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Attention Mac Users!

Mac users have been experiencing problems in unpacking the WinRAR archives used on this blog. Two solutions have been suggested.

1. Use The Unarchiver - www.theunarchiver.com - see comments on Little Esther Bad Baad Girl post for details.

2. Use Keka - http://www.kekaosx.com/en/ - see comments on Johnny Otis Presents post.

Sunday 27 November 2011

Rock Around The Clock



UK 45 rpm issue of Thirteen Women / Rock Around The Clock
Rock Around The Clock, or To The Pythian Temple. Or how Bill Haley finally achieved rock and roll immortality. Or, as Little Richard was wont to say, “He got what he wanted, but he lost what he had.”

Listen to "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" and "Thirteen Women":





In “Destination Rock And Roll!” we had a look at how Bill Haley And His Comets evolved from a country band into a rock and roll band while recording for the Philadelphia based Holiday and Essex labels owned by Dave Miller. Having scored a hit on the national pop chart with “Crazy Man, Crazy” in May of 1953, the band’s further releases on Essex failed to match this unexpected success and in the spring of 1954 Bill and the boys signed for Decca after their contract with Miller had lapsed.

And so we arrive at the Pythian Temple in New York City. This imposing art deco building was the headquarters of the New York chapters of the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal order bearing similarities to the Freemasons. We shall ignore, if that is possible, the honeycomb of hidden chambers in which secret and no doubt dreadful ceremonies took place and pass further in to the building to a ballroom in which Decca had installed a recording facility in the 1940s.

And there, on the 24th April, 1954, Milt Gabler, who had produced many Louis Jordan hits at the same venue in the 1940s, awaited Bill Haley And His Comets who were due for their first Decca recording session. Two songs were lined up: the A-Side was to be a cover of a minor R&B novelty “Thirteen Women And One Man” which had been written and recorded by Dickie Thompson. Released on Herald in March, 1954, the song had been the subject of a radio ban due to unfortunate implications in the lyrics. The less than pure of mind may have concluded that the song was a description of a sportin’ dude living off the earnings of a group of affectionate ladies but it is unlikely that this was the intention of the songwriter.

However, Milt Gabler had taken the precaution of rewriting the lyrics to give the one guy and a load of dames scenario a new and more innocent context – they were now the happy survivors of a nuclear holocaust. And anyway the whole thing was a dream.

The B-Side was to be “Rock around The Clock,” a number which had been part of the Comet’s live repertoire since the summer of 1953. Co-credited to Max Freedman and Jimmy DeKnight (real name Jimmy Myers), “Rock Around The Clock” borrowed the melody of Hank Williams’ “Move It On Over” and allied it to lyrics on a theme that had emerged in R&B a few years back – round the clock jivin’ (in the shape of dancing or romancing) – especially in various versions of “Around The Clock Blues” recorded by Jimmy Rushing, Wynonie Harris and Big Joe Turner. Let’s be honest here - these guys weren’t singing about dancing, but Bill Haley was.

Unfortunately, the Comets had been unable to record “Rock Around The Clock” owing to a dispute between Essex Records owner Dave Miller and the song’s co-writer Jimmy Myers. Thus the first recording of the song was by another Philadelphia based combo, Sonny Dae and His Knights, on a small local label, Arcade Records.

The Comets’ move from Essex to Decca cleared the way for them to finally make their own recording of “Rock Around The Clock.” The personnel who arrived somewhat belatedly at the Pythian Temple (due to a ferry breakdown) to record what would eventually become the number which most people now think of as THE 1950’s rock and roll hit were the Comets regular line up of: Bill Haley (vocals, guitar), Joey D’Ambrosio (tenor sax), Johnny Grande (piano), Billy Williamson (steel guitar), Marshall Lytle (bass) and Dick Richards (drums). Danny Cedrone, who had played on earlier recording sessions with the band, was drafted in once more to play lead guitar. Dick Richards made way for session drummer Billy Gussak but stuck around to help familiarise the session man with Haley’s preferred drum parts on “Rock Around The Clock.”

