Saturday, September 26, 2009
Perfect record no. 1: "I'm Tore Up"
I'm going to try to do a series of brief posts on what I think of as "perfect records." Perfection is relative here, of course, even if that doesn't make literal sense. I'd define a perfect record as one that, if you measured it on a scale of 1 to 1000, would score a 1000. One such is "I'm Tore Up," recorded in 1956 and originally released on Federal 12265. It's credited to Billy Gayles, but he's backed by Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm. Ike made zillions of records in the 50s before wedding his career to Tina's, with a huge variety of singers (occasionally including Ike) fronting the band. A lot of the records were blatant plagiarism, but that's another story. He played very exciting whammy-bar guitar solos and many of the records ride on a beat that sounds like a runaway train, and both of these qualities are probably best exemplified by "I'm Tore Up." One thing I always notice about it when I play it on Nashville Jumps is that, unless I'm totally confused, it features an electric bass guitar, not yet common in R&B at the time, and the somewhat disembodied-sounding walking pulse it creates drives really hard. Gayles is superb on a lyric about, as you might guess, getting tore up on booze until you barely know where you are. "My head is as raggedy as a hair comb with no teeth." The abandon of the lyrics matches the runaway beat. The ending's great too--Gayles wails "everything I do is wrong" as Ike throws in a final flourish. Played up loud, this sounds FANTASTIC in the WRVU studio. The perfect hot rhythm number, to me, would disassemble your molecules and make them dance in the air for a minute or two before setting them back in place. This comes about as close as anything I've heard. There are plenty of other amazingly hot and loud R&B numbers, of course. Two obscure favorites of mine are Big Brown and the Gamblers' "My Testament" and Frank Motley and his Crew's "New Hound Dog," but those both are of a somewhat different character--the franticness and insanity of the proceedings are a little too much for the recording facilities and one part of my fascination with them is the sonic chaos that this produces. It can make you wince but it's liberating if you're in the mood. "I'm Tore Up" is more controlled and better recorded and thus a more efficient and focused weapon of mass destruction.
Rhythm and booze
Another half-baked musical thought I've been kicking around a while: An appreciation of formulaic genre music (say, run-of-the-mill 40s and 50s R&B) is kind of like wine connoisseurship. The things you judge just are not all that different from each other, really. They're distinguishable only in small ways, some of which the novice finds difficult to appreciate or even identify, but they matter to you--you develop both an appreciation for the variations and a set of ideas about what variations you generally like best. You can develop categories--a wine might be a Chardonnay, and a record might be one of the many songs based loosely on "I Don't Know" by Willie Mabon. And vintages matter, since elements like styles of drumming, vocal approaches, etc., evolve over time. I have no doubt that if I had endless capacity for memory and listened to enough records and read enough books, I could tell you within one year when every single 40s and 50s R&B side was made.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Remixes
Just now I was in the car listening to one of those Billie Holliday dance remixes on WRVU. "Don't Explain," chopped up and plopped into a prefab rhythm track. The woman playing it is a very nice person, knowledgeable about music, and sincere in her desire to expose the town to unfamiliar and unusual varieties of music. She also plays records of Asian melodies played on traditional instruments remixed with contemporary synthesized beats. I don't have anything against her but I hate this sort of musical product (marketing-speak intentional). In the case of the Billie Holliday record, fine singing is taken out of context in multiple ways--the original accompaniment is more or less eliminated, and the time, place and social context of the recording is wiped out. You can still hear her timbre, tone and phrasing (within a line, at least--I'm not sure you actually ever hear a full chorus as originally sung), all of which are of course great in themselves, but it's like watching a baseball game through a one-inch knothole. It makes her just another sample in a DJ's creation. It's disrespectful in that it says, "Billie was great, but her records are boring--let's improve them by taking isolated lines and repeating them pointlessly, with flaccid prefab beats behind them." The idea presumably is to make vocal sounds that she made more interesting to contemporary audiences. It might well be that if she were still alive she would endorse this approach as a way of selling records, but all that proves is that eating is as important to great artists as it is to anyone. The approach is fundamentally disrespectful. If the contemporary audience can't appreciate the synthesis that Holliday, great songwriters (occasionally including her, but not often) and fine musicians like Teddy Wilson and Lester Young made, then why water it down to almost nothing to draw their attention? One can explain this move in commercial terms. I think it's insupportable in aesthetic terms. This collage approach may be straight out of the essence of postmodernism--we can't actually make anything new any more, so we just make collages out of what's already there--but I don't like it.
