Innholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2022 i Vintage Rock

“The birth of rock’n’roll for me? Seeing Bill Haley And His Comets”. So says Pete Townshend, a man who certainly knows a thing or two about hard-hitting stage acts. It’s a sentiment that will be echoed by countless others of his generation who witnessed Haley and co. as they lit the touch paper under the UK’s youth during their historic tour here in the winter of 1957. Graham Nash also caught a Haley show at the Manchester Odeon during that landmark tour and it remains a life-changing moment for him: “Over the years I’ve lost houses, I’ve lost wives, but I’ve never lost that ticket stub,” he ruefully recounts. For our latest cover feature we return to that giddy excitement when fans in Blighty caught their first glimpse of a…

Rockin’ Race Jamboree 3-6 February FEATURING Reverend Horton Heat, Wayne Hancock, The Playboys, The Shakers, Clint Bradley LOCATION Málaga, Spain BOOKING rockinrace.com Viva Las Vegas 14-17 April FEATURING The Blasters, The Jets, Marti Brom, The Go Getters, Marc & The Wild Ones, Marcel Bontempi LOCATION 4500 West Tropicana Ave, Las Vegas, Nevada BOOKING vivalasvegas.net/tickets Vintage Mania 6-8 May FEATURING Si Cranstoun, The Jets, The Neutronz, The Kingcats, The Revolutionaires, The Outsiders, The Draglinks, McCurdy Brothers LOCATION Crystal Lakes, Fenstanton, Huntingdon BOOKING vintagemania.co.uk One Night Of Elvis: Lee ‘Memphis’ King Running until 15 September LOCATIONS INCLUDE Liverpool, Birmingham and York BOOKING atgtickets.com Marty Wilde UK Tour 23 April to 22 May LOCATIONS INCLUDE Birmingham, Halifax, Ipswich, Barnstable, Bournemouth, London and Blackpool BOOKING martywilde.com/events…

As the midnight chimes rang in the new year of 1957, Britain was still living in the rock’n’roll dark ages. Records by American artists released in the UK, despite finding a ready market, were usually met with scorn by a conservative or jazz-centric music press. Information on the music’s pioneers was scarce, with the likes of Elvis Presley seen as mysterious, if not dangerous, exotics. Radio Luxembourg was a rare resource of more clued-up fans trying to follow developments across the Atlantic. So when the New Musical Express announced in early January 1957 that Bill Haley And His Comets were due to arrive for a nationwide tour the following month it was greeted with a sense of anticipation akin to the second coming of the Messiah. There had been rumours…

Milt Gabler is credited with sharpening up the Bill Haley sound, but much of the spadework had already been done earlier when Haley was recording for Dave Miller’s Holiday and Essex labels. With his band still known as The Saddlemen, Haley described their version of Rocket “88”, and the Haley original Green Tree Boogie as “up-tempo, blues-inspired, western-swing boogie”. Both were released in late 1951. Rock The Joint was the band’s first hit, selling 150,000 copies. A reworking of an old jump blues number, Haley noticed that when they played it at their gigs everybody got up and danced. Calling themselves a “cowboy jive” band at this point, it was the success of the single that caused Haley and his group to ditch the cowboy suits and stetsons for tuxedos.…

Drivin’ Slow JOHNNY LONDON (SUN 175 – APRIL 1952) Giving little hint of the rock’n’roll that Sun would become famous for, the label’s first release was a smooth, slow blues instrumental from saxophonist Johnny London. Got My Application, Baby HANDY JACKSON (SUN 177 – JANUARY 1953) Both sides of Sun’s second single were firmly in the style of BB King, with plenty of horns and piano fluttering around an impassioned vocal by Handy Jackson on Got My Application, Baby and its B-side, Trouble (Will Bring You Down). We All Gotta Go Sometime JOE HILL LOUIS (SUN 178 – JANUARY 1953) Although soaked in blues harmonica, the seeds of rock’n’roll can be heard in the driving beat and the breaks in the music where Joe Hill Louis keeps singing – a…

It’s been a rough old ride of late and never in our lifetimes has a year ahead been so up in the air, but while things may not return to whatever ‘normal’ actually means these days, it’s certainly looking like there will be a decent serving of live events for us to enjoy in 2022. Plus, while the various world kinks – be it Brexit, supply chains, lorry drivers (or lack of) – have left a whopping pile-up of vinyl in the queue to be cut, we will get to spin some new platters, and some good ones at that. But seeing as we’re all chomping at the bit to get our glad rags on and head out to as many rockin’ weekenders as possible, let’s start with the live…

