"OUT THERE" - Wild & Wondrous Roots Of Rock 'n' Roll, VOL. 2

Like the first volume of this delightful series, this digs out 20 tracks from the 1920s through the mid-'50s that illustrate the wide roots of rock & roll. Unlike many other such compilations, it doesn't just present the blues and hillbilly recordings that were most instrumental in leading to the fusion of R&B and country & western that gave birth to rock & roll, although there are some of those. There's also goofy pop-jazz (Ella Fitzgerald's "Two Little Men in a Flying Saucer"), jug band music, boogie-influenced jazz, virtuoso instrumental country boogie (a young Chet Atkins' "Oh by Jingo!"), old-time folk music with country and blues elements (Dock Boggs' aptly titled "Country Blues"), and even a field recording of a Native American peyote dance. And the Boswell Sisters' "Rock and Roll," cut way back in 1934, shows that the term rock & roll far predated the 1950s or Alan Freed, even if the track itself is far closer to harmony vocal swing jazz than blues. There are also, of course, some Delta blues from Son House, hillbilly from Hank Williams and Jimmy Dickens, and a few tracks that more closely approximate early rock & roll, both stylistically and chronologically: Louis Jordan's classic boogie "Saturday Night Fish Fry," Lightnin' Slim's harmonica blues/R&B "She's Gone," and Johnny "Guitar" Watson's astonishing instrumental "Space Guitar," which still sounds futuristic today, let alone in 1954 (when it was originally cut). Many of the preceding names are famous or fairly well-known, but there are a few items here that might surprise and inspire even seasoned collectors, like the madly over-reverbed country swing of steel guitarist Billy Briggs' 1953 track "Alarm Clock Boogie." Combined with detailed annotation (recording dates included) that avoids stuffiness, this is a far more fun and imaginatively eclectic anthology -- in terms of both listening and packaging -- than most higher-profile releases that explore a similar theme, though this series, unfortunately, remains one of the more obscure ones. (Allmusic)

trax:
1. Space Guitar - Johnny "Guitar" Watson 2. She's Gone - Lightnin' Slim 3. Oh Red - The Harlem Hamfats 4. Two Little Men In A Flying Saucer - Ella Fitzgerald 5. Hittin' The Bottle Stomp - Mississippi Jook Band 6. Down The Road Apiece - Will Bradley Trio 7. Rockin' Chair Money - Hank Williams 8. Saturday Night Fish Fry - Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five 9. Rock And Roll - The Boswell Sisters 10. Oh By Jingo! - Chet Atkins 11. Big-Eyed Rabbit - Samantha Bumgarner And Eva Davis 12. Peyote Dance - The Huichol Tribe 13. Let That Liar Alone - Rev. Edward W. Clayborn 14. Alarm Clock Boogie - Billy Briggs 15. Round Town Girls - Wanda & Ruth Neal 16. My Black Mama Part One - Son House 17. Rockin' With Red - "Little" Jimmy Dickens 18. Country Blues - Dock Boggs 19. Mother Fuya - Dirty Red 20. You Got To Have That Thing - Picaninny Jug Band
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