deadmilkboy's Full Review: Rockin' Bones: 1950's Punk & Rockabilly [Box]
The nature of rockabilly is much less clean cut and more primitive than popular rock & roll music. The sound of the former is so very skeletal in nature, so very simple, that all it seemed to take were guitar, drums and bass to make a point. As Deke Dickerson points out in the liners to Rhino's ROCKIN' BONES: 1950s PUNK AND ROCKABILLY, it only takes a couple of extra instruments to make it sound like either country (a fiddle or a banjo) or straight up rock (piano or saxophone). And rockabilly was proudly horny and dangerous, sentiments that went against the era and ensured a cult following almost immediately, whereas the more playful, less explicit sound of rock went on to get all the glory.
Dickerson's comment about the way in which the genre could mutate also points out the paths of some of these artists. Elvis Presley, of course, started out at Sun Records, one of the great studios associated with rockabilly recordings, and became a rock & roll star, whereas many other musicians had country backgrounds and tried their hands at rockabilly as a one-shot, often times going under false names. Johnny Cash, however, didn't bother with pseudonyms. But the names associated with 1950s rockabilly are fairly limited to at least several notables, which also includes Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent, whereas the bigger picture reveals that rockabilly might as well have been the first official "punk rock" music.
Just like punk rock music as we'd come to know it, rockabilly had a built-in image and was seen as the chance for countless backwoods musicians to go all-or-nothing in the recording studio. The outrage and anti-establishment nature of rockabilly would seem to be a given if you've ever associated yourself with nostalgic nuggets of greasers and leather jackets, but watching John Waters' Cry-Baby over a smattering of Happy Days episodes gets down to the gist of the scene better. Rockabilly was a Southern strain of sexually-charged and confrontational music that found a way to honor both R&B and country styles whilst carving out its own simplistic identity as a genre. It was loose and lusty, driven primarily by the sound of the guitar, which could essentially be an electric phallus that worked to mirror the in-heat caterwauling of their hep cat singers. If it wasn't feeling frisky, it was looking for a fight, and suddenly parents all over America were scared to death of the epidemic known as juvenile delinquency. And Hollywood ate it up, as the boxed set includes audio samples of classic teen exploitation film trailers for movies that included names like Roger Corman and Robert Altman.
Rhino's four-disc boxed set in honor of rockabilly is purely and simply a celebration, not an exercise in academia. The last time the label attempted that was when they released the all-encompassing Loud, Fast & Out of Control, a monumental and now out of print package that represented all facets of 1950s music. Although Bill Haley is a worthy name in rockabilly, and Colin Escott pays him a sincere compliment in the wake of how Elvis became the archetype of the scene, it would seem (although I don't completely agree) that placing him amidst the rawer sounds of the more obscure records renders his sound innocuous by comparison. And for every hit single associated with rockabilly, there's at least seven additional songs from colorfully-named rockers and small record labels that garnered fairly little attention except in cult circles.
The Cramps, the Stray Cats, and the Blasters are just a few of the revivalists of the genre I could name off the top of my head, and even English musicians like Mark Knopfler, Robert Plant and Jeff Lynne have paid tribute to rockabilly once or twice. Even Queen brought back rockabilly in 1980 via "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," the same year they pursued disco with "Another One Bites the Dust." Rockabilly eventually got more reckless in the wake of the even more brash, edgy punk sounds of the Stooges and became psychobilly. And the liner notes even contains cool text commentary by Billy Gibbons (of ZZ Top) and Mike Ness (of Social Distortion) amidst the usual track annotations, which often times has to work around the fact that there's often a lot of unknown information about these artists.
And it all comes packaged in a handsome reproduction of a pulp novel cover, with a 10 cent sticker and the CDs designed to look like vinyl records. Once again, Rhino has offered a testament to a musical genre that is quite a lot of fun to listen to and gets by on its reckless, revved-up appeal. So let's start going down the individual tracks.