WEEK ENDING 30 JAN 1958 01 (-) JAILHOUSE ROCK ELVIS PRESLEY (RCA) 1 WEEK ON CHART 02 (2)MA, HE’S MAKING EYES AT ME JOHNNY OTIS AND HIS ORCHESTRA WITH MARIE ADAMS (CAPITOL) 10 WEEKS ON CHART 03 (3) ALL THE WAY/CHICAGO FRANK SINATRA (CAPITOL) 10 WEEKS ON CHART 04 (4) OH, BOY! THE CRICKETS (CORAL) 5 WEEKS ON CHART 05 (1) GREAT BALLS OF FIRE JERRY LEE LEWIS (LONDON) 6 WEEKS ON CHART 06 (5)MY SPECIAL ANGEL MALCOLM VAUGHAN (HMV) 9 WEEKS ON CHART 07 (6) PEGGY SUE BUDDY HOLLY (CORAL) 8 WEEKS ON CHART 08 (9) REET PETITE (THE SWEETEST GIRL IN TOWN) JACKIE WILSON (CORAL) 11 WEEKS ON CHART 09 (15) THE STORY OF MY LIFE MICHAEL HOLLIDAY (COLUMBIA) 2 WEEKS ON CHART 10 (7) KISSES SWEETER THAN WINE…

“It’s my rhythm that makes my music penetrate to the followers I have. What you do has got to penetrate. You can be a good speaker and know what to say, but if you ain’t shooting it out right, it just ain’t gonna do right. You almost gotta write it on a piece of paper and sing it at the same time, just so as to make sure people don’t misunderstand.” The year is 1971 and a 42-year-old musician called Ellas McDaniel is trying, not entirely successfully, to explain his unique style to journalist Michael Lydon for Ramparts magazine. It’s no surprise that McDaniel struggles to put his unique appeal into words. For 16 years now, his chosen stage name’s been synonymous with his trademark “shake-and-a-haircut” rhythm, with his Story…

Dorsey Burnette / Gene Summers / Roy Hall MULTIGROOVE 10" SERIES MULTIGROOVE French label Multigroove have already released a selection of 10" mini-LPs featuring key highlights from the early back catalogues of legendary rock’n’rollers such as Ronnie Dawson, Charlie Feathers and Mac Curtis. Now it focuses on a new trio of classic artists and each 10" features a dozen tracks presented along with excellent retro cover artwork. Dorsey Burnette’s Great Shakin’ Fever concentrates, perhaps unsurprisingly, on the early part of his career but away from the solid rockin’ of songs like the title track and Til The Law Says Stop there is also the spooky folk of The Devil’s Queen to balance things out. Also, if you don’t for some reason have Bertha Lou on vinyl then now’s your chance.…

Growing up listening to his parents’ Beatles records, something stirred within Richard Colley, the young lad who would become Howlin’ Ric. “A lot of my friends, like me, started listening to The Beatles, then they’d move forward onto the heavy rock of the 60s and 70s, whereas I was interested in the earlier Beatles and moved backwards,” he says. “You’d hear interviews with Paul McCartney saying he loved Little Richard, ‘oh, so who’s this?’” Drawing water from the well of classic rhythm and blues, Howlin’ Ric And The Rocketeers laid out their rock’n’roll mission statement with 2019’s Waiting By The Dance Floor. Now the Leeds-based quintet stand poised to unveil the COVID-delayed follow-up and get back out on the road. What’s the status of your new album, Cautionary Tales? It’s…

I have a lot of fond memories growing up in Hanwell, West London, during the 50s and 60s. My parents, Mary and Jim, both loved music. Dad had a sizeable record collection that he would play mostly at weekends and had a fine singing voice – in his teens he’d won several talent contests. Showbusiness had been in our family for years, though. My father’s mother Lily and her sister were both showgirls in London’s glitzy West End and Dad’s father Robert worked as a lighting man in a theatre, too. In fact, that’s where they met! Lily eventually gave up the showbusiness life as she raised her three boys – my Dad was the middle son. During his early teens Dad was very keen on singing but had to…

One of the saddest stories in rock’n’roll is the struggle of Bill Haley in his later years. Permanently hitched to the songs that had made him famous, at least he was grateful for the success they had brought him. As he reflected on the importance of Rock Around The Clock, “I don’t even think of it as a song anymore. Even if the show doesn’t go over, I know I’ve got this little piece of gold for the end of the show.” Even so, every creative artist craves variety. In 1971, he went to Nashville to record Rock Around The Country, for the Sonet label. Many first-generation rockers had turned to their country roots after the hits had faded, and Haley had started out as a country artist, recording in…

