Wynonie Harris - Rock Mr Blues

Side One:
01. Just Like Two Drops Of Water
02. Good Rocking Tonight
03. Blow Your Brains Out
04. Sittin' On It All The Time
05. Luscious Woman
06. Keep On Churnin' (Till The Butter Comes)
07. Quiet Whiskey
08. I Feel That Old Age Coming On

Side Two:
01. Good Morning Judge
02. Down Boy Down
03. Bloodshot Eyes
04. Lovin' Machine
05. Mr Blues Is Coming To Town
06. I Like My Baby's Pudding
07. Rock Mr Blues
08. Baby, Shame On You

Download from here

So here's another collection of sides recorded for King Records by Wynonie Harris. The good news is that we've got more bawlin' 'n' squallin' of outrageous leer-ics accompanied by oustanding jump bands, featuring pounding rhythms and squawking tenor saxophones. There's a fair bit of duplication between this LP and the previously posted Gusto 2LP set "Good Rockin' Blues" with 7 of the 16 tracks turning up on both sets. The recording details of the tracks on this album are listed on the back cover, so I'll content myself with listing the original release details, in order of recording date. Tracks marked with a * are on the "Good Rockin' Blues" set. Tracks in italics are not on this LP.

"Blow Your Brains Out" - King 4226 (B Side of "Lollipop Mama"), June 1948.

"Good Rockin' Tonight"* - King 4210 b/w "Good Morning Mr. Blues"* April 1948

"I Feel That Old Age Coming On"*  - King 4276 b/w"Grandma Plays The Numbers"* February 1949

"Sittin' On It All The Time" - King 4330 (B-Side of "Baby Shame On You") December 1949.

"Baby Shame On You" on this LP is an alternate take of King 4330.

"I Like My Baby's Pudding" - King 4342 (B-Side of "I Can't Take It No More"*) February 1950

"Good Morning Judge"* - King 4378 (B-Side of "Stormy Night Blues") July 1950

"Rock Mr. Blues" - King 4389 (B-Side of "Be Mine My Love") September 1950

"Mr. Blues Is Coming To Town" - King 4402 (B-side of "I Want To Love You Baby") November 1950

"Just Like Two Drops Of Water" - King 4448 (B-Side of "Tremblin'"*) March 1951

"Bloodshot Eyes"* - King 4461 (B-Side of "Confessin' The Blues") July 1951

"Lovin' Machine"* - King 4485 (B-Side of "Luscious Woman") November 1951

"Luscious Woman" - King 4485 b/w "Lovin' Machine"* November 1951

"Keep On Churnin' (Till The Butter Comes)" - King 4526 b/w "Married Women Stay Married" April 1952

"Quiet Whiskey"* - King 4685 b/w "Down Boy Down" January 1954

"Down Boy Down" - King 4685 (B-Side of "Quiet Whiskey"*) January 1954

Elsewhere on the blog:

Oh Babe!

Playful Baby

Good Rockin' Blues

A recent purchase (just got it this week):

"Don't You Want To Rock?" A 2CD set in the Ace King & DeLuxe Acetate Series. From Wynonie's first King session on 13th December 1947 until his eighth on the 18th October 1950, master recordings were on acetate discs. From 27th October 1950 onwards his sessions were recorded on tape. Disc One of this set presents all of his 23 releases from the original acetates while Disc Two has 25 alternate takes and unissued tracks. There is a detailed 16 page booklet by Tony Rounce. This set is well worth buying if you can find it at a reasonable price. Just shop around the interweb.

Ace have two other CDs of Wynonie's King sides which I have previously recommended:

"Women, Whiskey & Fish Tails" is a collection of Wynonie's later King sides, recorded after his days as an R&B chart topper were over. His last R&B hit was "Lovin' Machine" in 1952, but he continued to make some great rockin' blues records for King until late 1954.  A second brief spell at King in 1957 was a case of too little, too late and not many sales. 21 tracks from 1953 - 1957 including "Greyhound," "The Deacon Don't Like It," "Shake That Thing," and "Git To Gittin' Baby."

"Lovin' Machine" has 26 tracks recorded between 1951 and 1957. Mostly brilliant but with a couple of clunkers thrown in. The unissued version of "Rot Gut" is disappointing. Why not include the original issued version? You can pick up the real "Rot Gut" here on Be Bop Wino in the "Good Rockin' Blues" post. "Lovin' Machine" is still a very good collection, though, and includes a booklet by Tony Collins, author of the terrific Wynonie biography ""Rock Mr. Blues: the life & music of Wynonie Harris" (Big Nickel Publications,1995).

Well folks, "I feel that old age coming on" and it's time to to wrap up this post. In my next post I'll be wrestling with the problem of just what exactly is on some of those late 1950s Earl Bostic LP's? Stick around for some sax blastin'!