Disc one
1. "Rockin' Bones," Ronnie Dawson. One of the writers of this song, a motel owner from Mineola named Jack Rhodes, despised rock and roll but ended up with this song regardless, originally performed in 1957 by Elroy Dietzel (see the final track on the final disc). The Blonde Bomber from Dallas, Ronnie Dawson played music in his teens and was nearly 20 when he cut this as his second single. He yelps and hollers the choruses and affects a mighty drawl against the clacking percussion of the verses, declaring his immortality by wishing to be buried with a phonograph needle and a stack of records.
2. "Let's Go Baby," Billy Eldridge with the Fire Balls. Not the same Fire Balls who recorded "Sugar Shack," as the liners make plain, this is a effort by a couple of Florida boys who hooked up with a small band to deliver this shuffling little obscurity with Eldrige doing a fine Elvis impersonation.
3. "Baby, Let's Play House," Elvis Presley. Here's the real deal, however. Guitarist Scotty Moore and upright bassist Bill Black lay down a scorching take on the blues and Elvis counters back with a vocal performance at once sexual and sinister.
4. "Little Girl," John & Jackie. Gene Maltais cut a song called "Crazy Baby" (not to be confused with a later song on disc three) before becoming a drifter, but this song ended up being recorded in what has to be one of the most jaw-dropping rockabilly records ever. Their vocals sound separately recorded, with John playing it straight whilst Jackie's repeated orgasmic sighs and screams often overpower the entire track. It's getting your rocks off as an exorcism.
5. "Cat Man," Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps. Cliff Gallup's guitar prowls around a Bo Diddley-style beat as Sweet Gene himself details the escapades of the love-hungry title character: "C is for the crazy hairdo that he wears around/A is for the arms that he'll slip around your waist/T is for the taste of the lips belong to you..."
6. "Lobo Jones," Jackie Gotroe. Jacques Gautreaux would seem to be this California native's real name, and he's backed by lead guitarist George Salas and pianist Little Willie Littlefield on this swaggering account of the wolf-whistling, hard-living title cat.
7. "Juvenile Delinquent," Ronnie Allen. "Great golly, Molly, I'm a juvenile!" The protagonist of this track is a mischievous, miseducated youth who tells his dad that mommy's being unfaithful, and so daddy promptly goes and shoots that dirty jerk.
Trailer - The Delinquents.
8. "Froggy Went a Courting," Danny Dell and the Trends. An echo-laden, chord-powered version of the famous folk tale that seems to be the next logical step from rockabilly to Nuggets.
9. "Rattlesnake Daddy," Joe D. Johnson. Buckeye, AZ native makes good with this blues-heavy twanger.
10. "Down on the Farm," Al Downing with the Poe Kats. Big Al Downing was a black singer in a racially mixed rockabilly band, which often meant having to be hid in bass guitar cases whilst visiting segregated hotels. The opening picks off the melody of "Old McDonald" before Downing marvels at "rock & roll taking over my barn."
11. "Rockin' in the Graveyard," Jackie Morningstar. Throw in the ominous sounds of wind and some cackling voices on your rockabilly track and you have a pretty good Halloween song, although it's nowhere near as weird as the last song on this CD.
12. "Dancing Doll," Art Adams and the Rhythm Knights. The rattling of tin percussion and a booming lead vocal add a bit of otherworldly echo to this hopping, bopping track.
13. "Long Blond Hair, Red Rose Lips," Johnny Powers with the band of Stan Getz & Tom Cats. Born Johnny Pavlik and inspired by Detroit's Jack Scott, Powers was signed to Sun for one single and later worked for Motown. The Stan Getz on this track is not to be confused with the "Girl from Ipanema" composer.
14. "Action Packed," Johnny Dollar. A Creek Indian who received this song from Jack Rhodes, soon to be covered by Ronnie Dawson. Dollar's version lays down a solid double-time "beat for the feet," and he's all over the wish-fulfillment angle of the song. In 1986, he committed suicide over a bout with cancer.
Trailer - High School Hellcats.
15. "Boppin' High School Baby," Don Willis. The voice is heavy in reverb and the guitars seem to float in the background on this classic single released on Satellite, which would soon become the legendary Stax Records.
