Rockin' Bones: 1950s Punk and Rockabilly

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A brilliant set

This is a brilliant collection of Rockabilly and some obscure but wonderful stuff which might be included in the notion of Rockabilly but is hard to classify. It's a pleasure from start to finish – full of gems, and often full of surprises. I was just a little young to be listening to this as it came out, but grew up with it in the background. Some is familiar to me and some isn't, and the craziness of things like Black Cadillac or the astonishingly explicit sexuality of Little Girl (did they really allow those vocals to go out in the 50s?) were unexpected and very enjoyable.

The collection is crammed with gems of all kinds. How a Rockabilly collection can omit Nothin' Shakin' by Eddie Fontaine (or 'Til I Waltz Again With You by Bill Reader, for that matter) is beyond me – but any compilation will have inclusions and omissions that I disagree with, and this is a fabulous set.

The sound is good, the music is fantastic. Enough said. Warmly recommended.

Track list:

Disc: 1

  1. Rockin' Bones - Ronnie Dawson

  2. Let's Go Baby - Billy Eldridge

  3. Baby Let's Play House - Elvis Presley

  4. Little Girl - John & Jackie

  5. Cat Man - Gene Vincent

  6. Lobo Jones - Jackie Gotroe

  7. Juvenile Delinquent - Ronnie Allen

  8. Froggy Went A Courting - Danny Dell

  9. Rattlesnake Daddy - Joe D. Johnson

  10. Down On The Farm - Al Downing

  11. Rockin' In The Graveyard - Jackie Morningstar

  12. Dancing Doll - Art Adams

  13. Long Blond Hair, Red Rose Lips - Johnny Powers

  14. Action Packed - Johnny Dollar

  15. Boppin' High School Baby - Don Willis

  16. Believe What You Say - Ricky Nelson

  17. Sunglasses After Dark - Dwight Pullen

  18. Rumble - Link Wray

  19. Down The Line - Buddy Holly

  20. Pink Cadillac - Larry Dowd

  21. Black Cadillac - Joyce Green

  22. Who's Been Here - Commonwealth Jones

  23. I Need A Man - Barbara Pittman

  24. Please Give Me Something - Bill Allen

  25. Sinners - Freddie And The Hitch-Hikers

Disc: 2

  1. Rock Around With Ollie Vee - Buddy Holly

  2. Lou Lou - Darrell Rhodes

  3. Rock Crazy Baby - Art Adams

  4. Love Bug Crawl - Jimmy Edwards

  5. Fool I Am - Pat Ferguson

  6. Red Hot - Bob Luman

  7. Love Me - The Phantom

  8. She's My Witch - Kip Tyler

  9. Lordy Hoody - Tommy Blake

  10. Bloodshot - The String Kings

  11. Trouble - Jackie DeShannon

  12. Hot Shot - Ronnie Pearson

  13. Long Gone Daddy - Pat Cupp

  14. Curfew - Steve Carl

  15. Put Your Cat Clothes On - Carl Perkins

  16. Pink And Black - Sonny Fisher

  17. Domino - Roy Orbison

  18. Jungle Rock - Hank Mizell

  19. Ubangi Stomp - Warren Smith

  20. Chicken Walk - Hasil Adkins

  21. Chicken Rock - Fat Daddy Holmes

  22. Eeny-Meeny-Miney-Moe - Bob And Lucille

  23. Shirley Lee - Bobby Lee Trammell

  24. Woman Love - Gene Vincent

  25. One Night Of Sin - Elvis Presley

Disc: 3

  1. Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins

  2. Duck Tail - Joe Clay

  3. Stack-A-Records - Tom Tall

  4. Daddy-O-Rock - Jeff Daniels

  5. Move - Boyd Bennett

  6. Brand New Cadillac - Vince Taylor

  7. Rumble Rock - Kip Tyler

  8. Hep Cat - Larry Terry

  9. Cast Iron Arm - Peanuts Wilson

  10. Switch Blade Sam - Jeff Daniels

  11. Ballin' Keen - Boby & Terry Caraway

  12. Sweet Rockin' Baby - Sonny West

  13. Get Rhythm - Johnny Cash

  14. Rock Billy Boogie - Johnny Burnette

  15. Crazy Baby - The Rockin' R's

  16. Susie-Q - Dale Hawkins

  17. Worried 'Bout You Baby - Maylon Humphries

  18. I Love My Baby - The Phaetons

  19. Come On Little Mama - Ray Harris

  20. Whistle Bait - Lorrie And Larry Collins