Similarly, when you jam traditonal music from an ancient culture together with similar incongruous rhythm tracks, you say that the social and cultural context of the music doesn't matter. You don't ask the listener to open his mind to a different kind of music from a place (and maybe time) far away--you say hey, this is good for you, but it tastes good too! You might as well take a fancy French dish and dump ketchup on it. It's the same thing. Just don't bother with the chateaubriand (or whatever; I can't afford French cooking) in the first place. If you want a hamburger, get a hamburger.
The really interesting thing is that this approach can only be aesthetically respectable when it is done in a spirit of disrespect. If you actually respect Billie Holliday, why negate most of what she created? But if you don't like her and want to make something that cheapens her or invites laughter, well, turning her into a fish out of water this way can suit your purposes admirably. Negativland does this with recorded speech all the time, to great effect. And if you want to tell your listeners that you think old Chinese flute music is quaint, outdated and stupid, then sample it and place it in a ridiculous context. I'd probably be offended, but at least your aesthetic means would be in accord with your aesthetic ends. The naked outrage of lampooning Holliday would not get under my skin as much as the latent outrage of watering her down to almost nothing for a lazy audience.
As I said, I like the DJ who was playing the Holliday, and if she sees this I would welcome a little civil discussion about this! It's the kind of issue that makes music and life interesting.
Similarly, when you jam traditonal music from an ancient culture together with similar incongruous rhythm tracks, you say that the social and cultural context of the music doesn't matter. You don't ask the listener to open his mind to a different kind of music from a place (and maybe time) far away--you say hey, this is good for you, but it tastes good too! You might as well take a fancy French dish and dump ketchup on it. It's the same thing. Just don't bother with the chateaubriand (or whatever; I can't afford French cooking) in the first place. If you want a hamburger, get a hamburger.
The really interesting thing is that this approach can only be aesthetically respectable when it is done in a spirit of disrespect. If you actually respect Billie Holliday, why negate most of what she created? But if you don't like her and want to make something that cheapens her or invites laughter, well, turning her into a fish out of water this way can suit your purposes admirably. Negativland does this with recorded speech all the time, to great effect. And if you want to tell your listeners that you think old Chinese flute music is quaint, outdated and stupid, then sample it and place it in a ridiculous context. I'd probably be offended, but at least your aesthetic means would be in accord with your aesthetic ends. The naked outrage of lampooning Holliday would not get under my skin as much as the latent outrage of watering her down to almost nothing for a lazy audience.
As I said, I like the DJ who was playing the Holliday, and if she sees this I would welcome a little civil discussion about this! It's the kind of issue that makes music and life interesting.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Same time! Same day! Same jumpin'!
Nashville Jumps will continue to be broadcast (and webcast) on Fridays from 8 to 10 AM for the fall semester 2009. Also, the station has a new website (still at wrvu.org) that has a lot more features, though honestly they could be a bit more clearly arranged. One feature I am not especially fond of--okay, I really hate it--is a webcam through which you can see me as I go through the exciting dance of putting CDs in, taking CDs out, putting CDs in, taking CDs out, talking, dropping things, adjusting my clothes, typing song titles into the computer, etc., etc. While I am less than excited about giving the general public the chance to view my unimpressive physique, I mention this feature here because anyone who sees this blog (or my Facebook wall, which this will end up on if I did things right) is OK by me for watching if for some insane reason they actually want to.
Oh, and no more regular Rock and Roll Rent Control for now, though I'm sure I'll be doing substitute gigs this fall under that name. Doing three shows a week for a month got pretty wearying!
