Chuck Higgins - Motorhead Baby

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For some unknown reason this LP was withdrawn and then reissued in a new cover: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!

Chuck Higgins - Yak A Dak

Side A:
01. Yak A Dak
02. Shotgun Wedding
03. Groove
04. Wiggle
05. Greasy Pig
06. Something's Goin' On In My Room
07. Candied Yam
08. Kubeon
09. That Dubbonet Wine

Side B:
01. Pachuko Hop
02. Let Me Come Back Home
03. West Side
04. Chop Chop
05. Rock
06. Chuck A Buck
07. Beautiful Love
08. Double Dip
09. Baby Shoes

Download from here:

http://www7.zippyshare.com/v/IzPcVr7y/file.html

We've had plenty of Big Jay McNeely and Joe Houston on the blog, but up until now we've never featured the third member of the 1950s Los Angeles Honk Triumvirate, Chuck Higgins. This is El Honk Primitivo - Chuck famously learned to play the tenor sax in two weeks in order to retain a residency at the Club Alabam when the owner decided he had no use for Chuck's trumpet playing. However, we should remember that Chuck was a trained musician, having played trumpet in an Airforce band and having attended the Los Angeles Music Conservatory after leaving the service. In later years he taught music at Compton High and UCLA, so although he may not have had the solid grounding of Big Jay or Joe Houston on the tenor sax, he still knew his way round the horn sufficiently well to record some real rousing R&B and rock'n'roll.

Chuck was a label hopper around 1950s Los Angeles with most of his best work appearing on Combo and Dootone, plus he had the occasional disc on John Dolphin's labels. He also recorded for the bigger indie labels Specialty and Aladdin, but his longest commitment was to Jake Porter's considerably smaller Combo which issued his biggest hit "Pachuko Hop" in 1952.

Labels like Combo, Dootone and the John Dolphin marques lacked national distribution opportunities, so most of Chuck's output sold only in Southern California. I've recently been immersing myself in reading about and listening to the R&B scene in 1950s LA and I've been going through my vinyl to compile a Chuck Higgins "LP" which I'll post in the very near future. In the meantime here's some background info on the tracks on "Yak a Dak." The recording dates and personnel are on the back cover of the LP along with notes by Jim Dawson who interviewed Chuck for this LP.

I'm grateful for the info on the Chuck Higgins discography on rocky-52.net. I've only dug out a minimum of additional information. Chuck's sides on Combo and the John Dolphin labels don't seem to have been covered in Billboard. Dootsie Williams did advertise extensively in Billboard and his Dootone discs were reviewed regularly as were Aladdin and Specialty releases. Here's the facts (such as they are) on the tracks:

01. Yak A Dak - Aladdin 3215; December 1953

02. Shotgun Wedding - Kicks 6; 1955

03. Groove - Kicks 6; 1955

04. Wiggle - Aladdin 3224 credited to "Gene Forrest and the Four Feathers with Chuck Higgins Orch"); 1954

05. Greasy Pig - Lucky 45-005 (vocal - Frank Dunn); 1954

06. Something's Goin' On In My Room - Specialty 541 (Credited to "Daddy Cleanhead") (vocal - Fred Higgins aka "Daddy Cleanhead"); January 1955

07. Candied Yam - Lucky 45-005; 1954

08. Kubeon - Combo 144; 1958

09. That Dubbonet Wine - Recorded In Hollywood 399 (vocal - Carl "Johnny" Green); 1954

10. Pachuko Hop - rerecording made for Starla LP "Art Laboe's Memories Of El Monte"; 1960

11. Let Me Come Back Home - Specialty 541 (credited to "Daddy Cleanhead") (vocal - Fred Higgins aka "Daddy Cleanhead"); January 1955

12. West Side - Combo 48; 1953

13. Chop Chop - R&B 1314; 1955

14. Rock - R&B 1314; 1955

15. Chuck A Buck - Aladdin 3215; December 1953

16. Beautiful Love - Money 214-45 (vocal - The Mello Moods aka The Mellotones); 1956

17. Double Dip - Loma 706; 1956

18. Baby Shoes - Combo 170; 1960

Buying Chuck Higgins on CD is relatively straightforward as Ace (UK) own the rights to his Combo and Dootone masters. Here's the gen -

Twenty five years ago Ace brought out a compilation of Chuck's Specialty sides. It's now out of print but still obtainable. The title refers to an unissued rerecording of "Pachuko Hop" which is included in the collection:

I've sung the praises of the legendary "Honk! Honk! Honk!" collection loud and long on the blog. It includes six Chuck sides, four from Combo and two from Dootone. And there's a whole mess of other honkin' goodies on the disc, including the original Combo release of "Pachuko Hop."  Just go and buy it. Rating: 20/10

Ace have also issued an excellent compilation of Dootone tracks featuring nine by Chuck, ten by Roy Milton, plus Helen Humes, Lorenzo Holden, Claude McLin and Joe Houston. The artwork and tracklist are based on a 1956 Dootone LP, "Rock 'n' Roll versus Rhythm and Blues" which featured six tracks apiece from Chuck and Roy Milton.