16. "Believe What You Say," Ricky Nelson. Teen idol's early hit single was written by Johnny and Dorsey Burnette and featuring the great guitarist James Burton, who'd been using banjo strings for an easier-to-pluck sound ever since 13.
17. "Sunglasses After Dark," Dwight Pullen. Written by his nephew James Noble after seeing a black dude wearing shades in the nighttime, this washed the taste of Corey Hart out of my mouth for the time being.
18. "Rumble," Link Wray & His Ray Men. One of the finest early instrumental songs laid to tape, with that great D chord ringing loud and proud. Wray himself may has well have been one of the first guitar heroes.
19. "Down the Line," Buddy Holly and Bob Montgomery. High school buddies harmonize and play off each others vocals on this classic early track featuring the Lubbock legend.
20. "Pink Cadillac," Larry Dowd and the Rock-A-Tones. Iowa born rockabilly singer who won a talent contest and laid down this blues-rock song that was one of the first songs ever written about the type of car Springsteen would show interest in.
21. "Black Cadillac," Joyce Green. The guys sing about chasing after chicks in pink Cadillacs, but Joyce has death on her mind and a two-timing lover in her sights. Scorching, forgotten classic wherein she plots to shoot the cheater down and ride to his funeral in the titular convertible.
22. "Who's Been Here," Commonwealth Jones. Ronnie Dawson developed a whole other persona cutting this slinky, angst-ridden track, growling and wailing all the way.
23. "I Need a Man," Barbara Pittman. I automatically tend to react favorably whenever female singers turn up on this set, because they just sound so awesome (see also Jackie DeShannon and Wanda Jackson, later to be featured). Pittman's mother knew Elvis' mom personally.
Trailer - The Flaming Teen-age.
24. "Please Give Me Something," Bill Allen and the Back Beats. A pretty killer track featuring vocalist Bill Allen Snivley and guitarist John Seli, who both shared the stage with Gene Vincent, Roy Orbison, Eddie Cochran, and Carl Perkins one night in Akron.
25. "Sinners," Freddie & the Hitch-Hikers. Freaky roadhouse blues number features early use of the Theremin to comically creepy effect. Somewhere, the members of the Cramps heard it and would soon revive it.
Disc two
1. "Rock Around with Ollie Vee," Buddy Holly. Cut at two Nashville sessions, one of which involved the Crickets and the other session musicians, this is a joyous track no matter where you hear it.
2. "Lou Lou," Darrell Rhodes. Abilene DJ Slim Willet formed his own studio, named Winston after his real name, and gave this song about a go-getting girl to a young singer.
Trailer - Teenage Doll.
3. "Rock Crazy Baby," Art Adams and the Rhythm Knights. The fast-fingered picking on this track alone is quite marvelous.
4. "Love Bug Crawl," Jimmy Edwards. Minor hit on Mercury Records that features some light Jerry Lee-flavored vocals by Mr. Edwards, born Jim Bullington in Missouri.
5. "Fool I Am," Pat Ferguson. Memphis-inspired rocker featuring Scotty Moore on guitar.
6. "Red Hot," Bob Luman. Born out of a cheerleading chant, Billy "The Kid" Emerson wrote and recorded this for Sun before it passed onto Billy Riley (whose own raucous version appeared in the John Waters comedy A Dirty Shame) and then this man from east Texas, who recorded it with Riley's band, including James Burton.
7. "Love Me," The Phantom. Born Jerry Lott, he moans and drips desire whilst decked out in a Lone Ranger mask. The opening faint sound of slap back bass gives way to a flexible rocker which features some interesting stops and starts, which Lott makes the most of with his desperation-fuelled voice.
8. "She's My Witch," Kip Tyler. A creepy, twang-filled rewrite of "Lover's Rock" released in time for Halloween 1958.
9. "Lordy Hoody," Tommy Blake and the Rhythm Rebels with the Singing Sons. Relegated to B-side status after Blake had a falling out with RCA head Chet Atkins and moved to Sun.