Sun’s first hitmaker was Rufus Thomas Jr (pictured below), who hit No.3 on the R&B chart with Bear Cat, a Sam Phillips-penned answer song to Big Mama Thornton’s Hound Dog, in 1953. At the time, he was a DJ on Memphis station WDIA, but was widely known in the city as an all-round comic entertainer who was perfectly suited to the humorous number. Born in Cayce, Mississippi, in 1917 but raised in Memphis, Thomas began a tap dancing career at the age of 10. Throughout the 1940s, he sang in nightclubs and released his first single, I’ll Be A Good Boy, on the Star Talent label in Dallas in 1950. “It sold five copies and I bought four of ’em,” he quipped. Thomas met Phillips when he recorded a couple…

“Ever since I was young, I’ve noticed the power that a singer has,” says Lydia Brittan. Born and raised a pastor’s daughter in West Virginia, Brittan grew up surrounded by music in her father’s church. “My brother played drums, my dad plays bass, both my parents sing, my sister sings, so you could say we’re a musical family. I pretty much grew up listening to gospel music,” she says. Staying close to the family business, she started her career in Christian music but found that corner of the industry too restrictive, despite winning the International Songwriting Competition along the way. “We met with some labels, Warner Brothers and a few others in that genre,” says Brittan. “They were like, ‘We love what you do but could you just like tone…

GUILLERMO Y LOS PISTOLEROS This LA fourpiece play what Wild Records’ Reb Kennedy describes as “early rockabilly, hillbilly bop and early country” and features two of Wild’s top guns in Omar Romero on guitar and The Desperados’ ‘Popeye’ on bass while, brimming over with character and poise, the moustachioed Guillermo takes the mic. Take in the majestic rumble of Rock’n’Roll Tonight, Skinny Pup, or indeed their killer versions of Hank Williams’ I’m A Long Gone Daddy and Lloyd McCollough’s Gonna Love My Baby and we’re sure you’ll soon be hooked, too. A new 10" arrives in April. TOTO & THE RAW DEALS They’re Jerry Chatabox’s hot ticket for 2022 and we can see why, thanks to some wild and free rockabilly posturing from uber-cool frontman Salvatore Marziano, as well as…

In the iconography of the great rock’n’rollers, Gene Vincent is up there with the very best. Added to this, however, has been an almost uniquely loyal, bordering on the fanatical, British following, built up via his frequent appearances in this country in the early and mid-60s, and then towards the end of the decade, even as his health was failing. Among these fans, none has been more dedicated to championing his name and work than Steve Aynsley. A Vincent fan since boyhood, Steve revived his fan club in the late 70s, and performed on reformed Blue Caps European tours. He’s done Vincent tribute shows and released collections of his hero’s rare recordings, the latest being Rip It Up! Your memories of seeing Gene perform go back to the historic British…

There are reissue labels and then there’s Bear Family. The Bremen-based stable is quite simply the finest in its class, renowned worldwide for its lavish, highly detailed, incredible-sounding releases, ever since founder Richard Weize first planted his flag back in 1975. To get an idea of the extent of Weize’s passion, he owns more than 100,000 singles, 30,000 LPs and 20,000 78s. And it’s thanks to his unerring devotion to the restoration and preservation of great vintage music that Bear Family’s mighty boxsets – some now Grammy-nominated – have become the stuffof legend. Weize has stepped back from the day-today running of the label these days, but his ethos – to put out whatever he wanted and to hell with those that didn’t like it – lives on. This do-or-die…

Like many six-string heroes of his generation, it was Scotty Moore who first inspired Jimmy Page to pick up the guitar. At the age of 12, the future Led Zeppelin founder’s world was turned upside down when he heard Moore playing Baby Let’s Play House with Elvis. Before long, Page joined a skiffle band led by his school chemistry teacher and a year later in April 1957 was featured on BBC talent show All Your Own. Interviewed by Huw Wheldon, the youngster said he planned to go to university to become a research chemist in biology – and that he aimed to find a cure for cancer. By the next decade, however, his career calling clearly lay elsewhere. In the late summer of 1968, Page would famously form the legendary…

Ask anyone to sing a bit of doo-wop and the chances are that they’ll either give you the “Bom, bom, bom…” intro to Blue Moon by The Marcels, or they’ll immediately start chanting the opening riff of Gene Chandler’s 1962 hit Duke Of Earl: “Duke, duke, duke, Duke Of Earl, duke, duke…” According to Den Hegarty, whose group Darts revived the song with a smash cover in 1979, Chandler’s million-selling original is a “seminal” example of the genre. Chandler was born Eugene Drake Dixon in the summer of 1937. He grew up close to Chicago’s Regal Theatre, a major jazz and R&B venue, and was interested in music from an early age. His biggest inspiration was ‘Pookie’ Hudson, lead singer of The Spaniels, who scored their biggest hit with Goodnite…

