimed at the ceremony,…

Flannigan And Allen RUN, RABBIT, RUN 1939 I was born at the start of WW2 and was the youngest of four boys, so I had to listen by whatever records or radio shows they listened to. Years later, my eldest brother told me that one song I seemed to enjoy more than any other from that time was Run, Rabbit, Run by Flanagan And Allen. He did mention, however, that I was very young and had not mastered the art of talking correctly so when I tried to sing this song it made my brothers laugh, as I sang “Wun, Wabbit, Wun” Nowadays I sing the correct words. Conway Twitty IT’S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE 1958 In this period, The Echoes played for many top English artists who performed a range…