10. "Bloodshot," The String Kings. The rockabilly sound made it to Minneapolis and spawned this spirited track about a pair of red eyes.
Trailer - Joyride.
11. "Trouble," Jackie DeShannon. Gospel, country, folk, pop, DeShannon's done it all, but she gives the guys a run for their pomade on this sizzling 1959 interpretation of a song Elvis made famous in Kid Creole.
12. "Hot Shot," Ronnie Pearson. Once again, not much is known about the performer, but when music as feverish and fiery does the talking, it doesn't matter much.
13. "Long Gone Daddy," Pat Cupp. From Nashville, Arkansas came this young prodigy who signed a record contract only to head off to the Air Force in the next year. So long, suckers.
14. "Curfew," Steve Carl and the Jags. Born Steve Carlos Leuthold in Eddie Cochran's birth town, here's another artist who wrote and played to his heart's satisfaction before, in the blink of an eye, his label folded and so did his career.
15. "Put Your Cat Clothes On," Carl Perkins. Southern-fried sequel to "Blue Suede Shoes" which has an opening line about the shoes that is taken from an entirely different song about "Blue Suede Shoes." It was recorded in 1956 but never officially released until 1984, so keep your hands off that fruit jar and get ready to rock it right.
16. "Pink and Black," Sonny Fisher. "The Wild Man from Texas" they called him, he recorded three other singles alongside this exemplary track but only saw $126 in royalties from his layabout producer. Fisher based this song on "Long Tall Sally" and got Joey Long to play some smoking guitar.
17. "Domino," Roy Orbison. One of the last contributions to his Sun period, the monumental singer penned this track jointly with Buddy Holly producer Norman Petty when it was registered as "Cat Called Domino." It almost seems like a fantasy hearing the infamously melancholic guy sing about someone as cool as this Domino character.
Trailer - I Was a Teenage Werewolf.
18. "Jungle Rock," Hank Mizell. 19 years after the song went nowhere on King Records, this went to #3 in the U.K. The drums feel like they're talking and the bass is rumbles rather animal-like.
19. "Ubangi Stomp," Warren Smith. Classic Sun single that may be inspired by New York's Ubangi Club, but is mostly about one man partying with an Indian Chief and getting the hots for his daughter. Maybe his middle name's John.
20. "Chicken Walk," Hasil Adkins and His Happy Guitar. According to the liner notes, Adkins was an ardent meat eater who "drove into telephone poles just for kicks." This was one of the two singles he cut before he settled down into recording songs about animal slaughter. And to think I first heard this at a Morrissey concert.
21. "Chicken Rock," Fat Daddy Holmes. Two minutes of chicken pickin' guitar that is quite astounding and over before you know it.
22. "Eeny-Meeny-Miney-Moe," Bob & Lucille. The Canadian Sweethearts duly eschewed the controversial racial slur, and so the rhyme is now "...Catch a hep cat by the toe"
23. "Shirley Lee," Bobby Lee Trammell. Boasting that he was wilder than Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, this track surely feels influenced by both and entertains even if this song doesn't validate such bravado.
24. "Woman Love," Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps. This was the single from which the flipside, a little tune called "Be-Bop-A-Lula," became Vincent's signature song. The intended single is just as hiccupping and hungry as the more famous song, however.
25. "One Night of Sin," Elvis Presley. Rejected from the sessions for the movie Loving You because this particular ballad is secular and sexual at the same time, and the King sells it with gusto.
Disc three
1. "Blue Suede Shoes," Carl Perkins. Could this be the definitive Sun single? I'd volunteer this as my favorite, with Perkins immortal guitar and voice just two highlights of this impeccably-produced rock classic.
2. "Duck Tail," Joe Clay. "If you mess with my duck tails, I'll get so mad at you." Louisiana-based variant on the previous song from the same year, and proof that Clay had at least what it took to get by on a month's recordings.
3. "Stack-A-Records," Tom Tall and His Tom Kats. Another R&B-inspired rave-up wherein a poor sap who can't find his baby's favorite record decides to take up guitar to serenade her with said song.
