This week’s reviews have more or less exhausted my collection of popular music from the 1950s as limited to the genres of rock’n’roll and its immediate sources and neighbors — R&B, soul, blues, and folk music.
Good post and you’ve done a really wide coverage of nearly all rock’n’ roll/r&b artists that mattered at the time. I must thank you also for the coverage of my heroes of that epoch, that are often overlooked (Gene Vincent, Ricky Nelson, Del Shannon). I found only three big names, left without a review — Connie Francis (as for me, the best girl in rock and roll and her early stuff is fantastic), Neil Sedaka (whose songwriting is fantastic, though his stuff aged a little worse than done by his various colleagues) and Pat Boone (really great artist, and I will never understand all the hate towards him — in his prime he sounds way cooler than Dion and many other teen idols of the era actively celebrated nowadays). Of course, Little Richard’s songs were NOT his material (but still, he tried to sing it his way, not directly imitating Mr. Penniman, which could create MUCH bigger disaster), but, for example, his versions of Irving Berlin songs are immaculate and one of the greatest ever recorded. Even more, I can say, he HAD some good rock and roll covers, but later, when he recorded an Elvis’ cover album in 1963. Some of the versions there are quite weird (anyone for a “Hound Dog” with a HARPSICHORD?), but the whole concept of turning Elvis’ classic material into a kind of suite was way ahead of its time, and Boone’s version of “Heartbreak Hotel” (undoubtedly, one of the best Elvis songs of all time) there is beyond best, I rate it AT LEAST on par with John Cale’s.
Thank you! The R&B/Black Rock n' Roll songs you indicated will help me fill out the beginning of my own (less ambitious than yours) exploration: the roots of Hip-Hop before next week I start one week for each year of its now 50 years of existence.
Nice one, George, ending with what you consider the cream of the crop. Those of us guilty of awaiting the slightly later reviews beginning in the 60's are not proud, but will surely be propulsed into more upcoming interest delving into your chosen nuggets. Looking forward to being introduced (or more often reminded) of some of the music that we didn't realize gave birth to our beloved Kinks & Animals.
Thank you for doing all this work and elucidating, George. It's always a joy to read and is, I think, of real historic importance, should it survive and continue reaching an audience.
For me it's been a thrilling ride, George, thanks. Indeed I live to find those accidental gems, those "heroes for just one day" (that's what I'm doing in the 70s, guided by RYM). But yeah, same as movies (to be honest anything before 2000 requires an inmmersion process) or TV Shows (unless it's something seminal as "Get Smart") anything before 60s is harder to grasp, technically & culturally too. But this has been so worth it. I converted the playlist to Spotify for those like me who use that modern thingie: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4PfLOCAqBtCt8UBI9TdTuA?si=795b0652d51348dd
The lyrics to Berry’s “Downbound Train” remind me of the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story “The Celestial Railroad.” Even has a similar “it was all a dream” ending.
The ‘railroad to hell’ motif definitely had a long-standing presence in the culture by the time Berry got around to it, but Hawthorne’s version is what I tend to think of first when it comes up because I read a lot of his stuff when I was in college. For Hawthorne’s part, he was doing a satirical pastiche of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress when he wrote his version. Berry seems to be channeling more ‘straightforward’ apocalyptic visions appropriate for a moral/religious parable.
I'm a long, long time lurker, since your previous website. Loved to read your reviews and used to translate them to my non-English-speaking audiophile friends.
Please keep writing!
Off the subject, could you recommend some book(s) to improve English for someone who recently moved to the US and wants to become fluent and be able to write quality texts?
Thanks! No, I wouldn't know how to make any such recommendations - I think the best way is to just roam around the biggest book store you can find (provided there are still some that have not gone bankrupt in the US - it's been a real catastrophe over the past decade) and grab whatever catches your own eye.
I don't know about filters... I kind of started with jazz and rockabilly when I was "learning" music in my childhood (before that, I mostly listened to a mix of children tunes and Vysotsky's songs), and I still enjoy 50's (and 50's-like) music enormously because of its furious energy and optimism (the later quality is mostly absent from almost every genre aside from pop ever since). E.g. various metal sub-genres might have then energy, but they're too angry for me. 50's level of "angry", on the other hand, is just right, especially if we're talking Bill Haley.
Re: "surviving 50's curse", I think you can also add Johnny Cash to the list?
Finally, I would like to add another song to that playlist, from another lesser 50's artist, Johnny Powers, "Long Blond Hair" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0V3hxK-a5k). In many ways, it's a "normal" late-50's rockabilly, which already abandoned sax solos for blistering guitar, but it's one of those songs that, if you don't know it, might as well have been recorded in 80's during rockabilly revival (I, for one, would like to see a series of reviews on that movement!). There is enough "punk" in it that it's easier to imagine Brian Setzer belting it out than suit-clad 50's rockabilly singer.
