Side 1:
01. Pachuko Hop
02. Bug Jump
03. Long Long Time
04. Real Gone Hound Dog
05. Chuck's Fever
06. Cotton Picker
07. Yak A Dak
Side 2:
01. Chuck A Buck
02. Wet Back Hop
03. Don't You Know I Love You Baby
04. Blacksmith Blues
05. Flip Top Box
06. Blues & Mambo
07. Motor Head Baby
Download from here:
http://www23.zippyshare.com/v/1BDcv5oz/file.html
Fired with enthusiasm after listening to "Yak a Dak" I had a look through my vinyl and came up with another Chuck Higgins compilation made up with tracks from various 1980s reissue LPs. Hope you like it. Another LP that never was, complete with front and back covers.
Further info on the tracks:
01. Pachuko Hop - Chuck Higgins & His Mellotones: Combo 12; 1952
02. Bug Jump - John Watson with Chuck Higgins & His Mellotones: Combo 38; 1953
03. Long Long Time - Chuck Higgins: Combo 144; 1958. Vocal: Frank Dunn
04. Real Gone Hound Dog - Chuck Higgins & His Mellotones: Combo 25; 1953. Vocal: Geechie Howard
05. Chuck's Fever - Chuck Higgins: unissued until Ace LP CH81 "Pachuko Hop" (1983).
06. Cotton Picker - Chuck Higgins & His Mellotones: Combo 14; 1952. Vocal: Geechie Howard
07. Yak A Dak - Chuck Higgins & His Orchestra: Aladdin 3215; 1954
08. Chuck A Buck - Chuck Higgins & His Orchestra: Aladdin 3215; 1954
09. Wet Back Hop - Chuck Higgins & His Band: Dootone 370; 1955
10. Don't You Know I Love You Baby - Chuck Higgins & His Band: Dootone 370; 1955. Vocal: Frank Dunn
11. Blacksmith Blues - Chuck Higgins & The Mellotones: Combo 108; 1955. Vocal: Johnny Flamingo
12. Flip Top Box - Chuck Higgins & The Mellotones: Combo 108; 1955
13. Blues & Mambo - Chuck Higgins & His Mellotones: Combo 17; 1952
14. Motorhead Baby - Chuck Higgins & His Mellotones: Combo 12; 1952. Vocal: John Watson
Combo 108 was re-released on Caddy 108 in 1957. "Geechie Howard" was Chuck's brother Fred Higgins who also sang under the name "Daddy Cleanhead." John Watson, the pianist / vocalist on Chuck's early Combo sides had a successful career as Johnny "Guitar" Watson.
Discographical information from:
http://wdd.mbnet.fi/chuckhiggins.htm
http://www.rocky-52.net/chanteursh/higgins_c.htm
Chuck Higgins LPs:
Pachucko Hop (Combo LP 300), 1956.
For some unknown reason this LP was withdrawn and then reissued in a new cover:
Dootone issued a Chuck Higgins / Roy Milton LP with 6 tracks by each artist called "Rock'N' Roll Versus Rhythm And Blues" in 1956. The LP stayed in print under the renamed "Dooto" label:
In 1983 Ace (UK) released the LP "Pachuko Hop." This was not a straight reissue of the Combo "Pachucko Hop" as two of the original tracks were omitted and four other tracks were added.
The Ace LP was the first time I heard Chuck Higgins. For Chuck Higgins CDs see previous post "Yak a Dak." It's possible to reconstruct the Combo and Dootone LPs from 3 of the still available CDs:
The original "Pachucko Hop" Combo LP was a killer-diller!
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15 comments:
Nice comp, with young John Watson too. many thanks for posting.
BTW: Love the original cover of Pachucko Hop (Combo LP 300) must have raised a few eyebrows back in 1956.
Cheers Bob. As "BB" commented on the previous post, the lady in question was either Huggy Boy's wife or girlfriend (according to some). She would make the dead walk and blind men see. That's 2 posts in a row where I've managed to include that cover, but I've run out of excuses for inclusion on further posts.
For my own amusement I've reconstructed the original "Pachucko Hop" LP from CD tracks and it's an absolute corker of an album. Ace have reissued it as a midprice CD. I would love to see them reissue the first Joe Houston Combo LP in the same way.
OK that's interesting. I hadn't read the comments for the previous post, so just now took a look and read BB's post. And yes right away I thought that she's wearing some guy's necktie...lol.
There sure were some interesting LP covers on some of these old blues/R&B albums. I've got a fondness for those old Crown covers of Wolf, Hopkins, Hooker LPs with smiling black women with bright red lipstick.
There's a selection of these old Crown blues LP covers on display on this old Smokey Hogg post:
https://bebopwinorip.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/smokey-hogg-sings-blues-crown-clp-5226.html
Magnificent! Far better than the crappy broken down southern shack / some drunk lying in a gutter / guitar with harmonica lying on a rocking chair type covers that the record companies used when trying to attract the middle class college crowd with "Folk Blues."
You can't beat a bit of glamour on an LP. And all in the best possible taste.
Thanks for the pair of Chuck Higgins - quite a few new ones to listen to as I only have his Ace reissues.
