A History Of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues Volume 2 (1959-1962)

Side 1:
01. Ooh Poo Pah Doo (Part 1) - Jessie Hill
02. A Certain Girl - Ernie K-Doe
03. Fortune Teller - Benny Spellman
04. Trick Bag - Earl King
05. I Know (You Don't Love Me No More) - Barbara George
06. All These Things - Art Neville
07. It Will Stand - The Showmen

Side 2:
01. Ya Ya - Lee Dorsey
02. Mother-In-Law - Ernie K-Doe
03. Over You - Aaron Neville
04. I Like It Like That (Part 1) - Chris Kenner
05. Sea Cruise - Frankie Ford
06. There's Something On Your Mind (Part 2) - Bobby Marchan
07. But I Do - Clarence "Frogman" Henry

A History Of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues Volume 2 (Mega)

A History Of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues Volume 2 (Zippy)

This collection of New Orleans sides mainly from the early 1960's and mainly from Joe Banashak's Minit and Instant labels (formed in 1959 and 1961 respectively) nicely book ends the series of New Orleans posts which began with the Paul Gayten "Creole Gal" LP about 6 weeks ago.

That collection included some of the earliest R&B tracks recorded in New Orleans for the DeLuxe label and across the following weeks we had sides recorded for Chess and its subsidiaries, mostly under the supervision of Paul Gayten, a Bobby Charles collection, Huey "Piano" Smith sides for Johnny Vincent's Ace label, Little Richard's Specialty sides mostly recorded in New Orleans with some of the best local musicians, and lastly some of Fats Domino's sides recorded for Imperial, often under the supervision of Dave Bartholomew.

The sides on this Rhino collection show a shift away from the 1950s sound of New Orleans towards smoother soul style productions often featuring brass stabs which you just don't find in the earlier R&B style. The figure who dominates many of these sides as producer, arranger, songwriter and piano player is Allen Toussaint who was undoubtedly largely responsible for the development of the early '60's New Orleans sound.

There are, however, connections to some of the LPs featured recently on Be Bop Wino. Frankie Ford's big hit "Sea Cruise" which was recorded for Ace has backing by Huey Smith and The Clowns. In fact the track was originally a Clowns track with vocals by Huey Smith and Gerri Hall. The vocals were removed and replaced with a Frankie Ford vocal and steamboat whistle and bell effects were dubbed on - result: a hit.

One time Clowns vocalist Bobby Marchan delivers what must surely be the talking bridge to end all talking bridges on "There's Something On Your Mind" released on Bobby Robinson's NYC based Fire label. This is a performance that is so over the top that the listener may end up questioning their own sanity. How can such a monologue even exist?

Many of the other musicians on this collection were present on the 1950s material already featured on the blog - the Neville Brothers, Ernie K-Doe, Earl King and of course Clarence "Frogman" Henry whose 1961 recording on Argo of the Bobby Charles composition "But I Do" was produced by Paul Gayten, which is where we came in, I guess. And it got to number 4 in the Billboard Hot 100. Not a bad way to finish this run of New Orleans posts. There'll be more in the near future, but let us pass on to other locations and other music in this, the Be Bop Wino summer of rock 'n' roll.

Release details of the tracks are on the back cover of the LP along with informative notes by Don Waller.