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VINTAGE
ROCK 'N' ROLL & ROCKABILLY
| RAY CAMPI |
Bacchus Archives BA 0012 |
Perpetual Stomp, 1951-1996 |
● CD $13.98 |
16 tracks, 40 mins, recommended 16 timeless pieces of
rockabilly & rockin' country. These really are timeless, because there
is no info on when & where these tracks were done, given the 25 year
time frame in the title. Some sound like 50s, including his 1st single Catterpillar
& the country stuff (Toe Tappin' Rhythm), some of the tracks
are either produced by Rockin' Ronnie Weiser or guest Rosie Flores, so
those are probably the great 70s Rollin' Rock sides, but otherwise , who
cares! just kick off your shoes & enjoy! Pan American Boogie/ Cat'n
Around/ Wild Side Of Life, etc. (GM)
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| RAY CAMPI |
Bear Family BCD 15486 |
Wild Side Of Life |
● CD $21.98 |
12 songs mostly written by Jimmy
Heap.
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| RAY CAMPI |
Bear Family BCD 15501 |
The Eager Beaver Boy/ Rockabilly Lives |
● CD $21.98 |
Reissue of two Rollin' Rock LP's from the mid-70's by the
man who made a name for himself as a rockabilly revivalist, but was also a
struggling hillbilly bopper in the late 50's. 27 cuts.
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| RAY CAMPI |
Eagle 90121 |
1954-1968, Vol. 1 |
● CD $18.98 |
26 tracks, 53 mins, recommended A whole stash of stuff from
Ray's personal collection, rough demos, finished masters, taken from great
sounding discs & rough acetates. This set covers mostly '56-59. Ray's
classic '56 TNT single, Caterpillar/Play It Cool is heard twice,
the original single & recorded live from The Louisiana Hayride
(complete with host "Daddy" Tom Ellis making Elvis jokes) that
was recorded at Ray's house by his folks of the radio! There's demos done
at home (Give That Love To Me, later done for Dot) & Austin
Custom Records (My Screamin' Screamin' Mimi/ 92 Teardrops/ Dual Wheels,
No Brakes), plus a few standards (O Sole Mio/ Learning The Blues)
even a mock protest song from '68, Civil Disobedience. Extensive
liner notes by Ray, along with lots of pics. (GM)
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| RAY CAMPI |
Eagle 90122 |
1954-1968, Vol. 2 |
● CD $18.98 |
23 tracks, 53 minutes, recommended Another batch from Ray's
personal collection. This set concentrates on the 60s, starting out first
with a few demos from the same sources as Vol. 1, Austin custom Records,
done in '59. From there Ray went to the "big city" & mot of
the rest are demos cut at the Brill Building NY from '61-64, including his
Winsor single Shenandoah/ Billy Jean, with a penultimate session at
the famed Gold Star Studio in Hollywood, & ending at the beginning, a
'68 session back at Austin Custom (an old-timey number He's A Devil,
same session as last vol's Civil Disobedience). There's rockabilly
('54's Scrumptious Baby), standards (Till There Was You),
rockin' country (remake of Dual Wheels No Brakes), blues (Trouble
In Mind), lots more, again with liner notes by Ray who provides the
photos. Sound quality excellent. (GM)
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| CANNIBAL &
THE HEADHUNTERS |
Collectables 5806 |
A Golden Classics Edition |
● CD $13.98 |
16 tracks, 42 mins, very good More good material botched by
poor Collectibles packaging. Liner notes tell every band that the late
Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia played in, & everyone who had a
version out of Land Of 1000 Dances, but no indication at all what
the tracks are on this CD, nor is there anything as trivial as writers'
credits. This contains some cuts from their "Land Of 1000
Dances" LP (Rampart 3302 from '66, later reissued as Date 1525) &
a few from their 2nd LP with the same title (Date 3001), with other
singles such as Nau Ninny Nau (at #133, their only other chart
single), Out Of Sight & Follow The Music. Sound is on
the tinny side, but still highly listenable. (GM)
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| FREDDY CANNON |
Critique 5402-2 |
His Latest & Greatest |
● CD $13.98 |
I've always had a fondness for the records of Freddy Cannon -
with his uninhibited vocals and raucous accompaniments with throbbing bass
drum his music had a lively good time feel. This disc includes most of his
Swan and Warner Bros hits including Palisades Park/ Tallahassee Lassie/
Abigail Beecher/ Buzz Buzz A Diddle It (my favorite with its powerful
Bo Diddley sound) /Way Down Yonder In New Orleans/ Humdinger/ Everybody