Various Artists RHYTHM AND BLUES QUEENS EL TORO Following on from their excellent Rockin’ Blues Kings series, El Toro turn their attention to half a dozen legendary ladies as they dig deep into the very roots of rock’n’roll once again. Little Esther, Ella Johnson, Tiny Topsy, Big Mama Thornton, Annisteen Allen and Dolly Cooper are the artists featured and they each receive a four-track black vinyl EP boasting their rowdiest, and most swingin’, tunes. Across these discs there are obviously a number of tracks that were embraced by the (then) emerging rock’n’roll movement. Allen got to songwriter Jack Hammer’s classic belter Fujiyama Mama first in 1955 and although Wanda Jackson’s version two years later is perhaps better known, this original has a certain sassy swagger. Big Mama Thornton’s Hound Dog…

Wanda Young, vocalist with The Marvelettes who scored Motown’s first No.1 single with Please Mr Postman, has died aged 78. Young passed away on 15 December in Garden City, Michigan, reportedly from complications of chronic pulmonary disease. Originally aspiring to be a nurse, Young’s music career began in earnest after schoolfriend Gladys Horton asked her to audition for a spot left by Georgia Dobbins, an original member of the group, then called The Marvels. Young sang back-up on Please Mr Postman, the group’s breakout track of 1961, but featured as lead vocalist on Don’t Mess With Bill, a No.7 Smokey Robinson-penned hit Stateside five years later. Robinson later recalled, “Wanda had this little voice that was sexy to me, a little country kind of voice. I knew if I could…

On the day Vintage Rock catches up with Little Dave – try as we might to find out his surname, he’s not going to reveal it – he’s just returned home from seeing the new James Bond film. “I’m a bit late with it,” he laughs. “There’s been a lot of things going on!” If there were an award for the busiest person in rock’n’roll, then Little Dave would certainly be in the running. A member not just of the rockabilly band Little Dave & The Sun Sessions, but also country outfit The Blue Moon Boys and Gene Vincent tribute act Be Bop A Lula, he’s just released a four-track EP, Little Dave’s Sun Sessions, with another to follow later this year. You were in bands when you were younger,…

1955 • DECCA Side 1 (We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock (Jimmy DeKnight/Max Freedman) Shake, Rattle And Roll (Charles E Calhoun) ABC Boogie (Al Russell/Max Spickol) Thirteen Women (And Only One Man In Town) (Dickie Thompson) Razzle-Dazzle (Charles E Calhoun) Two Hound Dogs (Bill Haley/Frank Pingatore) Side 2 Dim, Dim The Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere) (Beverley Ross/Julius Dixon) Happy Baby (Frank Pingatore) Birth Of The Boogie (Bill Haley/Billy Williamson/Johnny Grande) Mambo Rock (Bix Reichner/Mildred Phillips/Jimmy Ayre) Burn That Candle (Winfield Scott) Rock-A-Beatin’ Boogie (Bill Haley)…

As innumerable chroniclers of Southern life have made clear, Memphis summers are not to be taken lightly. With average daily temperatures hovering at or near 100 degrees, no one who can avoid it dares to venture out after mid-morning. Clear days are bad enough, but when it rains and the humidity spikes, the moist air is converted into an airless and oppressive cupola that compels even the hardiest to seek shade. 1 July 1954 had dawned with clear, azure skies, but by mid-afternoon, storm clouds gathered and rain began to pelt the Memphis streets, the moisture adding a stifling stagnation to air that felt dense enough to cut. Inside Sun Studios at 706 Union Avenue, there was no relief to be found. Wall-mounted air conditioners, increasingly prevalent during the 1950s,…

In early 2021, Lydia Brittan and The Royal Family had the chance to record in the Cash Cabin Studio. Built by Johnny Cash in 1978 and 1979, the cabin was originally a place where the singer-songwriter could unwind but in the 90s Anita Carter, June’s sister, became the first person to record there. Brittan befriended Ana Cristina Cash when working as a hair and make-up artist, and Ana introduced Brittan to her husband, John Carter Cash. “Every time I go to the house, he always sings the old song Lydia The Tattooed Lady,” says Brittan. “For years he’s been saying, ‘We need to do a cover of that song.’ I was like, ‘Okay, yeah John, when you have time, sure we’ll do that.’ Then one day he says, ‘Okay, let’s…

