Hen Gates And His Gaters - Rock And Roll (Plymouth P-12-144)

Thanks once more to our Stateside sax benefactor for supplying this rare Hen Gates LP issued on the Plymouth label.

It’s a great follow up to the previous post “Let’s All Dance To Rock And Roll”, and we are still in the land of cheapo Don Gabor LPs, for Plymouth was another of his labels. So once again we are dealing with a poorly packaged record. The back cover has no track list but the front cover helpfully lists 4 titles followed by “etc.” Naturally none of these titles is used on the record labels …

But enough of the negative vibes. The good news is that as we saw in the previous post, “Hen Gates” was a pseudonym used to disguise the fact that this album is made up of retitled Freddie Mitchell sides recorded for Derby between 1949 and 1952. Be Bop Wino fans can rest assured that this collection contains plenty of bootin’ sax to tickle our audio palates. The sides used on this collection are even further removed from rock and roll than the “Let’s All Dance” LP. At least that album used hard rockin’ R&B which could just about pass for rock and roll. Many of the tracks on the “Rock and Roll” collection are jazzier with that rather annoying (to me) plinky plonk piano to the fore. It’s mostly good Be Bop Wino type stuff, though, and well worth a listen.

I’ve managed to identify the origins of five of the tracks as follows:

Track 1, “Stop” is “Pony Express”, recorded 1950/51, originally released on Derby 725

Track 4 “Hold It” is “Hot Ice” (minus intro), recorded December 1951, originally released on Derby 777

Track 5 “The Creep” is “Doby’s Boogie”, recorded in 1949, originally released on Derby 713

Track 8 “Rockin’ and Rollin’ Hop” is “Madera Hop”, recorded in December 1951, originally released on Derby 807

Track 11 “Bunny Rock” is “Cold Heat” (minus intro), recorded in 1952, originally released on Derby 793

“Cold Heat” and “Doby’s Boogie” also turned up on the “Let’s All Dance” LP under the titles “Great Gates Rock” and “Lose”, respectively.

Could I repeat my plea for information as to the origins of the other Hen Gates tracks on both albums? I actually have a nagging doubt about the origin of some of the “Let’s All Dance the Rock and Roll” tracks, mainly because they seem to be in a different style from the tracks used here. Of course the difference may be explained by the need for Plymouth to use earlier tracks than the ones used by Masterseal in order to keep duplication to a minimum.

Ripped from hissing vinyl at 320 kbps. Password = greaseyspoon

Download from here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/369200528/Hen_Gates_-_Rock_And_Roll.rar

Or from here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YIM0NDRM

1. Stop
2. Hand Clappin'
3. Look Out
4. Hold It
5. The Creep
6. T. N. T.
7. Jumpin' And Shoutin'
8. Rockin' And Rollin' Hop
9. Back Bone
10. Look And Listen
11. Bunny Rock
12. Bear Walk

Further listening –

Baikinange has “That Boogie Beat”, an Allegro Royale cheapo LP of Freddie Mitchell tracks, here:

http://baikinange.blogspot.com/2008/11/that-boogie-beat.html

It’s a pretty trashed copy of a budget priced collection released after Derby had gone belly up and sold off its masters. But at least it’s not masquerading as a "Hen Gates" rock and roll LP, and the link still works!


Classics has an excellent CD, “The Chronological Freddie Mitchell 1949-1950," available. You can also purchase this collection as an mp3 download from Amazon.


Amazon also has a 45 track mp3 only collection available – “Rockin’ Wailin’ Saxophone.” Some of the titles on the collection are those used on the Hen Gates LPs.

Lastly, another big thank you to our anonymous donor. Lang may yer lum reek.