Monkey/ Okefenokee and others. It also includes a couple of recent
songs including a version of Hanky Panky with some new lyrics. 18
tracks in all. Some of the material here can be considered teen schlock
but, in general, this is an entertaining set. (FS)
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| JOHNNY CARROLL |
Bear Family BCD 15928 |
Rock Baby, Rock It (1955-1960) |
● CD $21.98 |
33 tracks, 75 mins, highly recommended
A ton of music, along
with a 25 page booklet automatically make any proud owner of this CD a
Johnny Carroll expert. The 33 cuts on the CD can be broken down into four
parts. The first nine songs are from 1955, recorded in Dallas and have
just a pinch of hillbilly to them, while the recording studio gives them a garagey sound..... and they come out sounding pretty darn good. But things
get even better with the next six cuts. These recordings were done at the
Bradley studios in Nashville in 1956 and they feature Grady Martin and
Harold Bradley on guitar and Owen Bradley on piano..... they rock. It's a
mystery how none of them were hits. The following 14 tracks were recorded
in Dallas between 1957 and 1960. It's a mixed bag of songs, some of them
very cool, especially Rock Baby, Rock It and Sugar. The CD
ends with 4 songs from the movie "Rock Baby, Rock It" with
Carroll covering four of his best songs. A tasty mix of songs from one of
the guys who put the rock in rockabilly. (RS)
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| AL CASEY |
Ace CDCHD 612 |
Jivin' Around |
● CD $18.98 |
26 Stacy recordings from the early 60s including of the
legendary "Surfin' Hootennanny" LP and 2 unissued tracks.
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| AL CASEY |
Sundazed 6114 |
Surfin' Hootenanny |
● CD $11.98 |
Reissue of much in demand LP with 3 previously unissued
alternate takes.
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| JOEY CASTLE |
Bear Family BCD 15560 |
Rock & Roll Daddy-O |
● CD $21.98 |
| Joey Castle, who also recorded under the name of Cliff
Rivers, was actually a stocky teenager from New York City named Joseph
Castaldo. Rockabilly fans have been going nuts for years over his handful of waxings like Rock & Roll Daddy-O on Headline, True Lips
on Thanks (as Rivers) and That Ain't Nothin' But Right on RCA. He
sounded as much like Elvis as anyone else with a deep, rich voice that
could dip down into that kind of little growl that made the girls squeal.
All of the above tunes are here along with the flip sides plus 3 tunes
from a 1958 demo session, a couple of unissued numbers done for Vik in
'58, a trio of 60's demos and his last single on Out Of Sight, That's
My Secret/ (I'm The) Phantom Lover . A nice booklet is included too
with some real cool pics. (AE)
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| THE CHALLENGERS |
Sundazed 11024 |
Tidal Wave |
● CD $13.98 |
18 track collection from this top surf group including 10
previously unissued alternate takes, 4 previously unissued tunes and 4
tracks drawn from their vault albums.
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| THE CHAMPS |
Ace CDCHD 227 |
Tequila |
● CD $18.98 |
Fine cross section of instrumental greats by a long lived
unit which started as a studio trio featuring guitarist Dave Burgess &
tenor saxman Danny Flores. Tequila, a throw away, made #1 for
Challenge Records and a The Champs were formed. After 3 hits Flores' trio
split off and a new group formed with Burgess, Dean Beard, Jimmy Seals,
and Dash Croft (remember a 70's duo called Seals & Croft?) for more
hits including Too Much Tequila. The Champs excelled on cool Latin-influenced
numbers like La Cucaracha/ El Rancho Rock/ Limbo Rock, all of which
must have sounded great coming out of a late 50's convertible cruising
Sunset Strip. Other classics include Train To Nowhere/ Experiment In
Terror/ Beatnik - 22 in all. (GM/MB)
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| THE CHAMPS |
Ace CDCHD 451 |
Go, Champs, Go/ Everybody's Rockin' |
● CD $18.98 |
24 tracks, 55 minutes, good. CD reissue of the Champs' first
two LP's originally on Challenge (1958 & 1959).
Go, Champs, Go has their best known tune, Tequila , a #1 record in
1958. Unlike many groups of the era they felt no need to pad out their LP
with sound alike copies of their hit. There's a refreshing variety of
material, from ballads to rockers. Although they're identifiable by Chuck
Rio's raunchy sax, the real virtuoso was Dave Burgess on guitar. Where Rio
riffs rather than solos, Burgess cuts loose on some wicked breaks.