Oh, and no more regular Rock and Roll Rent Control for now, though I'm sure I'll be doing substitute gigs this fall under that name. Doing three shows a week for a month got pretty wearying!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Hello, blog
I doubt that there is anyone following this blog, since I haven't added to it in nearly a year, but I thought I'd post an update or two. Nashville Jumps is going fine--I've been quite happy with recent shows, and have found quite a bit of new music to add to the repertoire. I'm still having a great time hosting it. It's on every Friday from 8 to 10 AM.
Until the end of the summer (to be specific, until the radio station revises its schedule for the fall semester), I'll be hosting "Rock and Roll Rent Control" on Friday nights/Saturday mornings from midnight to 2 A.M. Like my other "second" shows over the years, it's a chance to play music that doesn't really fit into Nashville Jumps. Just about anything might get played, but you'll normally hear some R&B from the 50s and 60s (some of which could be on Nashville Jumps too, of course), some rockabilly, and some 60s garage/punk rock. Later music that appeals to me (Treat Her Right, Danny Gatton, Alex Chilton, Those Legendary Shack-Shakers, among many others) will also make it in.
And finally, Sam Parler, who hosted "The Kitchen Sink" on Tuesdays from 8 to 10 P.M. right after the Hipbilly Jamboree, asked me and Hipbilly hosts Randy and Kels if any of us would like to take over his show until the end of the summer, as he has graduated and is leaving town. Being a glutton for air time, I volunteered, so I'll be doing six hours a week until the fall semester starts! I don't know what kind of show I'll do in that slot in coming weeks, but I know that on Aug. 4 I'm going to play a lot of pop and jazz vocals from the 20s through the 40s. I like playing records like that and I figure that Hipbilly Jamboree is about as good a lead-in as I will find for such a show, though I don't expect to retain a majority of the audience.
Finally, some listeners may remember that I took last summer off to deal with family issues. My father was ill and had other problems that I was trying to help with. Things stabilized a bit and I was able to resume DJing at the beginning of the fall. However, my father was still not well, and his condition worsened during the winter. He died on March 20. I miss him and often when I play something on the show that he might have liked (a good early 40s swing number, say), I think about him.
That's it for now. I'm going to try to post to the blog more often. I keep having thoughts about music and it seems a waste not to set them down somewhere, for my own benefit if no one else's. If you're reading this, I figure it's probably because you've listened to the show, and thus, thank you! If you haven't, I hope you'll give it a try. See the right side of the blog for help getting to it online.
Until the end of the summer (to be specific, until the radio station revises its schedule for the fall semester), I'll be hosting "Rock and Roll Rent Control" on Friday nights/Saturday mornings from midnight to 2 A.M. Like my other "second" shows over the years, it's a chance to play music that doesn't really fit into Nashville Jumps. Just about anything might get played, but you'll normally hear some R&B from the 50s and 60s (some of which could be on Nashville Jumps too, of course), some rockabilly, and some 60s garage/punk rock. Later music that appeals to me (Treat Her Right, Danny Gatton, Alex Chilton, Those Legendary Shack-Shakers, among many others) will also make it in.
And finally, Sam Parler, who hosted "The Kitchen Sink" on Tuesdays from 8 to 10 P.M. right after the Hipbilly Jamboree, asked me and Hipbilly hosts Randy and Kels if any of us would like to take over his show until the end of the summer, as he has graduated and is leaving town. Being a glutton for air time, I volunteered, so I'll be doing six hours a week until the fall semester starts! I don't know what kind of show I'll do in that slot in coming weeks, but I know that on Aug. 4 I'm going to play a lot of pop and jazz vocals from the 20s through the 40s. I like playing records like that and I figure that Hipbilly Jamboree is about as good a lead-in as I will find for such a show, though I don't expect to retain a majority of the audience.
Finally, some listeners may remember that I took last summer off to deal with family issues. My father was ill and had other problems that I was trying to help with. Things stabilized a bit and I was able to resume DJing at the beginning of the fall. However, my father was still not well, and his condition worsened during the winter. He died on March 20. I miss him and often when I play something on the show that he might have liked (a good early 40s swing number, say), I think about him.
