Friday, March 21, 2008

Rock'N'Roll Inferno - Rock and Rockabilly

This is a great collection of 50's Rock n' Roll songs that focuses more on a certain sound and energy than it does on hits - and that's its strong point. Songs like Mel McGonnigle's Rattleshakin' Mama illustrate the raunchy,sleazy menace of early rock n' roll way more than say, a big hit like Lavender Blue (dilly dilly - yuk!!) The main problem here is that three of the "HITS" are re-recordings. Little Richard's "Lucille" is not the original Specialty Records version. The same goes with Gene Vincent's "Say Mama" which sounds like it's from the early 70's. Bill Haley and the Comet's "Shake Rattle and Roll" is an exception, although a re-recording, it is actually a very cool version with a great,spooky sax riff. Other than that, the soundbite's and radio snippets are great and overall it's a good collection of primitive,wild r'n'r from a very exciting period in American music and culture. This is a much needed relief from an age where the top music stars are overproduced supermodels, and good looking pretty boys who cannot play an instrument much less write one of their songs. Before the age of MTV, when pop stars had to look good, there was the golden age of Rock radio, and this disk is a reminder that there was a time when the focus was on the music, warts and all, not the glitter.

1. Intro - Alan Freed Hosting the Moondog Show (1954)Alan Freed
2. When Sin Stops The Nighthawks Featuring Buddy Holly
3. Tore Up Tommy La Beff 4. Maybellene (Live) Elvis Presley
5. Rock and Roll Baby Billy And Mickey 6. Lucille Little Richard
7. Nuclear Survival Course Record Album (1954)commercial
8. Rock and Roll Show Ray Ellsworth 9. Say Mama Gene Vincent
10. Something Special Don Duncan 11. Shake, Rattle and Roll Bill Haley & The Comets 12. Satellite, Explorer 1 Launch (1958) Various Artists
13. Roc-a-Chica Warner MacK14. I Love Ya Honey Jimmy Apostle
15. 57 Chevy Commercial Various Artists 16. Stop and Rock Freddie Montell
17. Black Knee Socks Tommy Palm 18. No More, No More Johnny Fuller
19. Linda Lou Kenny & The Be-Bops 20. DJ Bob Neal Talks to Elvis (May 6th, 1955) DJ Bob Neal & Elvis 21. Dixie Fried Carl Perkins 22. Hang Out Lloyd Arnold Katche 23. Debate Over the Meaning of Rock 'n' Roll (1958)
24. Rattle Shakin' Mama Mel McGonnigle 25. Dood it Bobby Martin
26. Discussions on the "Beat Generation" (1959)Allen Ginsberg & Margaret Mead
27. Mona Lisa Conway Twitty 28. Square Town The Darts
29. Rootie Tootie Baby Lee Mitchell And The Combo 30. Radio Jingle (1957) Eddie Cochran 31. Cool Cool Baby Lafayette – Yarborough
32. You Don't Bug Me Terry Daly And The Nu-Tones
33. Outro - Alan Freed's Farewell to Fans (November 12, 1959) Alan Free

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