  21. Spin The Bottle - Benny Joy

  22. Bertha Lou - Dorsey Burnette

  23. Real Gone Daddy - Jim Flaherty's Caravan

  24. My Pink Cadillac - Hal Willis

  25. Draggin' - Curtis Gordon

Disc: 4

  1. Action Packed - Ronnie Dee

  2. Shakin' All Over - Johnny Kidd

  3. Who Do You Love - Ronnie Hawkins

  4. Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran

  5. The Way I Walk - Jack Scott

  6. Wild Wild Women - Johnny Carol

  7. Oooh-Eeee - Ric Cartey

  8. Get Hot Or Go Home - John Kerby

  9. Swamp Gal - Tommy Bell

  10. Miss Pearl - Jimmy Wages

  11. Mercy - Lorrie And Larry Collins

  12. Rock Boppin' Baby - Edwin Bruce

  13. Rockin' Daddy - Eddie Bond

  14. Rock It - Thumper Jones (George Jones)

  15. Rhythm And Booze - Corky Jones (Buck Owens)

  16. Flyin' Saucers Rock 'N' Roll - Billy Lee Riley

  17. Shake Um Up Rock - Benny Cliff Trio

  18. Red Hot Rockin' Blues - Jesse James

  19. Bang Bang - Janis Martin

  20. One Hand Loose - Charlie Feathers

  21. Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On - Jerry Lee Lewis

  22. Fujiyama Mama - Wanda Jackson

  23. I Got A Rocket In My Pocket - Jimmy Lloyd

  24. Oh Love - Don Wade

  25. School Of Rock 'N Roll - Gene Summers

  26. Rock-N-Bones - Elroy Dietzel

John Renbourn & Wizz Jones - Joint Control

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Great stuff

Listening to John Renbourn play the guitar has been one of the great pleasures of my life for half a century or so now.  This, his final recording is well up to the standard we'd expect from the man. 

Recorded live with his great friend and musical partner Wizz Jones, this is a record of two outstanding guitarists and very, very fine musicians having a great time playing together and generating a terrific set as a result.  The standard of guitar work is, of course, phenomenal from both men (including the odd tiny fluff you always get in live performance) and their obvious enjoyment of what they're doing is infectious – several tracks end with a delighted laugh from Jones, and quite right, too.

On the inner gatefold of Sweet Child in 1968, Renbourn said "I started off trying to play like Big Bill Broonzy, and I'm still trying."  In my case, that could read "I started off trying to play like John Renbourn, and I'm still trying."  I'm nowhere near playing like John and never will be, of course, but he's still a huge hero of mine, and this just confirms his stature.  All Renbourn fans will really need to know is that this is a well recorded disc and that John plays as we all know he can.  Warmly recommended.

The Beach Boys - Becoming The Beach Boys

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Oh, dear...

I have loved the Beach Boys for half a century and more, but this really is stretching my loyalty.  It's a collection of outtakes, rejected takes and odd bits of banter from 1961-2 before the band signed with Capitol Records; nine songs are represented here, over 63 tracks.  That's seven, yes seven, versions of each track on average including the master of each.  They're the sort of thing it might be interesting to hear once (and certainly not all together) but as an album release?  Come on!

Frankly, there's an air of desperation about this release, especially after the pretty poor Live In Chicago 1965 from last year.  That was made into a commercial album purely for copyright reasons, and one wonders whether the same applies here.  Certainly, I can't think of any other plausible reason for making this commercially available in this form.  Serious completists may want to have it in their collections, but my advice to anyone else is just to get out your old Beach Boys albums and give this a miss.