That's it for now. I'm going to try to post to the blog more often. I keep having thoughts about music and it seems a waste not to set them down somewhere, for my own benefit if no one else's. If you're reading this, I figure it's probably because you've listened to the show, and thus, thank you! If you haven't, I hope you'll give it a try. See the right side of the blog for help getting to it online.
What to buy? What to buy?
Several listeners over the years have asked me what CDs they might buy (or download) to get started on their own collections of the kind of music I play on Nashville Jumps. I've come up with a list that I've included in my replies, and I'll reproduce it here. There should definitely be some additions, and I'll try to post about those in the near future. I should warn you that some of these releases are out of print, but I think you have a good chance of getting them at a used record store or on eBay.
First off, I depend a lot on some large box sets that document some very important R&B labels:
1. The King R&B Box Set (4 discs)--One of the four discs is an almost total waste of time but the others make up for it. Includes Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris, two of the three guys I play almost every week (the other is Louis Jordan--anything you get by him will be worthwhile as long as it's from the mid-50s or earlier). Also Little Willie John, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters.
2. The Specialty Story (5 discs)--Goes into early rock and roll (e.g. Little Richard and Larry Williams), but also has earlier jump blues (e.g. Roy Milton) and the unique Percy Mayfield. A lot of New Orleans and L.A.-based stuff.
3. The OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957 (3 discs)--Wide variety. OKeh was a very important blues label in the 30s that was revived for R&B in 1949. Big Maybelle is one of the biggest names; Larry Darnell, Annie Laurie, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins are others.
4. Stompin' at the Savoy: The Original Indie Label 1944-1961 (SLG, 4 discs)--A lot of great R&B and blues names recorded for Savoy Records at least for a little while. Wide variety, good documentation, pretty good sound. They also sell each disc of this individually--in fact, that may be the only way they sell it now.
5. The Mercury Blues 'n' Rhythm Story--This was sold as one big package, and may still be, but they also put it out as 4 separate 2-disc sets: East Coast Blues, Midwest Blues, Southwest Blues and West Coast Blues. I think I like the East Coast and the West Coast volumes best. A lot of the earlier cuts on the Southwest and Midwest volumes have kind of bad sound. The East Coast has some very fun early Screamin' Jay Hawkins from before they called him "Screamin'." Each of the Mercury volumes covers 1945-1955.
Some other multi-disc sets:
6. Crescent City Soul: The Sound of New Orleans 1947-1974 (EMI, 4 discs)--Great stuff if you like New Orleans R&B. There are famous names like Fats Domino and Shirley & Lee, but you'll also find obscurities like the hilarious "Searching for Olive Oyl" by the Senors. Covers a wide time range, as you can see, though really not much is after the early 60s.
7. Jumpin' Like Mad (Capitol, 2 discs)--Lots of fun jumping music, 40s and 50s. There are some familiar names but many cuts are by people who were established performers at the time but fairly obscure now--Jimmy Liggins, Jesse Price, Cootie Williams. Entertainingly sequenced and good liner notes. Out of print but you might be able to find it.
8. The Aladdin Records Story (EMI, 2 discs)--also 40s and 50s; goes up to early black rock and roll. Has a pretty wide range--there's an obscure record by Billie Holiday but also the goofy "Yak Yak" by Marvin and Johnny.
9. The Roots of Rock 'n' Roll 1946-1954 (Hip-O, 3 discs)--This is mostly a lot of jump blues and R&B from before the term "rock and roll" was commonly used for a genre. Might be a really good one to start with, actually. Hits a lot of historic high points, like "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner (though that is on many other comps as well).
10. Doo-Wop Delights (Proper Records, 4 discs)--Proper Records in England puts out amazingly cheap compilations; the sound is often just passable overall but the selection is very entertaining. This is R&B vocal groups from the 40s to the early-to-mid-50s, which means not a lot of the doo wop ballads aimed at lovestruck teens, which were bigger in the late 50s and early 60s. This is fine with me, since I like the livelier sort of vocal group records.