Everybody's Rockin' continues in the same vein and features the minor hit Chariot
Rock . El Rancho Rock/ Robot Walk/ Night Beat/ Mau Mau Stomp/
Bandido/ Ali Baba , etc. (AE)
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| THE CHAMPS |
Ace CDCHD 460 |
Wing Ding! |
● CD $18.98 |
A real bonanza for Champs fans - 28 tracks
from the late 50s - 7 released on rare 45s - the rest all unissued!.
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| THE CHAMPS |
Ace CDCHD 525 |
Early Singles |
● CD $18.98 |
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| THE CHAMPS |
Ace CDCHD 631 |
The Later Singles |
● CD $18.98 |
26 tracks, 56 min., recommended Another solid Ace collection
of the works of this important Latin-flavored rock 'n' roll combo, this
time around focusing on their 1962 through 1965 45's. It is worth noting
that band personnel changed a bit during these years, with founder Dave
Burgess turning to production chores exclusively, and new members—among
them Glen Campbell, Jimmy Seals, and Dash Crofts—coming on board. But,
fear not, musical quality did not suffer with these personnel
permutations. As evidence, consider the following sax or guitar led
numbers: Tequila Twist, Limbo Rock, La Cucaracha, Latin
Limbo, Varsity Rock, Nik Nak, Cactus Juice, San
Juan, Kahlua, The Man from Durango, and Buckaroo.
Solidly executed music from start to finish. (DH)
THE CHAMPS: 3/4 Mash/ Anna Buckaroo/ Brights Lights, Big City/ Cactus
Juice/ Experiment In Terror/ Fraternity Waltz/ French 75/ Kahlua/ La
Cucaracha/ Latin Limbo/ Limbo Dance/ Limbo Rock/ Mr Cool/ Nik Nak/ Only
The Young/ Red Pepper/ Roots/ San Juan Jalisco/ Shades/ Switzerland/
Tequila Twist/ That Did It/ The Man From Durango/ Varsity Rock
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| THE CHAMPS |
Collectables 530 |
Tequila-Golden Classics |
● CD $11.98 |
Includes the monster title hit plus Too Much Tequila/ El
Rancho Rock/ Limbo Rock/ Raunchy/ Last Night/ Hokey Pokey/ Tequila Twist/
The Twist, etc - 18 in all.
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| THE CHAMPS |
Collectables 6037 |
Tequila! The Very Best Of The Champs |
● CD $13.98 |
24 Challenge sides from this popular instrumental group
recorded in late 50s/ early 60s including their biggest hits - Tequila/
El Rancho Rock/ Chariot Rock/ Too Much Tequila and other rockin' sides
including covers like Telstar/ Rebel Rouser/Raunchy/ Honky Tonk and
lots more.
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| THE CHARTBUSTERS |
Eagle 90118 |
She's The One |
● CD $18.98 |
30 tracks, 76 minutes Very Good The Chartbusters are the
remnants of what happened when Bobby Poe of the Poe-Cats (Big Al Downing's
backup) decided to leave to produce & manage the group. Vernon
Sandusky stayed on on guitar with Mitch Corday (d) & Vince Gideon
(sax, h, hca) joined by newcomer Johnny Dubas on bass. the drummer &
2nd guitar positions would change throughout the 60s, with Vern &
Johnny staying on. This CD has 16 released tracks (unfortunately without
any discographical info) recorded approx '64-'69, including the great
title track, which actually hit the Top 40 in '64, plus harmonic early
60's style rockers, a surprising cover of an obscure fave of mine,
Fourmost Authority's Dance Dance Dance (Wanna Be A Dancer), even a
couple of surf tunes (Lonely surfer Boy/ Kick Wheeler) as well as a
couple duo tunes by an Everly-ish Vern & John as Spic & Span (Summertime
Blues/ Slipping & Sliding). Also includes a slew of demos
including a cover of Please Me & several written by Vern, Bobby
& Big Al. Includes numerous color photos of the band with such stars
as Chuck Berry, Don Gibbon & The Animals (GM)
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| THE CHOCOLATE WATCH
BAND |
Big Beat CDWIK 25 |
Forty Four |
● CD $18.98 |
1966-68 acid rock, includes Hanna Barbera 45 sides produced
by frank zappa
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| THE CHOCOLATE WATCHBAND |
Big Beat CDWIKD 118 |
No Way Out...Plus |
● CD $18.98 |
18 tracks, 51 minutes, recommended. The Chocolate Watchband
were a San Francisco Bay Area 60's band that has garnered a well deserved
reputation over the years despite their flower power name. This CD reissue
of their first LP has added an additional 8 tunes from the same time
period including the pop-psych stunner Misty Lane (2 versions) and
the lilting She Weaves A Tender Trap , sounding a lot like the
'Spoonful. Their version of Dylan's Baby Blue is marvelous but who
needs the cover of Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying (the only
weak tune here.) Sweet Young Thing , another Ed Cobb-penned winner
is more in keeping with their raucous, punk style best delivered on the
No Way Out LP via the classics Let's Talk About Girls and Are
You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In) . They had a lot of help with
studio musician overdubs and even a session vocalist but that didn't
detract from the music, in fact, tunes like Expo 2000 and Dark
Side Of The Mushroom (psych pieces put together by the engineers) gave
them an added dimension. A tasty 12 page booklet is included. (AE)
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| THE CHORDETTES |
Ace CDCHK 836 |
Born To Be With You |
● CD $11.98 |
20 track compilation of this popular female group. Includes
the big hit title song plus hits and non hits like Lollipop/ Mister
Sandman/ Tall Paul/ Lonely Boy/ To Know Him Is To Love Him and others.