1. BRIAN SETZER – GOTTA HAVE THE RUMBLE: VINYL EDITION (SURFDOG) 2. THE ROCKATS – UNTITLED NEW ALBUM (CLEOPATRA) 3. PAT CAPOCCI – THE PRESSTONE EARLY YEARS 2008-2010 (PRESSTONE) 4. THE HISTORY OF MEMPHIS BLUES BOXSET (BEAR FAMILY) 5. THE JERRELLS – WANTED MAN (EL TORO) 6. EL MEXICAN ROCK’N’ROLL VOL.1 (SLEAZY) 7. GIZZELLE – UNTITLED NEW ALBUM (WILD) 8. VINCE TAYLOR – THE BRITS ARE ROCKIN’ VOL. 8 (BEAR FAMILY) 9. COUNTRY AND WESTERN – DANCE-O-RAMA – THE COMPLETE WORKS (SLEAZY) 10. VARIOUS ARTISTS – THAT’LL FLAT GIT IT! VOL. 40 (BEAR FAMILY) 11. MARCEL RIESCO – UNTITLED NEW ALBUM (BEAR FAMILY) 12. RED HOT RIOT – UNTITLED MINI ALBUM (WESTERN STAR) 13. OMAR ROMERO – UNTITLED NEW ALBUM (WILD) 14. CHARLIE MCCOY – SCREAMIN’, SHOUTIN’, BEGGIN’ AND PLEADIN’…

With Little Richard, Larry Williams, and Don And Dewey gracing its roster, Los Angeles-based Specialty Records already boasted more than its share of hell-raising rockers when it signed Roddy Jackson in 1957. Label owner Art Rupe and A&R man Sonny Bono (yes, that Sonny Bono) knew Roddy possessed the pipes to rock just as hard as their flagship acts, even though he was only 15 years old. And he happened to be Caucasian, opening up all kinds of commercial possibilities as rock’n’roll’s demographics skewed more and more towards white teens. More than 60 years later, Roddy’s still rocking. Equally devastating on piano and tenor sax with raw-edged vocals to match, he’s back on the road again after a long pandemic layoff. Jackson promises Consider, his new CD on the VLV…

For a unique insight into the Led Zep luminary’s pre-fame musical world, look no further than the two-volume compilation album series Jimmy Page: Session Man (AIP Records, a subsidiary of the Bomp! label; first volume released 1989 with its second in 1990). Not to be confused with its earlier vinyl predecessor, a visually similar bootleg titled James Patrick Page: Session Man (Slipped Disc records, 1979), this choice selection features 42 rare recordings by various artists spanning 1963-1968, all of which showcase Page’s youthful yet gifted guitar finesse. Alongside the likes of Billy Fury and Brenda Lee lie more obscure but still jumping gems. These include Roll Over Beethoven by Pat Wayne And The Beachcombers; See You Later Alligator by Wayne Gibson & The Dynamic Sounds; Honey Hush by Neil Christian…

Elvis Presley THE COMPLETE RCA STUDIO MASTERS 1956 MEMPHIS RECORDING SERVICE As a perfect encapsulation of Elvis during his breakout year, any self-respecting rock’n’roll fan will no doubt already own the King’s RCA output in their original mono incarnations. The hook here, though, is that producer Joseph Pirzada has now created new stereo versions that create a fuller sonic picture across both horizontal audio channels. Best appreciated on headphones, the Digitally Extracted Stereo tracks provide greater separation of Bill Black’s bass and Scotty Moore’s guitar. As befitted the times, of course, the majority of these arrangements were pretty stripped-back in the first place – Presley’s maximalist studio productions remained many years away at this point. The ‘stereofication’ of mono originals remains a hot topic amongst audiophiles – Beatles fans still…

Buddy Holly had two cracks at nailing a definitive version of That’ll Be The Day. The first was recorded with the Three Tunes for Decca Records at Bradley’s Barn in Nashville on 22 July 1956. Even though it remained unreleased, Holly’s contract with Decca banned him from re-recording the track for five years. To get around the stipulation, producer Norman Petty credited The Crickets with the new version that was recorded the following February and released on Decca subsidiary Brunswick Records. When the track was a hit, Decca re-signed Holly to another off-shoot label, Coral Records, as a solo artist. Holly took That’ll Be The Day’s title from a phrase used in the iconic John Wayne western The Searchers. A rock’n’roll classic, That’ll Be The Day ranked No.39 on Rolling…