11. The Dawn of Doo-Wop (Proper Records, 4 discs)--More or less the same stuff, though the cutoff date is a little earlier, which means you're getting that much closer to Ink Spots influence, which isn't a bad thing but may not be your thing. I don't think there's any overlap to speak of between these two comps.
12. We're Gonna Rock, We're Gonna Roll (Proper Records, 4 discs)--Has lots of great R&B that led up to rock and roll, as well as hillbilly boogie cuts that can also be seen as a predecessor to rock and roll. If you like good old uptempo hillbilly music as well as R&B this would be a good one to get. All the Proper sets are very cheap. In Europe they don't have to pay royalties on the recordings when they are more than 50 years old. Proper takes extreme advantage of this!
Here are some good single-disc compilations (if I don't comment specifically, you can figure that these include mostly mid-40s to late-50s jump blues and R&B by a fairly wide variety of artists):
13. Jump Blue: Rockin' the Jukes (Blue Note/Capitol)--This one is very good, with well-chosen selections. Has one of my all-time favorites, Calvin Boze's "Safronia B" (that's also on "The Aladdin Records Story" and others, though). Some good Helen Humes. Quite good sound overall; I have some of the same songs on other CDs in worse sound. Might be a good start.
14. Honkin' 'n' Hollerin': R&B from the Radio Corporation v. 1 (WestSide)--Mid-50s R&B from RCA and its subsidiary labels. A lot of R&B from the time was on independent labels, so it's interesting (and rewarding) to hear some stuff from a major instead. Well-produced. If I remember correctly it definitely has a New York feel, which to me means more instrumentalists and more complicated arrangements.
15. Let's Jump: Swingin' Humdingers from Modern Records (Ace)--Ace Records is an amazing English reissue label. Modern and its subsidiaries were very important California labels--B.B. King started out on them. Lil Greenwood and Gene Phillips contribute a couple of the best cuts on this.
16. Blues Masters v. 5: Jump Blues Classics (Rhino)--A pretty good bet for a starter, though many comps these days are more generous (this has 18 tracks). Includes "Shake, Rattle and Roll" by Joe Turner and "The Train Kept a-Rollin'" by Tiny Bradshaw (that's the same song that the Johnny Burnette Trio, the Yardbirds and Aerosmith recorded). This CD has also been released under some other name that I forget. Helpful, eh?
17. Blues Masters v. 14: More Jump Blues (Rhino)--Same thing--18 tracks, and has been released under an alternate title. Includes "Hey Bartender" by Floyd Dixon, "Pink Champagne" by Joe Liggins and "Wild Wild Young Men" by Ruth Brown.
18. Rock 'n' Roll Party v. 1: The Early 50s (RCA)--RCA stuff a bit earlier than the "Honkin' 'n' Hollerin'" selections. Very, very good stuff, probably not a bad starter. Has two good songs by Mr. Sad Head--my favorite blues name ever. Good sound quality.
19. The Jive Is Jumpin': RCA & Bluebird Vocal Groups 1939-52 (WestSide)--If you've heard me play The Cats and the Fiddle and enjoyed them, you need this. Somewhere between the Ink Spots and doo-wop. A gorgeous vocal version of Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train" by the Delta Rhythm Boys.
20. Jumpin' the Blues (Ace)--Mostly somewhat obscure jump and R&B artists but very, very good selection. Has the great and bizarre "Take Out Your False Teeth Daddy" by Margie Day. Probably another good starter. While the songs range into the mid-50s this pretty much avoids rock and roll completely.
21. Surefire Hits on Central Avenue (Ace)--A good compilation of some of the biggest hits from L.A. More of the stuff I play was recorded in Southern California than many people probably realize.
First off, I depend a lot on some large box sets that document some very important R&B labels:
1. The King R&B Box Set (4 discs)--One of the four discs is an almost total waste of time but the others make up for it. Includes Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris, two of the three guys I play almost every week (the other is Louis Jordan--anything you get by him will be worthwhile as long as it's from the mid-50s or earlier). Also Little Willie John, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters.
2. The Specialty Story (5 discs)--Goes into early rock and roll (e.g. Little Richard and Larry Williams), but also has earlier jump blues (e.g. Roy Milton) and the unique Percy Mayfield. A lot of New Orleans and L.A.-based stuff.
