Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2022 i Vintage Rock

When we take stock of the storied life of Elvis Presley, it’s probably fair to say very little affection is reserved for the role played in it by Colonel Tom Parker. It’s undeniable that Elvis’ controversial manager was fundamental in making his charge the world’s biggest star – but at what cost? Tales of Parker’s exploitation of the King are, of course, legion and they’re right at the heart of what’s set to be the rock’n’roll event of the summer. Baz Luhrmann’s much-anticipated Elvis biopic is the most high-profile retelling of Presley’s story on the big screen to date. Featuring Tom Hanks as the Colonel and an astonishing performance by Austin Butler in the lead role, the movie is guaranteed to gain huge exposure across the globe and will no…

Viva Las Vegas organiser Tom Ingram has received the Key to the City of Las Vegas in recognition of the event reaching its 25th anniversary. With 16 April declared ‘Tom Ingram Day’ in the Nevada city, the promoter was handed the honour by Las Vegas Mayor, Carolyn Goodman, at the Rockabilly Car Show. Tom explained: “I never thought that an organiser of a rockabilly event would ever get the Key to the City of Las Vegas. When Viva Las Vegas started there were no music festivals there and most music was for the over 60s. I guess we led the way for others to follow and proved that a younger audience wanted to go to Vegas.”…

Classic movie distributor The Criterion Collection has released a deluxe version of the influential 1956 flick The Girl Can’t Help It. Directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Jayne Mansfield as Jerri Jordan, the movie famously included a host of performances by Little Richard, Fats Domino, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent which helped spread the word of rock’n’roll around the globe. Also featured were performances by Julie London and The Platters. The reissued movie will feature a new high-definition digital transfer with mono soundtrack on its Blu-ray release, plus audio commentary by film scholar Toby Miller, an interview with cult director John Waters and a video essay by film critic David Cairns. Also among the extras are on-set footage, interviews with Mansfield and Little Richard, as well as an episode of…

Of all the things I’ve done in my career, getting my first rock’n’roll group together was right up there amongst the most difficult. Even without a full-time band behind me, I was still performing my spots at the Red Lion pub in Brentford, and on Sunday lunchtimes playing at The Adam & Eve in Hayes, Middlesex. Most of the Fuller’s chain of pubs in the late 60s were only interested in putting on country and western bands – they were very popular back then – and I caught a number of them, too, but never performed with any of them. Some of my friends were into both country and rock’n’roll and eventually I was introduced to piano player Trevor Hawkins, who excelled at R&B and rock’n’roll. He was interested in…

As part of the group of musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, drummer Hal Blaine lent his consummate skills to an astonishing 6,000 singles, including 150 US Top 10 hits, 40 of which reached No.1. If you’ve ever listened to Elvis’ Can’t Help Falling in Love, The Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations, Mr Tambourine Man by The Byrds or Simon and Garfunkel’s Mrs Robinson, then you’ve heard Hal’s work. Art Garfunkel once said: “If music in the second half of the 20th century were the Empire State Building, Hal Blaine would be the ground floor.” This interview took place in 2017, two years before Hal’s passing, at the age of 90. Tell us about your early life… I was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts. We moved to Hartford, Connecticut, when I was…

HANK SNOW The headline country attraction was a firm favourite at the Grand Ole Opry when he secured Elvis an opening slot at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in 1954. While Elvis’ version of Blue Moon Of Kentucky did not sit well with the traditional crowd, Snow still helped introduce Elvis to Parker. The Snow/Parker partnership soured after the signing of Presley, when Hank was left out in the cold. 40 years later Snow stated: “Tom Parker was the most egotistical, obnoxious human being I’ve ever had dealings with”. Snow is played by Australian actor David Wenham, perhaps best-known for his part as Faramir in Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. ARTHUR CRUDUP Bluesman Crudup wouldn’t have imagined how he changed music history forever when he laid down That’s All…

Les Paul’s mission to invent a brand new, never-before-heard sound began with a phonecall from his mother while on tour with the Andrews Sisters to say that she’d heard people copying his guitar style on the radio. It was enough for Les to quit there and then and return home to Hollywood. “I got thinking about it, gave my notice and went to my garage and said: ‘I’m not coming out of that garage until I have a sound that’s different from anybody else!’” he told Guitarist magazine. “It took a couple of years of working on ideas; new sounds, a new way of recording and it turned out to be great. I didn’t know it was going to change the world, but I knew it was going to make…

Back in 2016, two years before his sad passing, Chas Hodges spoke about his experiences in the rock’n’roll scene of the early 60s. It was a special time for music – and for British rock’n’roll in particular – and one which Chas remembered with great fondness. Back in 1963 you had the pleasure of backing Jerry Lee Lewis on his third UK tour. How did that come about? I was in a band called The Outlaws, with Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Mick Underwood on drums and Kenny Lundgren on rhythm guitar. We’d had a couple of semi-hits and weren’t doing bad, but we needed a bit more work. It was Kenny who spotted in the Melody Maker that promoter Don Arden was bringing Gene Vincent over and was looking for…

