After Hours (King 528)

This is a 1987 reissue of the 1956 King LP “After Hours”. It’s a great collection of moody late night R&B instrumentals recorded from the late 1940s to the mid 1950s. I like all the tracks on this album but the one that really gets me is “In The Morning” by Washboard Bill. There’s washboard scraping going on in the background but it’s mainly a sax instrumental punctuated by the occasional drunken yell of “In the morning!”

I’d really like to know who Washboard Bill is or was and who is playing the great sax on the track, but as with so many early R&B albums the packaging is cut-price with no session details whatsoever on the sleeve. Instead you get a brief generalised essay and a few artist photos ALL of which are wrongly attributed. Of interest is the list of other King albums available back in the 50’s. Apart from the inevitable Earl Bostic and Bill Doggett albums, there are a few exotic (or cheesy?) titles such as “Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland” by “Paul Renard At The Hammond Organ” and “Love Is Here To Stay” by “Shura At The Piano”. What on earth did they sound like? Perhaps it is as well that I’ll never find out.

Ripped from vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download link:

http://rapidshare.com/files/98810970/After_Hours.rar

1. Long Gone Part 1 / Sonny Thompson
2. Long Gone Part 2 / Sonny Thompson
3. After Hours / Ace Harris
4. Midnight To Dawn / Earl Bostic
5. What's New / Bill Jennings
6. Ooh Midnight / Pete "Guitar" Lewis
7. After Hours / Jimmy Nolen
8. Eventide / Bill Doggett
9. Blues For The Red Boy / Todd Rhodes
10. Mellow Blues Part 1 / Sonny Thompson
11. Mellow Blues Part 2 / Sonny Thompson
12. In The Morning / Washboard Bill