3. The OKeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957 (3 discs)--Wide variety. OKeh was a very important blues label in the 30s that was revived for R&B in 1949. Big Maybelle is one of the biggest names; Larry Darnell, Annie Laurie, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins are others.
4. Stompin' at the Savoy: The Original Indie Label 1944-1961 (SLG, 4 discs)--A lot of great R&B and blues names recorded for Savoy Records at least for a little while. Wide variety, good documentation, pretty good sound. They also sell each disc of this individually--in fact, that may be the only way they sell it now.
5. The Mercury Blues 'n' Rhythm Story--This was sold as one big package, and may still be, but they also put it out as 4 separate 2-disc sets: East Coast Blues, Midwest Blues, Southwest Blues and West Coast Blues. I think I like the East Coast and the West Coast volumes best. A lot of the earlier cuts on the Southwest and Midwest volumes have kind of bad sound. The East Coast has some very fun early Screamin' Jay Hawkins from before they called him "Screamin'." Each of the Mercury volumes covers 1945-1955.
Some other multi-disc sets:
6. Crescent City Soul: The Sound of New Orleans 1947-1974 (EMI, 4 discs)--Great stuff if you like New Orleans R&B. There are famous names like Fats Domino and Shirley & Lee, but you'll also find obscurities like the hilarious "Searching for Olive Oyl" by the Senors. Covers a wide time range, as you can see, though really not much is after the early 60s.
7. Jumpin' Like Mad (Capitol, 2 discs)--Lots of fun jumping music, 40s and 50s. There are some familiar names but many cuts are by people who were established performers at the time but fairly obscure now--Jimmy Liggins, Jesse Price, Cootie Williams. Entertainingly sequenced and good liner notes. Out of print but you might be able to find it.
8. The Aladdin Records Story (EMI, 2 discs)--also 40s and 50s; goes up to early black rock and roll. Has a pretty wide range--there's an obscure record by Billie Holiday but also the goofy "Yak Yak" by Marvin and Johnny.
9. The Roots of Rock 'n' Roll 1946-1954 (Hip-O, 3 discs)--This is mostly a lot of jump blues and R&B from before the term "rock and roll" was commonly used for a genre. Might be a really good one to start with, actually. Hits a lot of historic high points, like "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner (though that is on many other comps as well).
10. Doo-Wop Delights (Proper Records, 4 discs)--Proper Records in England puts out amazingly cheap compilations; the sound is often just passable overall but the selection is very entertaining. This is R&B vocal groups from the 40s to the early-to-mid-50s, which means not a lot of the doo wop ballads aimed at lovestruck teens, which were bigger in the late 50s and early 60s. This is fine with me, since I like the livelier sort of vocal group records.
11. The Dawn of Doo-Wop (Proper Records, 4 discs)--More or less the same stuff, though the cutoff date is a little earlier, which means you're getting that much closer to Ink Spots influence, which isn't a bad thing but may not be your thing. I don't think there's any overlap to speak of between these two comps.
12. We're Gonna Rock, We're Gonna Roll (Proper Records, 4 discs)--Has lots of great R&B that led up to rock and roll, as well as hillbilly boogie cuts that can also be seen as a predecessor to rock and roll. If you like good old uptempo hillbilly music as well as R&B this would be a good one to get. All the Proper sets are very cheap. In Europe they don't have to pay royalties on the recordings when they are more than 50 years old. Proper takes extreme advantage of this!
Here are some good single-disc compilations (if I don't comment specifically, you can figure that these include mostly mid-40s to late-50s jump blues and R&B by a fairly wide variety of artists):
13. Jump Blue: Rockin' the Jukes (Blue Note/Capitol)--This one is very good, with well-chosen selections. Has one of my all-time favorites, Calvin Boze's "Safronia B" (that's also on "The Aladdin Records Story" and others, though). Some good Helen Humes. Quite good sound overall; I have some of the same songs on other CDs in worse sound. Might be a good start.