In 2015, on what would be his last British appearance, Jack Scott played at the Rhythm Riot Weekender at Camber Sands in East Sussex. It was also a chance to promote his new album, Way To Survive which, incredibly, was his first studio LP in 50 years. Warned that he could be suspicious and unforthcoming, he turned out to be friendly and accommodating. He happily reminisced to this writer about his successes and disappointments, and the recording of Way To Survive in Finland for Bluelight. He told me he was writing a book about friends he’d enjoyed working with, such as Duane Eddy, Connie Francis, Freddy Cannon, Brenda Lee, Glen Campbell and Dion, and wanted to correct wrong things he felt had been said about some people. He spoke feelingly…

Dave Phillips and the Hot Rod Gang were back on vinyl for the first time since 1995 with the release of the I Lost My Beer 7" on KEiL-Records late last year. We caught up with Dave to talk about his return to wax… It seems a long time since your first ever appearance on record with The Blue Cat Trio’s Red Hot! 7” EP in 1979? Yes, but they were only the first recordings to be released on vinyl. Our earlier recordings came out on two separate vinyl LPs much later. As you may know, those albums were titled The Blue Cats Early Days Volume 1 and 2. Was the I Lost My Beer single a post-lockdown spark of creativity? It was actually something I had been trying to…

THE GOLDEN DISC (1958) – A classic slice of the “let’s do the gig right here” school of cinema, as Terry Dene and pals transform an ailing venue into a happening co? ee bar and record shop, while stopping o? to launch into song as they go. The rock’n’roll tracks are brisk and lively but if you need a change of pace, some folk, jazz, skiffle and crooning are all thrown in too. GONKS GO BEAT (1964) – British rhythm and blues group The Graham Bond Organisation all look slightly bemused (even though they are wearing shades) as they no doubt wonder how they landed right in the heart of this technicolour sci-fi fantasy romp. Nevertheless, they still dig into the go-go powered track Harmonica in the middle of the…

Connie Francis 10" INTERNATIONAL COLLECTION SLEAZY The lovable Connie Francis gets the coloured vinyl treatment from Sleazy Records on these three 10" discs which explore her long-deleted international releases and bring them back to life once more. Outside of the United States, many countries cherry-picked their way through Connie’s back catalogue and created their own collections to tantalise homegrown fans. Two of these releases were intended to spread that sweet Francis sound across Japan, and A Date With Connie Francis was originally released in 1962 by MGM with four of the tracks actually sung in Japanese. If you want to know what Too Many Rules and Pretty Little Baby sound like in another tongue then now is your chance to find out. Spectacular Sound Of Connie Francis was another Japanese…

Dusty Springfield DUSTY SINGS SOUL ACE RECORDS As the finest singer the UK has ever produced, this soul-centric compilation from Dusty Springfield is a long-overdue joy. Dusty’s been well served by various anthologies over the years, but compiler Tony Rounce hones in on her love of Black music here to cut to the core of who she was as an artist. From grandiose maximalist anthems to Mod dancefloor fillers and heart-rending ballads, Dusty Sings Soul is a testament to the remarkable fluidity of Springfield’s voice and her ability to jump between genres and styles with ease. A devoted soul music fan, Springfield sourced many of these songs herself from visits to Colony Records in New York City and the rather less glamorous Soul City in Deptford. Dusty’s A&R skills in…

A brand new documentary film about Jerry Lee Lewis, titled Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble In Mind, will premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Details about the long-form documentary are mostly being kept under wraps, although it’s been revealed that the movie will be directed by Ethan Coen, one half of Hollywood’s iconic Coen Brothers filmmaking team. The documentary will screen as part of the Cannes Film Festival, which runs from Tuesday 17 May to Saturday 28 May. Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble In Mind is the first film Coen has directed without his brother Joel – the latter made his solo directorial debut last year with The Tragedy of Macbeth. The last time Jerry Lee Lewis’ story was told on the big screen was in the 1989 biopic Great Balls…

Tony Prince began his career as a club DJ at the Astoria Ballroom in Oldham, where he introduced The Beatles on stage the night they reached No.1 for the first time. In 1965, he joined Radio Caroline, the pirate radio ship where he and Tony Blackburn once scaled a 180-foot mast to repair the transmitter in the midst of a storm. He later spent 16 years at Radio Luxembourg, becoming its programme director. In the 80s, he launched the clubbing magazineMixmag, and in 2018 founded United DJs, a radio station featuring some of his Radio Caroline cohorts, that broadcast until last year. When did you become an Elvis fan? When I was born! No, I was buying records around the age of 13. Heartbreak Hotel was one of my first…