The go-to CD for Chuck Higgins is the Ace collection "Chuck Higgins Blows His Wig!" which has 24 Combo sides. There's no "Pachuko Hop", though. An excellent booklet by Tony Rounce is included.

Ace has also reissued the 1950s Combo LP "Pachucko Hop" on CD. Twelve tracks plus an eye-popping reproduction of the original LP sleeve which was swiftly withdrawn back in the tight-laced 1950s. Cover art below purely in the interests of historical research.

There's more Chuck coming soon - and I might even find an excuse to post that LP cover again.

Joe Houston - Rockin' 'n' Boppin'

Tracklist:

Side 1

01. Rockin' 'n' Boppin'

02. Flying Home

03. Walking Home

04. Earthquake

05. Waycross Mama Blues

06. Moody

07. Hurricane

08. Go Joe Go

Side 2

01. Cornbread & Cabbage

02. Jay's Boogie

03. Doin' The Lindy Hop

04. Boogie Woogie Woman

05. Hog Maws Part 2

06. Dig It

07. Shtiggy Boom

08. Joe's Gone

09. The Hully

Download from here:

Joe Houston - Rockin' 'n' Boppin' (Mega)

Joe Houston - Rockin' 'n' Boppin' (Zippy)

Bought second hand. There is damage to the inner sleeve which renders a small part of the notes unreadable.

We continue our tribute to the late Joe Houston with a Saxophonograph LP which hasn't been on the blog before.

I was saddened to read in the March edition of "Blues & Rhythm" that Joe Houston had passed away last December after a long period of ill health. One of my favourite LPs of the 1980s R&B reissue craze was "Rockin' At The Drive In" on Ace. This was a reworking of an LP originally issued on Combo in 1956. The honking sax was awesome, relentless even, and as for the cover art, ye gods! There in the car park of a Googie architecture drive in restaurant was the man himself, blowing his sax to an admiring crowd of teens plus DJ Art Laboe and, artfully placed in the picture, a couple of open top cars each about the size of a small house (by UK standards). 1950s California seemed impossibly cool to somebody living in gloomy, rain soaked Glasgow in the 1980s.

"Rockin' 'n' Boppin'" provides a good overview of Joe's 1950s recording career. The gatefold sleeve contains notes by Ken Mills which at times could be called "fervent" as he preaches the glories of the Southern California R&B scene and Joe's contribution thereto. Included in the notes is a section on another LP already on this blog, "Earthquake," which was released by Pathe Marconi in the early 1980s. This was a compilation mainly consisting of sides originally recorded for Imperial. Unfortunately some of the tracks were wrongly titled and the original versions of "Hurricane" and "Earthquake" were not actually on that LP. However, they are here on "Rockin' 'n' Boppin'!" Read Ken Mills's notes for the full story.

Original release info plus reviews culled from the pages of Billboard:

01. Rockin' 'n' Boppin' - Cash 1018, late 1955.

02. Flying Home - Cash 1013, c September 1955.

03. Walking Home - Cash 1013, c September 1955.

Billboard, 1st October 1955

04. Earthquake - Imperial 5201, 1952.

05. Waycross Mama Blues - Freedom 1526, late 1949 /early 1950.

06. Moody - Bayou 004, May 1953. "Houston is the honking tenor type as he and the ork read off a riff-built instrumental for a good side."

07. Hurricane - Imperial 5196, July 1952. "The ork under Houston drives hard on a rhythm instrumental cleffed by the leader. Results are adequate."

08. Go Joe Go - Lucky 004, May 1954.

09. Cornbread & Cabbage - Hollywood 423, May 1953. "Houston shows a lot of sax on this side, a dynamic riff effort."

10. Jay's Boogie - Hollywood 423, May 1953. "More sax work with abandon by Houston, this time to a boogie beat by the ork."

11. Doin' The Lindy Hop - Modern 863, April 1952

12. Boogie Woogie Woman - Modern 879, August 1952. "A jump boogie gets a solid go from the ork and Lois Butler helps it along with her vocal. Material is not impressive."

13. Hog Maws Part 2 - Magnum 45-723, 1964.

14. Dig It - Modern 879, August 1952. "The ork enjoys itself jamming away on this riff item with lots of solo work featured thruout. Tune builds a bit, but not as much as it could. Jazz fanciers may like."

15. Shtiggy Boom - RPM 426, February 1955. "Swingy new rocker that has all the West Coast record firms excited is handed a driving reading by the Houston ork, with the sidemen on the vocal. Houston turns in some solid work on sax, and the side builds all the way. This could happen."

Scan from Joan K

16. Joe's Gone - RPM 426, February 1955. "And Joe Houston does go in this swinging instrumental side. Both jazz and blues fans will be interested in this wild cutting. Houston comes thru with excitement. Two potent juke sides."

17. The Hully - Combo 157, August 1959. "A blues-oriented instrumental with a rocking rhythm. Some good horn passages and interesting musical figures."

Recommended site:

http://www.colorradio.com/joe-houston.html

Now somebody get me a time machine. I gotta get back to 1950s LA!