14. Honkin' 'n' Hollerin': R&B from the Radio Corporation v. 1 (WestSide)--Mid-50s R&B from RCA and its subsidiary labels. A lot of R&B from the time was on independent labels, so it's interesting (and rewarding) to hear some stuff from a major instead. Well-produced. If I remember correctly it definitely has a New York feel, which to me means more instrumentalists and more complicated arrangements.
15. Let's Jump: Swingin' Humdingers from Modern Records (Ace)--Ace Records is an amazing English reissue label. Modern and its subsidiaries were very important California labels--B.B. King started out on them. Lil Greenwood and Gene Phillips contribute a couple of the best cuts on this.
16. Blues Masters v. 5: Jump Blues Classics (Rhino)--A pretty good bet for a starter, though many comps these days are more generous (this has 18 tracks). Includes "Shake, Rattle and Roll" by Joe Turner and "The Train Kept a-Rollin'" by Tiny Bradshaw (that's the same song that the Johnny Burnette Trio, the Yardbirds and Aerosmith recorded). This CD has also been released under some other name that I forget. Helpful, eh?
17. Blues Masters v. 14: More Jump Blues (Rhino)--Same thing--18 tracks, and has been released under an alternate title. Includes "Hey Bartender" by Floyd Dixon, "Pink Champagne" by Joe Liggins and "Wild Wild Young Men" by Ruth Brown.
18. Rock 'n' Roll Party v. 1: The Early 50s (RCA)--RCA stuff a bit earlier than the "Honkin' 'n' Hollerin'" selections. Very, very good stuff, probably not a bad starter. Has two good songs by Mr. Sad Head--my favorite blues name ever. Good sound quality.
19. The Jive Is Jumpin': RCA & Bluebird Vocal Groups 1939-52 (WestSide)--If you've heard me play The Cats and the Fiddle and enjoyed them, you need this. Somewhere between the Ink Spots and doo-wop. A gorgeous vocal version of Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train" by the Delta Rhythm Boys.
20. Jumpin' the Blues (Ace)--Mostly somewhat obscure jump and R&B artists but very, very good selection. Has the great and bizarre "Take Out Your False Teeth Daddy" by Margie Day. Probably another good starter. While the songs range into the mid-50s this pretty much avoids rock and roll completely.
21. Surefire Hits on Central Avenue (Ace)--A good compilation of some of the biggest hits from L.A. More of the stuff I play was recorded in Southern California than many people probably realize.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Rock and Roll Rent Control on the WRVU schedule!
I enjoy substituting for other shows on WRVU in order to play music a little different from what I feature on Nashville Jumps, and one of the titles under which I've done this is "Rock and Roll Rent Control." This semester (fall 2008) there was a gap in the schedule on Saturday nights between 10 PM and 2 AM. I offered to fill up the 10 PM-midnight portion of that by doing Rock and Roll Rent Control on a regular basis. (I'll probably often go later as long as midnight-2 AM is still open, but didn't want to commit to it.)
I'm still a little fuzzy on the premise for Rock and Roll Rent Control. Originally I was thinking of combining three general streams of music: r&b (sometimes from a later period than on Jumps), rockabilly and 60s punk (or "garage") rock, with a little pre-rock adult pop thrown in for variety now and then. I'm now thinking I may de-emphasize the 60s punk and the adult pop a bit. In any case, though, it'll be mostly fun, often funny, uptempo music by mostly pretty obscure performers. There'll be longer sets and a bit less talking than on Nashville Jumps. I hope you'll give it a try! The show is not currently being archived but this may change.
Pete
I'm still a little fuzzy on the premise for Rock and Roll Rent Control. Originally I was thinking of combining three general streams of music: r&b (sometimes from a later period than on Jumps), rockabilly and 60s punk (or "garage") rock, with a little pre-rock adult pop thrown in for variety now and then. I'm now thinking I may de-emphasize the 60s punk and the adult pop a bit. In any case, though, it'll be mostly fun, often funny, uptempo music by mostly pretty obscure performers. There'll be longer sets and a bit less talking than on Nashville Jumps. I hope you'll give it a try! The show is not currently being archived but this may change.
Pete
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