And while we're on the subject, I always wondered if it's possible to re-create 50's sound faithfully in today's world (most rockabilly revival artists never aimed at that goal: they were more about style than about technical side of things). Well, Mario Bradley manages just that on his "Bip Bop Baby": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFleQGl12qI I absolutely love this song and the way he and his producer replicated not just the usual echo-ey sound of rockabilly, but even the crackle of 50's (cheap?) mic!
Yeah, good choices for those who can't get enough of the classic rockabilly sound.
The optimism vibe might indeed be the biggest remaining selling point. It's pretty tough to surpass the amount of joy contained in Bill Haley's material.
The Netherlands being a culturally backward country back then they only got to record an album in Germany (!) in 1960, after three years of success on stage.
I'm a Tidal streaming service subscriber, so I created this playlist (with the 25 songs chosen by George) for myself and potentially other Tidal subscribers:
Great recap of the 50s. Thanks for the effort, George. The biggest omission is Ike Turner, the founding father of R'n'R. I hope some of his later compilations of his 50s work will be covered.
I've made Deezer playlist of the song selection, for those interested:
Ike's omission is a bit of a technical issue, since (a) he started out much earlier than the mid-Fifties and (b) more importantly, he had no LP releases whatsoever in the 1950s, which I use as starting points. I realize that I've also missed out on Big Mama Thornton, for instance, for the same reasons, even if her singles were quite a vital part in the Fifties.
Hi George, that is me and those are Genius Lyrics! Ah and every time I see you it gets it gets it gets it gets it gets it gets it gets it gets ah but no we should all pray it does not get even a little worse because indeed. Great reviews! Great concept!! Looking forward to more of the past!
I LOVE learning of, and seeking out great previously unknown (to me) moldy oldies. And there's A LOT of them on this list. Thanks George!
Good post and you’ve done a really wide coverage of nearly all rock’n’ roll/r&b artists that mattered at the time. I must thank you also for the coverage of my heroes of that epoch, that are often overlooked (Gene Vincent, Ricky Nelson, Del Shannon). I found only three big names, left without a review — Connie Francis (as for me, the best girl in rock and roll and her early stuff is fantastic), Neil Sedaka (whose songwriting is fantastic, though his stuff aged a little worse than done by his various colleagues) and Pat Boone (really great artist, and I will never understand all the hate towards him — in his prime he sounds way cooler than Dion and many other teen idols of the era actively celebrated nowadays). Of course, Little Richard’s songs were NOT his material (but still, he tried to sing it his way, not directly imitating Mr. Penniman, which could create MUCH bigger disaster), but, for example, his versions of Irving Berlin songs are immaculate and one of the greatest ever recorded. Even more, I can say, he HAD some good rock and roll covers, but later, when he recorded an Elvis’ cover album in 1963. Some of the versions there are quite weird (anyone for a “Hound Dog” with a HARPSICHORD?), but the whole concept of turning Elvis’ classic material into a kind of suite was way ahead of its time, and Boone’s version of “Heartbreak Hotel” (undoubtedly, one of the best Elvis songs of all time) there is beyond best, I rate it AT LEAST on par with John Cale’s.
Thank you! The R&B/Black Rock n' Roll songs you indicated will help me fill out the beginning of my own (less ambitious than yours) exploration: the roots of Hip-Hop before next week I start one week for each year of its now 50 years of existence.
Nice one, George, ending with what you consider the cream of the crop. Those of us guilty of awaiting the slightly later reviews beginning in the 60's are not proud, but will surely be propulsed into more upcoming interest delving into your chosen nuggets. Looking forward to being introduced (or more often reminded) of some of the music that we didn't realize gave birth to our beloved Kinks & Animals.
I enjoyed this essay...and thanks for the playlist, great stuff!
Thank you for doing all this work and elucidating, George. It's always a joy to read and is, I think, of real historic importance, should it survive and continue reaching an audience.
For me it's been a thrilling ride, George, thanks. Indeed I live to find those accidental gems, those "heroes for just one day" (that's what I'm doing in the 70s, guided by RYM). But yeah, same as movies (to be honest anything before 2000 requires an inmmersion process) or TV Shows (unless it's something seminal as "Get Smart") anything before 60s is harder to grasp, technically & culturally too. But this has been so worth it. I converted the playlist to Spotify for those like me who use that modern thingie: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4PfLOCAqBtCt8UBI9TdTuA?si=795b0652d51348dd
The lyrics to Berry’s “Downbound Train” remind me of the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story “The Celestial Railroad.” Even has a similar “it was all a dream” ending.
Good observation, though I have no idea exactly how well read Chuck was. All I can find is that the family were fans of Paul Laurence Dunbar (not surprising): https://lithub.com/on-chuck-berrys-early-literary-influences/
The lyrics are apparently taken/adapted from a “cowboy poem” called “The Hellbound Train,” per the latest/greatest Berry bio, written by R.J. Smith.