Trailer - Daddy-O.
4. "Daddy-O Rock," Jeff Daniels (Luke McDaniel). The first of two appearances by a hillbilly singer who decided to ride the wave of rockabilly admirably, but he outdoes himself on track 10.
5. "Move," Boyd Bennett & His Rockets. Written and sung by Cecil McNabb, it was Bennett who became the de facto band leader and the result is one of the snappiest arrangements of the entire collection.
6. "Brand New Cadillac," Vince Taylor & His Playboys. English musician Brian Holden, who got his stage name from both a brand of cigarettes and an actor, carried over the overseas education he received in rock & roll back to the U.K., and the result was a rollicking pastiche ("Hang on, Scotty!") that even the Clash dug.
7. "Rumble Rock," Kip Tyler. The return appearance from the "She's My Witch" singer is a cavernous, groovy number with a surprising saxophone break.
8. "Hep Cat," Larry Terry. Although rockabilly wasn't popular in his rural Missouri home, Larry became a hero when this song was given a small 500-copy 45 release and his friends heard "Hep Cat" whilst cruising. Proof that most of these songs are all about the thrill.
9. "Cast Iron Sam," Peanuts Wilson. Co-written by his friend Roy Orbison, this "knucklehead classic" is bratty and quite silly (Wilson does an old man who tries to butt in on a dance), but pretty fun listening.
10. "Switch Blade Sam," Jeff Daniels (Luke McDaniel). A solid, fast-paced paean to bad boys with flick knives, but it was the more lovelorn "You're Still on My Mind" which ensured royalties once Luke left the business and devoted himself to trucking.
11. "Ballin' Keen," Bobby & Terry Caraway and the Rockats. A family affair in which four brothers, two of them of natural relation, offer the story of a fight breaking out between two guys.
12. "Sweet Rockin' Baby," Sonny West. A protégé of Buddy Holly, having helped write the classics "Oh Boy" and "Rave On," delivers a fine homage to Chuck Berry.
13. "Get Rhythm," Johnny Cash and Tennessee Two. Written by the Man in Black for Elvis Presley, who rejected it and left Cash to record it himself as the flipside to "I Walk the Line." By threading paper through his guitar strings, Cash gave this a distinctive washboard sound.
14. "Rock Billy Boogie," Johnny Burnette. The song that may have been the first to describe the genre is also one of its most boisterous and brisk party songs.
15. "Crazy Baby," The Rockin R's. Two guys from Peoria, Illinois named Ron recorded this locally-released number.
16. "Suzie-Q," Dale Hawkins. The ultimate showcase for James Burton on guitar, one that immediately puts every other single cover recorded to instant shame. The heavy blues rhythm is also in marked contrast to the majority of the other songs on the album.
17. "Worried 'Bout You Baby," Maylon Humphries. Hawkins received bogus credit for this song after it was belatedly released in 1976 by Chess after it was recorded in 1957. Burton once again shines on this track.
18. "I Love My Baby," The Phaetons. New England outfit named after a luxury sedan, but this song is hardly as slick as the name entails. Very Jerry Lee Lewis, though.
19. "Come on Little Mama," Ray Harris. Harris accompanied Elvis bassist Bill Black to he singer's second session at Sun, and after hearing the icon whilst performing bluegrass at weenie roasts, he took up with a guitar-playing vacuum cleaner salesman and cut his own Elvis-style barnstormer for the label. It's got the spirit if not the pedigree.
20. "Whistle Bait," Lorrie and Larry Collins. Brother and sister guitarists, with Lorrie being 16 and Larry only two years younger. But Larry was precocious enough to amp up his guitar and not too young enough to sound as lascivious as the older rockers. Talk about raging hormones.
21. "Spin the Bottle," Benny Joy. Speaking of young and lovesick, Mr. Joy does a pretty decent number about the most nerve-racking of all games, aware that "there ain't gonna be no boppin' at all."
22. "Bertha Lou," Dorsey Burnette. Johnny's brother signed a contract with label Abbott, but a breach by the songwriter involving licensing the song to an outside label forced the need to save face by having a different singer overdub Dorsey's vocals. Strange story for a song as simple and faithful to the blues as this.