“There are some who’d make me out to be the villain of this here story,” offers Tom Hanks in character as Colonel Tom Parker over the opening to the trailer of Baz Luhrmann’s new biopic, Elvis, scheduled for release on 24 June. But as the director openly acknowledges, there are complexities regarding both the Colonel’s character and his relationship with his client. “It’s interesting because ‘villain’ is too easy to wrap it up,” said the Australian filmmaker during a virtual press conference, moderated by Nelson George. “When it comes to a historical character, there’s only ever someone’s telling of that story. Even in life, if you lived with an Elvis, it’s your memory… your version of their life.” With no ‘Management of Megastars for Dummies’ guide for Parker to follow,…

Built at Gibson’s first factory on 225 Parson Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Perkins’ history-making Gibson Les Paul was originally a glitzy Gold Top, that he subsequently painted blue in celebration of his hit song, Blue Suede Shoes. Of course, Carl wasn’t to realise the calibre of that instrument back then. Believe it or not, though, at some point in time that catalytic six-string was loaned out and almost lost forever, before – thank the rock’n’roll gods – there it was, found hanging inconspicuously on the wall of an Alabama pawn shop. Carl’s historical Les Paul had been painted black at some point along the way, but it was able to be identified thanks to the distinctive Justin Boots belt buckle he’d crudely screwed onto the body where the lead was…

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May 1963, and 33-year-old pianist, singer and genius Ray Charles is sat down with NME correspondent Ian Dove to promote his UK tour. Ray’s already a legend in these parts, a master of fusing gospel, jazz, R&B and big-band arrangements – but remains unique as everything he turns his hand to sounds immediately, brilliantly like him. “People call me a jazz singer and a blues singer but I don’t really know the difference,” he confirms. “I just try to sing a song and I only sing songs I like to sing. And I try to put a little bit of soul into everything.” Indeed he does. The song that remains on everyone’s lips is Ray’s smash hit of the previous summer, transatlantic chart-topper I Can’t Stop Loving You, written and…

“Onstage, Omar and the Stringpoppers are a sight to behold,” wrote Nicholas F. Centino in his book Razabilly, a journey into L.A.’s Latina/o rockabilly scene. He’d just witnessed Omar Romero and his band in full flight at the world-famous Viva Las Vegas festival. And as with anyone who’s witnessed Omar do his thing, Centino was utterly spellbound. “With a thick frame and broad shoulders, exaggerated by the cut of his black and white 1950s ensemble, Romero’s onstage swagger and snarling vocal delivery rival that of the King Of Rock’n’Roll himself.” Lofty praise indeed. But plenty of us could take a leaf out of Omar’s book. Not only has L.A.’s Chicano rockabilly renaissance man grown to become a red-hot ticket in the US, across Europe and beyond, but he’s also renowned…

Take a dose of delicious doo-wop, crank up some garage rock guitars and the feel-good bounce of 60s power-pop, throw them all in a blender, sprinkle generously with glitter, and the result might look and sound something like Chicago’s The Knee-Hi’s. Formed in 2019, with Devyn Crimson on bass, Alice Strider on lead guitar and keys, Chris Luck on drums, and her sister Ash Goeken on rhythm guitar, the band has just released its debut album Charmed, packed with “Good ole rock’n’roll, whether that is punk, doo-wop, glam, or garage,” as they describe it themselves. “Our music is an outlet of expression and between all of us we love an array of genres. The future is undecided, we are bound to nothing.” The seedlings that sprouted to become The Knee-Hi’s…

The Blue Carpet Band THE SLOW DEATH OF CAMDEN / B-MOVIE BOOGIE BOMBER MUSIC Formed way back in 2015, The Blue Carpet Band already have their debut album Rock’n’Roll Carpet under their belts, but the fairly recent addition of ex-Demented Are Go twosome Ant Thomas and Stan Standen has revitalised the group, and this is their first release featuring the new line-up. The band’s name might not give too much away but what you should expect is trashy, honest rock’n’roll with touches of The Cramps, The Stooges and Link Wray, all bashed into a brand new shape. The Slow Death Of Camden is a real statement of intent – how many other songs about urban gentrification make you long to be in the middle of a mass of sweaty bodies…

Rock’n’roll fans paid their respects to the much-missed Eddie Cochran by sending his posthumous single Three Steps To Heaven to the top of the UK charts. The singer-songwriter had been killed just over two months earlier in a tragic road accident. Recorded in January 1960, the track featured Sonny Curtis on guitar, Conrad ‘Guybo’ Smith on bass and Jerry Allison on drums alongside Cochran’s rhythm guitar and vocals. Three Steps To Heaven was later covered by Showaddywaddy, making No.2 in the UK and topping the charts in Ireland. David Bowie also reinterpreted its main guitar riff into Queen Bitch, a glam standout on his Hunky Dory album of 1971.…

