In the mid 1980s, the NME released a series of “paid for” cassettes that showcased a fantastic range of music from blues to jazz to rock’n'roll to indie, etc.
In the days before t’internet and before we lived in a world where any track that has ever been recorded is only the click of a mouse away, this series of cassettes was a window into another world. Of tracks long gone and potentially forgotten. Only to be retrieved, if at all, by painstaking hours in the secondhand record shops that then filled the country and which I spent many of my waking hours in.
One of my favourite cassettes was the “Little Imp” compilation, showcasing tracks from the Aladdin and Imperial record labels of the 1950s and 1960s.
One of the all time great compilations – from it, I’ve already previously posted the staggering “I Ain’t Drunk” by Jimmy Liggins (here); “Messy Bessy” by Louis Jordan (here), “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer” by Amos Milburn (here) and the peerless “Who Drank My Beer While I Was in the Rear” by Dave Bartholomew (here).
Joining this pantheon of greats is Patti Anne and the Flames’ “Shtiggy Boom” – another jump blues classic. Killer guitar, bass, piano and vocals ….
No better way than to welcome the New Year with a classic Bo Diddley album track from 1959 ….
“Go Bo Diddley” was Bo’s second LP and is a fantastically diverse affair starting with the classic Diddley guitar sound and moving on to slower tracks like this – a funereal, downbeat rhythm with understated guitar and a killer piano accompaniment.
For earlier post of Bo Dilddley’s classic “Pills” check here.
Great record from the immortal Buddy Holly. Might not have got round to posting this on the blog but stumbled across a wonderful clip from the Arthur Murray Dance Party at the tail end of 1957. All the better for the helpful introduction by Kathryn Murray who invites us to appreciate the “rock’n'roll specialists”. Who doesn’t?
After the genius of Louis Jordan, it’s worth staying in 1954 to take in this classic piece of jazz/blues from Dinah Washington.
Now, I need to be frank. A large number of remarkably smutty tracks were recorded in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In many of these, the subtlety of a double-entendre was jettisoned for the “single-entendre”.
However, as it’s a Sunday, I’ve tried to steer well clear of this tradition of sniggering innuendo.
Instead, here’s a straightforward tale of a woman missing her boyfriend who happens to play the trombone.
A neat follow up from the last post which featured Amos Milburn ordering at the bar. Moments later, he’s just slipped out round the back and some “low down moccher” has only gone and drunk his beer.
An impassioned plea for alcoholic honesty from the wonderful Dave Bartholomew (whose epoch defining “The Monkey” is already posted here)
I strolled into this barroom with my pipes as dry as chalk
I bought myself a beer and then I had to take a walk
While I was gone, some no good John had drunk up my last dime
I never thought a man would stoop to such a petty crime
Click on the video then click again to get to Youtube!
Sunday afternoon and time to order a round (something my colleagues will known is something I generally try and avoid).
Not quite sure whether Amos was constructing a “suite” of drinks rather like that achieved by Alan Partridge 50 years later – Alan’s classic “Ladyboy” concoction consisted, of course, of a pint of lager with chasers of a small Bailey’s and a gin and tonic (check here for the sketch and the details).
Amos Milburn released a series of classic singles in the late 1940s and early 1950s and this is one of my favourites - originally written by Rudy Toombs. You just can’t go wrong with the Aladdin Records label!
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