23. "Real Gone Daddy," Jim Flaherty's Caravan (vocal by Howie Strange). 33-year-old Stange was rather elderly compared to many of the singers here, but he sounds convincing enough talking about the wreck of his long black Caddy whilst Flaherty arranges a sturdy rockabilly rhythm.
24. "My Pink Cadillac," Hal Willis. This guy is actually Leonald Gauthier from Quebec, who learned to speak English from country and recorded this rare rockabilly number for Atlantic Records, in which he postpones a date in order to clean up his car, in 1956.
Trailer - The Choppers.
25. "Draggin'," Curtis Gordon. Admitting he had no reservations but to entertain, Gordon opened a nightclub in Mobile which Elvis once played and laid down four rockabilly tracks for Mercury in one day, including this giddy ode to the drag race.
Disc four
1. "Action Packed," Ronnie Dee. Ronnie Dawson's third and final appearance performing a cover of the Johnny Dollar song from disc one and giving it a restless, youthful exuberance.
2. "Shakin' All Over," Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. Born in Britain and the sound of skiffle, which goes to show that there's some cosmic relationship between these musical styles. A catchy and successful track that was covered by the Guess Who and the Who. Whew!
3. "Who Do You Love," Ronnie Hawkins. One of the better, more insinuating covers of the classic Diddley tune you're likely to find, with the Hawks playing alongside Hawkins and Robbie Robertson trying on a harsh, bluesy guitar sound.
4. "Summertime Blues," Eddie Cochran. The perfect song about restlessness and being unable to get what you want out of life whilst adhering to the working world, covered 50 times over ever since.
5. "The Way I Walk," Jack Scott with the Chantones. Snaky, rather smooth rocker from another Canadian-born man who was bred in the U.S.
6. "Wild Wild Women," Johnny Carroll and His Hot Rocks. Raised on R&B and possibly inspired by a Ruth Brown song, Carroll sure sounds passionate and anxious enough to get it on with the first wild woman he sees.
7. "Oooh-Eeee," Ric Cartey with the Jiva-Tones. Another solid slab of hot 'n' bothered rockabilly which managed to ensure Cartey success based on the flipside song, "Young Love," which he wrote with his girlfriend and was covered by myriad pop stars, beginning with Sonny James' chart-topping version in 1957.
8. "Get Hot or Go Home," John Kerby. Rare single from the golden days of rockabilly in Memphis, TN.
9. "Swamp Gal," Tommy Bell. Natchez, Mississippi's Thomas E. Bell pens a song about falling in love with a most peculiar type of girl, and one wonders if this is the stuff of comic books.
10. "Miss Pearl," Jimmy Wages. He wrote his own music but didn't play any instruments, quite rare in rockabilly, and signing with Sun didn't exactly mean breaking away from his distinctly Southern roots based on the somewhat religious and reproaching nature of his lyrics.
Trailer - The Cool and the Crazy.
11. "Mercy," Lorrie and Larry Collins. These kids provided some of the most beloved rockabilly tracks ever recorded, and this time Lorrie takes over lead vocals to equally breathy effect. The act would dissolve after she eloped with a husband, but the Collins Kids are worth anthologizing twice.
12. "Rock Boppin' Baby," Edwin Bruce. Before he sang "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," Ed Bruce was a 17-year-old rockabilly performer signed to Sun and delivering papers in Memphis. And whaddya know, the Collins Kids covered it a year later.
13. "Rockin' Daddy," Eddie Bond and the Stompers. Bond was born in Memphis, or "Ding Dong, Tennessee" as he puts it in this song, originally written by Sonny Fisher and featuring a classic lead guitar by session player Reggie Young.
14. "Rock It," Thumper Jones (George Jones). The first of two successive shots at wild man rock by popular country artists, Jones admitted this was his idea and one of his worst. But I would suggest no one comes to rockabilly with ideas, just energy, and Jones has some if not much.