The Stray Birds - Magic Fire

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent album

I'm pleased to say that I really like this album.  I enjoyed Best Medicine (their previous one) but, unlike many others, found it just a little lacking in genuine emotion, somehow.  Not here – this is full of zing, sincerity and superb musicianship.

A few samples will give you the feel of this album.  It often has a rootsy feel, enhanced by the instrumentation which includes banjo and fiddle, and it's just great.  There is such energy and obvious joy in the music they're making, backed up by some real instrumental virtuosity, excellent singing (with great harmonies) and a fine ensemble feel, too.  They have a genuine mutual understanding which I think underlies the whole thing and makes it rather special.  There's a good variety of material and feel throughout; Third Day In  Row put me in mind of Tom Petty, Somehow is an out-and-out Country/Everlys heartbreak song, Hands Of A Man has the feel of a passionate traditional ballad (with a real political bite) and so on – and all of it's done very well indeed.

Any slight dubiety I had after Best Medicine has gone: Magic Fire is a really fine album which I have been listening to repeatedly with great pleasure and which I can recommend wholeheartedly.

The Rough Guide To Blues Women

Rating: 5/5

Review: A brilliant collection

This is absolutely fantastic.  It's a superb collection of great music in great performances which have been well remastered so they sound pretty clean but still thoroughly authentic.

Before I heard this, my knowledge of blues women of this period didn’t extend much beyond Bessie Smith so I'm no expert, but there is some simply brilliant stuff here.  There's a variety of styles including solo guitar or solo piano accompaniment (often excellently played), New Orleans-style jazz band and plenty of others.  I'd never heard of many of these women and, having heard this collection, I am heartily ashamed of the fact.  When I got to Track 3, Pick Poor Robin Clean by Geeshie Wiley, it stopped me in my tracks and plenty of others have had a similar effect.  There are some truly excellent performances here and I find the whole thing a delight.

I don't know what a true aficionado would make of this, but to this very amateur enthusiast it's an utterly brilliant collection of gems of which I was almost completely unaware.  If you have any interest whatsoever in this period of blues/jazz, don't hesitate.  This is a monumental bargain which I can recommend wholeheartedly.

Dulcimer - And I Turned As I had Turned As A Boy

Rating: 3/5

Review:
A decent period piece

I think the cover, with it's fey Arthur Rackham-esque section and rather silly mystic bits, tells you much of what you need to know about this album.  It's in that folky/slightly rocky/acidy genre which was so big in the late 60s and early 70s in Britain.  I loved all that at the time and I'm glad this is available again, but it's really not one for repeated playing now I'm more of a grown-up.

There's some very decent playing and nice singing, with some genuinely beautiful harmonies in places (like Mormon's Casket), but the material isn't much to get excited about.  It's pleasant enough as background but most of it doesn't stand up to close attention.  It's pretty bland melodically, and some of the lyrics are frankly dire.  Try this from Pilgrim From The City:

"I felt in my pockets

She'd cleaned them out;

The Pilgrim's words returned

I let out a shout,

"Has anyone seen a holy man

Have you seen him about?"

Enough said.  This is worth a listen, I think, but although I'd have thought it OK in my student room late at night after a non-proprietary cigarette or two, it doesn't really add up to much now.

Lonnie Donegan - The Collection 1956-1962

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A cracking collection

This is a cracking collection of classic British skiffle by one of its greatest exponents.  I was a young boy in Lonnie Donegan's heyday and when I was 10 my dad bought me the LP The Golden Hour Of Lonnie Donegan. I've been a huge fan ever since.

This is great stuff.  There's some very fine musicianship under the lighthearted, sometimes comic feel to all these songs.  The classic hits are all here, as is a fine selection of other stuff and the collection's a joy from start to finish.  The sound is very clean and clear and frankly you just can't go wrong here.  It's a brilliant collection of excellent (and very influential) music at a very reasonable price and I can recommend this wholeheartedly.