The ‘railroad to hell’ motif definitely had a long-standing presence in the culture by the time Berry got around to it, but Hawthorne’s version is what I tend to think of first when it comes up because I read a lot of his stuff when I was in college. For Hawthorne’s part, he was doing a satirical pastiche of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress when he wrote his version. Berry seems to be channeling more ‘straightforward’ apocalyptic visions appropriate for a moral/religious parable.
"Downbound Train" is fantastic. Chuck was really the king.
I see we now have Tidal, Spotify & Deezer playlists!
Niiiice!
Very interesting, thank you!
I'm a long, long time lurker, since your previous website. Loved to read your reviews and used to translate them to my non-English-speaking audiophile friends.
Please keep writing!
Off the subject, could you recommend some book(s) to improve English for someone who recently moved to the US and wants to become fluent and be able to write quality texts?
Thanks! No, I wouldn't know how to make any such recommendations - I think the best way is to just roam around the biggest book store you can find (provided there are still some that have not gone bankrupt in the US - it's been a real catastrophe over the past decade) and grab whatever catches your own eye.
I don't know about filters... I kind of started with jazz and rockabilly when I was "learning" music in my childhood (before that, I mostly listened to a mix of children tunes and Vysotsky's songs), and I still enjoy 50's (and 50's-like) music enormously because of its furious energy and optimism (the later quality is mostly absent from almost every genre aside from pop ever since). E.g. various metal sub-genres might have then energy, but they're too angry for me. 50's level of "angry", on the other hand, is just right, especially if we're talking Bill Haley.
Re: "surviving 50's curse", I think you can also add Johnny Cash to the list?
Finally, I would like to add another song to that playlist, from another lesser 50's artist, Johnny Powers, "Long Blond Hair" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0V3hxK-a5k). In many ways, it's a "normal" late-50's rockabilly, which already abandoned sax solos for blistering guitar, but it's one of those songs that, if you don't know it, might as well have been recorded in 80's during rockabilly revival (I, for one, would like to see a series of reviews on that movement!). There is enough "punk" in it that it's easier to imagine Brian Setzer belting it out than suit-clad 50's rockabilly singer.
And while we're on the subject, I always wondered if it's possible to re-create 50's sound faithfully in today's world (most rockabilly revival artists never aimed at that goal: they were more about style than about technical side of things). Well, Mario Bradley manages just that on his "Bip Bop Baby": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFleQGl12qI I absolutely love this song and the way he and his producer replicated not just the usual echo-ey sound of rockabilly, but even the crackle of 50's (cheap?) mic!
Yeah, good choices for those who can't get enough of the classic rockabilly sound.
The optimism vibe might indeed be the biggest remaining selling point. It's pretty tough to surpass the amount of joy contained in Bill Haley's material.
"only Lonnie Donegan and Cliff Richard"
I beg to disagree. Without the indorockers The Tielman Brothers the list is incomplete.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tielman_Brothers
The Netherlands being a culturally backward country back then they only got to record an album in Germany (!) in 1960, after three years of success on stage.
https://www.discogs.com/master/2716358-The-Tielman-Brothers-Tielman-On-Stage
We immediately their first revolutionary song here. 18th Century Rock is an adaptation of a Mozart sonata.
But what really matters is the footage that's left.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOZl7gXj_io&list=RDIOZl7gXj_io&start_radio=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muKkVufgkAE
I'd like to ask you to review these two in your video series. I mean, this is six, seven years before Jimi Hendrix.
Oh, I never heard about them! What a lively band! Their videos is top-notch.
Forgot to add: the history of The Tielman Brothers totally confirms your analysis of rock'n'roll fizzling out.
I'm a Tidal streaming service subscriber, so I created this playlist (with the 25 songs chosen by George) for myself and potentially other Tidal subscribers:
https://listen.tidal.com/playlist/85f09013-8703-4a13-9b46-0d46f8506d9d
Great recap of the 50s. Thanks for the effort, George. The biggest omission is Ike Turner, the founding father of R'n'R. I hope some of his later compilations of his 50s work will be covered.
I've made Deezer playlist of the song selection, for those interested:
https://deezer.page.link/pBxQ2f6bTao8HvCv7
Ike's omission is a bit of a technical issue, since (a) he started out much earlier than the mid-Fifties and (b) more importantly, he had no LP releases whatsoever in the 1950s, which I use as starting points. I realize that I've also missed out on Big Mama Thornton, for instance, for the same reasons, even if her singles were quite a vital part in the Fifties.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe is also interesting artist, although her careera goes back to the 30s.
Ah Jesus Christ what a marvellous series these were! It's almost like '1899' on Netflix only yours were so much better!
Alex? Is that you? Seems like every time I see you you got something else to do...
Hi George, that is me and those are Genius Lyrics! Ah and every time I see you it gets it gets it gets it gets it gets it gets it gets it gets ah but no we should all pray it does not get even a little worse because indeed. Great reviews! Great concept!! Looking forward to more of the past!