Re. Combo 108 being reissued as Caddy 108. My opinion is that Combo 108 is another of those 'unicorns' that move from one discography to another without ever being offered for sale or scans being seen (not that scans prove a lot these days). There's a 'black hole' in the Combo discography from 97 to 109 and some can't resist the temptation to push whatever in wherever they can to fill the gaps.
There's still a lot of Chuck's that hasn't seen reissue on LP or CD - time for a HMC?
Worth checking out - http://twilightzone-rideyourpony.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/plas-johnson-best-of-plas-johnson-wolf.html
- headliner is all Plas' Tampa recordings (except 'Rasputin') plus a couple of rare sides from 1961. CHECKOUT the Comments box for one of Plas' Capitol albums.
Cheers
Thanks for the tip about the Plas albums, Daddy Cool. So much gets posted on Twilightzone that I miss out on quite a lot there.
The Caddy 108 = Combo 108 thing struck me as slightly suspicious. Think I went with it 'cause I'm pretty sure that Caddy leased in Joe Houston's "All Night Long."
That's me cleaned out of Chuck on vinyl - except some tracks from the Ace Pachuko Hop LP. Perhaps someone somewhere else has a secret stash of unreissued Chuck? And similar for Joe Houston?
Link unfortunately doesn't seem to be working :(
I've been trying to find the best source for the original master version of "Motor Head Baby", so far I've found:
- "Blows His Wig" is a clean 78 or 45 transfer, but is very bright and compressed
- Rhino's Johnny Guitar Watson "Blues Masters" CD from 1999 has a noisy but accurate sounding 78/45 transfer.
- "Gonna Rock The Blues Again" compilation sounds great, apart from a repeating scuff throughout the record!
- Ace "Straight To Watts: The Central Avenue Scene 1951-54 Vol 1" is an alternate take, from master tape!
Any others you have?
Cheers,
Ben
I'd forgotten that I had "Gonna Rock The Blues Again!" Had to do a Google images search to remind myself what it was.
The cut on this homemade comp is from the Ace LP "Pachuko Hop." I don't have anything to add to your list I'm afraid. A problem is that I have hundreds of R&B CDs but I haven't listened to most of them for a few years, so I'm very vague about parts of my collection.
Ben - I've just tested the link and it worked fine for me.
Ahh, link wasn't working from Australia, switched my VPN on and it worked great.
Would it be possible to get copies in lossless wav or flac of "Motorhead Baby" from your transfer from the Ace LP and the "Gonna Rock The Blues Again" CD?
I don't have any Higgins to offer in return but I have a whole pile of rare early Johnny Guitar Watson!
Hi Ben
Here is a link to download a flac version of my rip of "Motorhead Baby" from the Ace LP:
http://www56.zippyshare.com/v/dbaRopBZ/file.html
Gonna Rock The Blues Again version to follow ...
BW
Ben - here is a link to a flac burn of "Motor Head Baby" from "Gonna Rock The Blues Again."
http://www68.zippyshare.com/v/FdWmlDjc/file.html
I forgot to mention that my vinyl rip has a "click" at the start of the track.
Thanks so much mate!
My friend has a really great ear for these things so I'm getting him to do a nicely cleaned up version of Motor Head Baby.
If there's any JGW you're after, please let me know!
Ben
I just found a bit more on that infamous scantily clad gal pal of Dick "Huggy Boy" Hugg's, which, as this collector states, is pretty much what I recall being The Real Story (which I first maybe heard on one of Steve Propes' old radio shows?) (Maybe one featuring Chuck himself in an in-studio interview or phone-in segment???) (many years ago...)(And, no, I don't think I was "rolling" on the Technics cassette deck...)
(Warning! The forthcoming link is associated with a publication that the late, great Cub Koda might have derisively called one for the --- dread --- "Hobbyist"...):
"Meet record collector Gene Aguilera of Montebello, Calif.":
http://www.goldminemag.com/collector-resources/meet-our-reader-gene-aguilera-of-montebello-calif
(OR --- For those too lazy to click):
"... “Pachuko Hop” by Chuck Higgins on Combo Records (LP-300). The original cover featured a naked woman on the cover with a scarf strategically placed over her. Supposedly the woman was Bila Hugg (wife of the legendary, late Los Angeles R&B deejay Huggy Boy). After this LP came out in 1960, the owner of Combo Records was forced to withdraw it from the shelves because of “the authorities.” ..."
Oh, and, in case BBW World HQs finds reason to expound further on this seemingly becoming scarily scholarly subject, the DISCOGS site has a (blurry, anyone got better? Maybe those "liner notes," such as they are, provide a full story..!?) REAR COVER image of the LP featuring Ms. Bila... (Now I wonder if she was a fan of The Versatones...)
https://www.discogs.com/release/7362439-Pachuko-Hop/images
Great googa mooga! That Versatones "Bila" disc is SOOOO primitive it must have been recorded in the Jurassic Age. I left it running on YouTube while replying to your comment and Vito & The Salutations came up next. I'm sure I read that Goldmine profile a year or so ago. Wish I'd been born and lived in LA ...
Nope, I haven't got an excuse to post the Pachucko Hop cover again ... nice try!
BW
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