15. "Rhythm and Booze," Corky Jones (Buck Owens). Owens also was a stone country artist and you can sense him sounding a bit forced testing the waters of rockabilly.
16. "Flyin' Saucers Rock 'N' Roll" Billy Lee Riley and His Little Green Men. They say that in space, no one can hear you rock. At least Billy "Red Hot" Riley got in touch with his inner Martian on this immortal rockabilly rekkid.
17. "Shake Um Up Rock," Benny Cliff accompanied by the Benny Cliff Trio. T. Texas Tyler may not be the type of guy you'd wish to call your friend (he mooched off his "million" friends for drug money), but he wrote and helped fashion an old-fashioned, swinging Memphis rockabilly number that has been rescued from oblivion.
18. "Red Hot Rockin Blues," Jesse James. Once again touched by the hand of Elvis, a former neighbor of the Presleys decides to follow in his shell and record this R&B-styled number, which has a swinging horn and some ivory touches to it as well.
19. "Bang Bang," Janis and Her Boyfriends. 16-year-old Janis Martin signed to RCA in March 1956 and was dubbed "the Female Elvis," which is also used to describe the artist on track 22.
20. "One Hand Loose," Charlie Feathers with Jody and Jerry. Feathers is renowned in both country and rockabilly circles, being perhaps a precursor to even Elvis and teaming with Jerry Huffman and Joe Chastain to perform this influential number.
21. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," Jerry Lee Lewis. I guess if they included Bobby Lee Tramwell, they had to have the real Killer defend himself with his barreling piano and Southern accent.
22. "Fujiyama Mama," Wanda Jackson. This was a hit in Japan, ironically, despite the fact that the dynamic Jackson grittily belts out lines about devastating men like they were Nagasaki and Hiroshima. One of my favorites in the set.
23. "I Got a Rocket in My Pocket," Jimmy Lloyd. Country singer Jimmie Logsdon stepped away from country with songwriting partner Vic McAlpin and produced a song that was seen as "smutty" but was way too cool and rebellious to be derided so simplistically.
Trailer - Naked Youth
24. "Oh Love," Don Wade. "Raw, unsophisticated, poorly mixed, echo-laden, and bursting with testosterone and unfocused energy," describes Colin Escott in the liners of this exemplary rockabilly single from 1959.
25. "School of Rock 'N Roll," Gene Summers and His Rebels. Since they sequenced this track as the penultimate song on the entire set, a "school's in session" declaration is moot.
26. "Rock-N-Bones," Elroy Dietzel and the Rhythm Bandits. Closing things off with the original version of the song made infamous by Ronnie Dawson. You know, the rock and roll daddy has just passed on, but the bones keep rocking long after he's gone.
There are 101 tracks in all, many of them spotter's gold and others no stranger to compilations. Going over the listing to the Loud, Fast & Out of Control set, I noticed a fraction of overlap between this and ROCKIN' BONES: 1950s PUNK AND ROCKABILLY. But this time there is a sense of goodwill in that 35 of the songs included have not been featured on CD before, and the focus is much more precise and centered primarily on the youth who did their best in a time of noted repression and paranoia to shake things up and play music in the style of the R&B artists they seemed forbidden to enjoy whilst rooted in the backwoods tradition. The blues licks were rushed and the backbeats breakneck, and there were no grand statements other than "I'm so wild, but that's my style."
And ROCKIN' BONES is the ultimate testament to all that was to fear and embrace about rockabilly, from the preachy warnings of sin and vice offered in the samples of the theatrical trailers ("Packed with shocking realities of what's happening today...in your city, in your town, in your neighborhood," from Teenage Doll) to the cathartic howls and hoots that exemplify an overall sense of devil-may-care. It's not pretty, it's not refined and it sure isn't ambitious, but the thrill is abundant throughout the course of this set to make it worth a sold 4.5 stars rounded to five.
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Getting ready to go out
The exhaustive four-disc set ROCKIN BONES: 1950s PUNK AND ROCKABILLY is a solid attempt to place rockabilly (which was in reality a fairly regional an...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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