THE CHORDETTES: A Girl's Work Is Never Done/ Baby Come A Back A/ Born To
Be With You/ Eddie My Love/ Humming Bird/ In The Deep Blue Sea/ Just
Between You And Me/ Lay Down Your Arms/ Lollipop/ Lonely Boy/ Lonely Lips/
Love Is A Two Way Street/ Mister Sandman/ No Other Arms, No Other Lips/ No
Wheels/ Photographs/ Tall Paul/ Teenage Goodnight/ To Know Him Is To Love
Him/ True Love Goes On And On
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| THE CHORDETTES |
Ace CDCHD 934 |
Mainly Rock 'n Roll |
● CD $18.98 |
32 Cadence sides from 1954 through '62 including such hits
as Mr Sandman/ Eddie My Love/ Born To Be With You/ Lay Down Your Arms/
Just Between You And Me/ Lollipop/ Never On Sunday, etc
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| LOU CHRISTIE |
Rhino 70246 |
The Best Of Lou Christie - En-Lightnin'-ment |
● CD $11.98 |
The master of falsetto is heard on 14 tunes from 1962-69,
including a few that weren't on last years Raven issue. Includes hits for
Co+Ce - The Gypsy Cried , Roulette - Two Faces Have I , MGM
- Lightnin' Strikes/ Rhapsody In The Rain , Columbia - Shake
Hands & Walk Away Crying/ Back To The Days Of The Romans &
Buddah - I'm Gonna Make You Mine . Extensive liner notes by fan
club prez Harry Young. (GM)
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| SANFORD CLARK |
Bear Family BCD 15549 |
The Fool |
● CD $21.98 |
CD reissue of Clark's MCI, Dot and Jamie recordings,
previously collected on Bear Family LP's 15198 and 15199. All the tunes
were produced by Lee Hazelwood with Al Casey on lead guitar. Most tunes
cut in Phoenix and some in Hollywood including a few with Duane Eddy on
rhythm guitar. This set features 23 tunes recorded for Dot including 10
not originally released. Clark hit big with his first recording The
Fool, originally on MCI and leased to Dot. He spent the rest of his
career trying for a second hit. The tunes here, done between 1956-58
include the follow-up A Cheat + Ooo Baby/ Modern Romance/ Usta
Be My Baby/ Travelin' Man, a previously unreleased Ain't Nobody
Here But Us Chickens, etc. The 10 tunes done for Jamie 1958-60, some
of them very good indeed, did not give Sanford the second hit he strived
for. It includes another attempt at The Fool called New Kind of
Fool sung in his distinct Ricky Nelson meets Johnny Cash style, plus Son
Of A Gun/ Pledging My Love/ Run Boy Run/ Bad Luck, etc. The 36 page
booklet reprises Rich Kienzle's excellent liner notes from the LP issues
along with a reproduction of a magzine article from the period covered and
some great photos. (FS/GM)
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| JOE CLAY |
Bear Family BCD 15516 |
Ducktail |
● CD $21.98 |
Features all of Clay's wild rockers for Vik. Digitally
remastered from master tapes. Previously on LP BFX 15224. Includes 8 page
booklet with notes, rare photos & discography.
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