Not being part of the regular Comets line up, Danny Cedrone was unfamiliar with “Rock Around The Clock.” As the session was somewhat rushed, he had no time to work out a new solo part, but opted to reproduce note for note the solo he had recorded on Haley’s cover of “Rock the Joint” a couple of years back, this time to even more brilliant effect.

1954 US release of "Rock Around The Clock"
Thirteen Women (And Only One Man In Town) / (We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock (Decca 29124) was released in May 1954. It quickly became obvious from deejay plays and retail re-orders that “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock” was the side that people preferred and so Decca quickly switched to promoting it as the de facto A-Side. But it was to no avail, for despite strong sales in some locations, the record peaked at number 23 in the national pop chart at the end of May and then rapidly dropped out of sight.


A few months later Bill Haley And His Comets finally got that follow up hit to “Crazy Man, Crazy” when their cover version of Big Joe Turner’s R&B hit “Shake, Rattle And Roll” crashed into the pop charts in August 1954, reaching number 7. Towards the end of the year the record reached number 4 in the UK pop charts, spending 14 weeks in the Hit Parade. A quick follow up UK release of “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock” was much less successful, reaching number 17 and only spending 2 weeks in the chart in January 1955.

“Shake, Rattle And Roll” was recorded on the 7th June 1954 at the Pythian Temple with the same personnel as the “Rock Around The Clock” session with the exception of session drummer Billy Gussak, who was replaced by Panama Francis. Tragically one of the musicians didn’t live to see the success of the record. On 17th July 1954 guitarist Danny Cedrone was killed in a bizarre accident when he fell down the stairs of a Philadelphia restaurant where he had gone to buy his wife a sandwich.

The credited composer of the original version of “Shake, Rattle And Roll” which had been an R&B hit for Big Joe Turner in April 1954 was Charles Calhoun, a pseudonym for Atlantic Records producer Jesse Stone. The song consisted of a series of standard and at times raunchy blues verses of the kind which Big Joe had been belting out since his barroom bawling days in Kansas City way back in the 1930s.


For the Bill Haley release some of the raunchier lines were dropped. Stuff like “Wearing low dresses, the sun comes shining through … I can’t believe all that mess belongs to you” and “Over the hill, way down underneath … you make me grit my teeth” was dropped in favour of much more innocuous lines – have a listen for yourselves. Yet somehow the most graphic line of all was left in – “I’m a one-eyed cat peepin’ in a seafood store.” Rock and roll historians usually say that the line survived because no-one at the Comets session understood it. I prefer to think that it was left in because Bill Haley was a one eyed cat – thanks to botched eye surgery when he was a kid.


In the meantime “Rock Around The Clock” was on the first Bill Haley LP and EP which were released in late 1954. The next single release, “Dim, Dim The Lights” entered the US pop charts in November 1954, reached number 11 and spent 15 weeks in the charts. In the spring of 1955 the two sided hit “Mambo Rock” / “Birth Of The Boogie” was less successful, with the bigger seller of the two, “Mambo Rock,” reaching number 17 and spending only 8 weeks in the chart. However in May 1955, more than a year after being recorded, “Rock Around The Clock” was back and it was an enormous hit.

1955 US re-issue of Rock Around The Clock
The factor which caused such a dramatic turn around in the disc’s fortunes was of course its inclusion in the soundtrack of the film “Blackboard Jungle,” a hard hitting expose of conditions in an inner city school. Well, I assume it was hard hitting, but I’ve never actually seen it. Whatever may be the case, the combination of juvenile delinquents and rock and roll proved irresistible to teenage audiences. The record re-entered the Billboard pop chart on the 14th of May 1955 where it spent 24 weeks, 8 of them at number one. In the UK “Rock Around The Clock” re-entered the pop chart in October 1955 reaching number one by November and staying in the chart for a total of 17 weeks. By this time the Comets line-up which had recorded “Rock around The Clock” was no more.

By September 1955 The Comets not only had two million selling records to their name, they were playing to huge audiences in big venues. The money was pouring in, but now the financial structure of the band caused an inevitable break up. As mentioned in “Destination Rock And Roll,” The Comets consisted of four business partners and the rest were salaried employees. The partners who shared in the financial good fortune were Bill Haley, Billy Williamson, Johnny Grande and manager Lord Jim Ferguson. The other members of the band – Joey D’Ambrosio, Dick Richards and Marshall Lytle were on salary and even after the band hit the big time no proportionate salary increase was forthcoming. This was particularly hard on Marshall Lytle who had been in the band since they were The Saddlemen.