To mark its 70th birthday, Sun Records is issuing a special edition bundle that includes an anniversary version of its classic T-shirt and wooden collector’s box to house its 2022 vinyl reissue series. To add to that, the label has unveiled a reissue of pop/country crossover artist Jeannie C. Riley’s Harper Valley P.T.A. These limited-run offerings coincide with a hardcover book curated by Grammy Award-winning music critic and author Peter Guralnick, The Birth of Rock’n’Roll: 70 Years of Sun Records, due to be published on 8 November. Sun’s 70th anniversary box, available via the Sun Record Company Official Store, is designed to house the iconic label’s year-long reissue series which includes ‘artist of the month’-style promotions with both classic and rare-gem releases spanning the label’s storied catalogue. To date, Sun…

*All listings subject to Covid restrictions and cancellations Wildest Cats In Town 1-4 July FEATURING Marty Wilde, Robert Gordon, Billy Burnette, Darrel Higham & The Enforcers, Graham Fenton’s Matchbox, Furious, The Spunyboys LOCATION Pontins Pakefield, Lowestoft BOOKING WEBSITE tennesseeclub.net Billy Fury Weekender 15-17 July FEATURING Colin Paul & The Persuaders, The Alligators, Rockin Pagan LOCATION Liner Hotel, Lord Nelson Street, Liverpool BOOKING WEBSITE yesterdayoncemore.co.uk One Night Of Elvis: Lee ‘Memphis’ King Runs until Jan 2023 LOCATIONS INCLUDE Liverpool, Birmingham and York BOOKING WEBSITE atgtickets.com Rock’n’Roll Festival 9-12 September FEATURING The Firebirds, The Tequila Slammers, Julie Jive & The Bigshots LOCATION The Carrington House Hotel Bournemouth BOOKING WEBSITE boogaloopromotions.com The Kings Of Rock’n’Roll 7-10 October FEATURING Si Cranstoun, The Firebirds, The Revolutionaries LOCATION Sand Bay Holiday Park, Kewstoke, North Somerset BOOKING…

In the eyes of traditional America, Elvis Presley had become too hot to handle by the early months of 1956. As his fame grew to ever-greater heights, Elvis, during this period, began taking on incoming fire from the press on an almost daily basis. Any notion of rock’n’roll being treated seriously or seen as an art form was still over a decade away and critics in the mid-50s still viewed the music – if they deigned to consider it music at all – as an affront to good taste. A review of Elvis’ recent performance in Denver by a local critic entitled Rage Over Elvis Presley Is a Bit Sickening, serves as a typical example of what was being said about Presley during this period: “There’s a new rage of…

01 (4) CATHY’S CLOWN THE EVERLY BROTHERS (WARNER BROTHERS) 4 WEEKS ON CHART 02 (1) DO YOU MIND ANTHONY NEWLEY (DECCA) 7 WEEKS ON CHART 03 (3) SOMEONE ELSE’S BABY ADAM FAITH (PARLOPHONE) 4 WEEKS ON CHART 04 (12) STANDING ON THE CORNER KING BROTHERS (PARLOPHONE) 4 WEEKS ON CHART 05 (5) FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU CLIFF RICHARD AND THE SHADOWS (COLUMBIA) 7 WEEKS ON CHART 06 (6) HANDY MAN JIMMY JONES (MGM) 8 WEEKS ON CHART 07 (8) SWEET NUTHIN’S BRENDA LEE (BRUNSWICK) 6 WEEKS ON CHART 08 (7) STUCK ON YOU ELVIS PRESLEY (RCA) 5 WEEKS ON CHART 09 (2) MY OLD MAN’S A DUSTMAN LONNIE DONEGAN (PYE) 7 WEEKS ON CHART 10 (15) FOOTSTEPS STEVE LAWRENCE (HMV) 3 WEEKS ON CHART 1 CATHY’S CLOWN – THE EVERLY…

In one sense, Jack Scott doesn’t belong in a series about unsung heroes. On top of his million-selling country-styled hit Burning Bridges, between 1958 and 1961 he had three Top 10 hits on the American pop charts. Another five made the Top 40, and 10 more would register in the lower reaches. Alongside Burning Bridges, he had four other Top 40 hits in the UK. But such achievements did not bring him lasting fame. Mention the song The Way I Walk today and most people seem to associate it with The Cramps’ cartoonish version. But Scott’s original didn’t just stroll, it swaggered, full of laid-back confidence and attitude. It’s one of the all-time great rock’n’roll songs, later also recorded by Robert Gordon, but it’s only one of numerous Scott classics.…