"RED HOT ROCKABILLY" PT. 1 (Imperial/Liberty Records)

Disky exists as a label of budget repackages and reissues. As a result they put out plenty of material that would have been better left to some other label. In the case of their country and rockabilly collections, they do an awesome job for the money. It's true there is little in the way of documentation or liner notes, but along with artist, title, and author necessities, they also offer label and date of release, which is valuable for folks who care about such things. Which brings us to this 30-track smokin' rockabilly compilation that includes not the usual Elvis/Jerry Lee/Carl Perkins/Johnny Cash amalgam of tracks, but Bob Luman's "Red Hot," Ricky Nelson's "Believe What You Say," Laura Lee Perkins' "Don't Wait Up," Lew Williams' "Bop Bop Ba Doo Bop," Johnny & Dorsey Burnette's "Do Baby Do," Billy Eldrige's "Let's Go," and enough others to make your head spin. If these were the only unusual tracks here, that would be worth celebrating in itself, but when the most normal cuts on a compilation like this are Eddie Cochran's "Little Lou," the Burnettes' "Boppin' Rosalie," and Roy Brown's "We're Goin' Rockin' Tonight," then you have something very special in your hands. All the material here dates from between 1956-1960, and in an unusual move, Disky even includes liner notes in this compilation to hip you to the contributions of some of the artists here like Bill Allen, the Strikes, Johnny Garner, and Perkins, among others. This thing burns from top to bottom without a weak track in the litter. Sets like this prove that rock & roll music from its inception was something raw, snotty, sexual, and dangerous, because these tracks remained that way over 40 years after they were issued. (Thom Jurek, Allmusic)

trax:
1. Believe What You Say - Ricky Nelson 2. Red Hot - Bob Luman 3. So Long, Good Luck And Goodbye - Weldon Rogers 4. Play My Boogie - Bill Mack 5. Do Baby Do - Dorsey & Johnny Burnette 6. Let's Go - Billy Eldridge 7. Bop Bop Ba Doo Bop - Lew Williams 8. If You Can't Rock Me - The Strikes 9. Cradle Baby - Eeddie Cochran 10. Everybody Needs A Little Lovin' - Merle Kilgore 11. Blue Days, Black Nights - Bob Luman 12. You Tear Me Up - Ricky Nelson 13. Rock Your Little Baby To Sleep - Buddy Knox 14. Please Give Me Something - Bill Allen 15. Hip Shakin' Baby - Roy Brown 16. Warm Love - Dorsey & Johnny Burnette 17. Don't Wait Up - Laura Lee Perkins 18. Didi Didi - Johnny Garner 19. Me And The Bear - Johnny Burnette 20. Bring Along Your Lovin' - Bob Luman 21. Stood Up - Ricky Nelson 22. Little Lou - Eddie Cochran 23. Centipede - Lew Williams 24. Everybody's Got A Baby But Me - Warren Miller 25. Boppin' Rosalie - Dorsey & Johnny Burnette 26. Little Bit - Bobby Lanero 27. I Just Don't Like This Kind Of Livin' - Laura Lee Perkins 28. That's All I Care - Dorsey & Johnny Burnette 29. Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran 30. We're Goin' Rockin' Tonight - Roy Brown
 ...served by Gyro1966...