The three non- partners left The Comets and formed a new band, The Jodimars (JOey, DIck, MARShall), which immediately secured a contract with Capitol Records. Bill Haley, Johnny Grande, Billy Williamson and recently recruited lead guitarist Franny Beecher remained as The Comets. Tenor sax player Rudy Pompilli, bass player Al Rex (who had been in The Saddlemen before Marshall Lytle) and drummer Ralph Jones were recruited to replace the departees.

The Comets story continues in a series of upcoming posts, thanks to a generous donor of EPs. I promise less words and more music. Honest injun. In the meantime you can hear many of the tracks mentioned in this post by downloading this homemade comp:


Tracklist:

01. Around The Clock Part 1 - Wynonie Harris
02. Around The Clock Part 1 - Big Vernon
03. Rock Around The Clock - Sonny Dae & His Knights
04. Move It On Over - Hank Williams
05. (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley And His Comets
06. Thirteen Women And One Man - Dickie Thompson
07. Thirteen Women - Bill Haley And His Comets
08. Shake, Rattle And Roll - Joe Turner and his Blues Kings
09. Shake, Rattle And Roll - Bill Haley And His Comets
10. Later For You Baby - Guitar Slim
11. Later Alligator - Bobby Charles
12. See You Later, Alligator - Bill Haley And His Comets

Download from here:



Thanks to Joan K for the US scans and the Lawson Family for the UK scans.

It’s already been recommended, but here it is again – a book which every fan of early rock and roll needs to have:

“Rock Around The Clock” by Jim Dawson. It was the main source of info for this post, along with “The Billboard Book of USA Top 40 Hits”, “The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles” (New Musical Express charts), “The Top Twenty Book: Thirty Years of Hits” compiled by Tony Jasper (Music Week charts) and last but far from least, Chris Gardner’s Bill Haley Database.

Sunday 13 November 2011

Blues on 78 - the album!



By popular demand - the seven shellac 78 rpm discs sent in by El Enmascarado have now been collected into LP form for downloading, complete with album art! As well as the music in mp3 format, the download contains a folder of the label shots of each side. Carefully programmed for your listening pleasure, this virtual LP will delight both the discerning connoisseur and the drink sodden. It's been played continuously on my Windows Media Player (with cross fading switched on) for the last week.

Track details are on the blog posts for each disc, so go copy and paste. Let's just sum up the "album" as a cornucopia of "real" blues, a style which was an important ingredient in the R&B scene of the 1940s and 1950s.

El Enmascarado has supplied enough shellac rips for a second volume of "Blues on 78" but before we embark on another blues session we have a rendezvous at the Pythian Temple ...

Side One
1. Rockin' With Red - Piano Red
2. Possum Hunt - Smokey Hogg
3. Off The Wall - Little Walter
4. Don't Start Me Talking - Sonny Boy Williamson
5. Boogie Chillen' - John Lee Hooker
6. Honey Honey Blues - Lightnin' Hopkins
7. Walking The Blues - Willie Dixon

Side Two
1. If You're Mine - Willie Dixon
2. Tell Me Mama - Little Walter
3. Sally Mae - John Lee Hooker
4. Moonrise Blues - Lightnin' Hopkins
5. Red's Boogie - Piano Red
6. Let's Get Together And Drink Some Gin - Smokey Hogg
7. All My Love In Vain - Sonny Boy Williamson

Ripped from shellac at 128 kbps by El Enmascarado

Download from here:

http://www12.zippyshare.com/v/thsW6mgP/file.html

Saturday 12 November 2011

Let's Get Together And Drink Some Gin / Possum Hunt - Smokey Hogg (Modern 20-783)








Recorded in Los Angeles on July 18th, 1950. Personnel: Smokey Hogg (vocal and guitar); Dorothy Broyles (piano); Bill Davis (bass); Edward Hall (drums).

Released in December 1950. The Billboard review on the 9th December 1950 was less than enthusiastic: "Hogg does a so-so southern shout blues in slow tempo. Melody is in the "How Long" vein, lyric not especially strong."

However there was a much more enthusiastic review for the B-side, "Possum Hunt": "Romping boogie blues in the old tradition. Material is real southern back country stuff, honest and earthy. Hogg and combo do a zestful, happy job."

Billboard, December 9th, 1950
Fans of Young Jessie will recognise that "Possum Hunt" is the same song as "Rabbit On A Log" which was released by The Hunters on Flair in 1953. The country blues song was transformed into a frantic R&B rocker with stand out vocals by Richard Berry and Young Jessie, plus yelping hound dog sound effects and disorderly yelling by the rest of the group. It's hard to imagine a more different interpretation of the song which Smokey Hogg performs here.

Modern 20-783 didn't make any chart noise although "Possum Hunt" was a territorial tip in Atlanta in the January 27th 1951 edition of Billboard. In February 1951 Smokey left Modern and signed up with Mercury Records.

And with this disc my bluesin' and boozin' friends, we come to the end of the first round of El Enmascarado's "Blues On 78." I hope you've enjoyed these sounds as much as I have. Many thanks, oh masked one!

Sunday 6 November 2011

Honey Honey Blues / Moonrise Blues - Lightnin' Hopkins (Aladdin 3077)








Both sides were recorded in Houston, Texas, in February 1948. This single was released in February 1951.

This is another in the "Blues on 78" series where we showcase rips from original shellac 78 rpm discs provided by El Enmascarado, and this time we're really going "down home." These sides are probably the rootsiest sounds to hit the blog so far. Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins' musical career began in the 1920s with Blind Lemon Jefferson and Texas Alexander. In 1946 he was discovered by Lola Anne Cullum who got him signed to Aladdin Records out in LA - she had already scouted Amos Milburn for the same label.

Although Lightnin's style harked back to the rough country blues of the 20s and 30s, he had a series of entries in the R&B charts in the late 1940s and early 1950s for Aladdin, Modern, Gold Star and Sittin' In With. This disc didn't chart, but it's a belter - with "Moonrise Blues" being an especially powerful doom-laden performance.

Says El Enmascarado: "A listen to the lyrics of Moonrise Blues makes it easy to guess that the song Bad Moon Rising "borrows" from it. It's one of the darkest Lightning Hopkins songs I can remember. He must have had a big fight with his girlfriend before leaving for the studio."

By way of contrast, "Honey Honey Blues" is an attractive little pleader with lovely guitar playing. There's more Lightnin' coming up in the series, so keep looking in on Be Bop Wino, the blog where the blues reigns!

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Don't Start Me Talkin' / All My Love In Vain - Sonny Boy Williamson (Checker 824)



Recorded in Chicago on August 12th, 1955. Personnel: Sonny Boy Williamson (vcl and hca); Otis Spann (p); Muddy Waters (g); Jimmy Rogers (g); Willie Dixon (b); Fred Below (d).






Recorded at Sonny Boy Williamson's first session for the Chess label, and released on the Chess subsidiary Checker, "Don't Start Me Talkin'" hit the R&B charts in October / November 1955. On the November 12th issue of Billboard, it stood at number 9 in the retail sales chart, number 3 in the juke box plays chart and number 5 in the disc jockey plays chart. The record didn't start slipping down the charts until early December, so Sonny Boy's Chess debut was a considerable success.

1955 was an excellent year for Chess with a whole heap of hits for Sonny Boy, Little Walter, Willie Mabon, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and of course Chuck Berry whose "Maybellene" was the third top selling R&B disc of the year.

Many thanks to El Enmascarado for this post. Special mention must be made of his sterling persistence in getting a decent rip from the Victrola - worn shellac disc, especially from skip-skip afflicted "All My Love In Vain." Luckily for us El Enmascarado has a hi-tech solution to such problems - increase the tone arm weight. Back when a record was a record and not a mere intangible concatenation of bits and bytes, I used to sellotape coins to my tone arm so that it could plough through skips. Happy days.