Specialty Records was one of the American record labels that helped shape the course of 20th-century popular music. It was founded by Art Rupe, born Arthur Goldberg in Greenburg, Pennsylvania, in 1917, who cut his teeth at Atlas Records before going it alone.
A fan of black music, he started the Juke Box label in 1946 and had some success with artists he discovered in the clubs of Los Angeles’ Central Avenue. But Rupe fell out with his business partners and, encouraged by Jules Bihari of RPM Records, started Specialty that same year.
Early success came with acts such as Wynona Carr and Jimmy Liggins, whose brother Joe joined him on the label in 1950 and music from whose band the Honeydrippers is included in this set. And more was to come when, in 1951, Specialty switched format from the 78rpm disc to the new 45rpm single. Rupe discovered 17 year-old Lloyd Price in New Orleans and he opened his account in 1952 with Number 1 R&B hit ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy’. We feature follow-up ‘Forgive Me, Clawdy’.
Also from New Orleans was Ernest Kador, whose 1955 ‘Eternity’ is included here. He went on to greater fame as Ernie K-Doe but, sadly for Art Rupe and Specialty, his 1961 US chart-topper ‘Mother In Law’ was on Minit. Singer-keyboardist Art Neville, featured solo here, became one of the famous Meters and then the Neville Brothers, while guitarist Earl King used Specialty as a stopover between the Savoy and Ace labels.
Tony Allen was yet another Crescent City act to break through on Specialty, though Allen was fortunate to be in the studio ‘playing around with the piano’ when Bumps Blackwell was there to hear him. When a Jesse Belvin recording session hit trouble, Allen was summoned to return to the studio and ‘I’/’Nite Owl’ was the result; we feature the A-side here.
When Lloyd Price suggested Richard Wayne Penniman record a demo for Specialty in February 1955, he kicked off the career of the label’s hottest star. Art Rupe told in-house A&R man Robert ‘Bumps’ Blackwell to mould Little Richard into a style similar to Ray Charles, with whom Atlantic Records was having considerable success – but when the singer started banging out a boogie-woogie piano riff, 17 hits followed in a period of just three years.
We feature debut hits ‘Tutti Frutti’ and ‘Long Tall Sally’ from 1956, while ‘Keep A Knockin’’, featured in Alan Freed’s movie Mister Rock’n’Roll, made US Number 8 in 1957. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes Little Richard as the man who ‘laid the foundations for rock’n’roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona’ – but in 1959 he became a born-again Christian and refused to play the Devil’s Music.
By that time Specialty had discovered a worthy replacement in New Orleans pianist Larry Williams. Though he died aged only 44, Williams was a huge influence on emerging young British rock’n’rollers such as the Beatles. Four of his songs are featured here, the most popular ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzy’ which the Fab Four recorded for their ‘Help’ album in 1965.
Soul legend-to-be Sam Cooke began his secular career with Specialty after signing as part of gospel group the Soul Stirrers. We feature him here both with the group and solo, but his association with the label proved short-lived. When Rupe walked in on a session where Blackwell was producing Cooke singing Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’, there was an argument which ended with Art sacking both producer and artist.
The label signed notable blues figures such as Guitar Slim (whose group featured Ray Charles on piano) and Percy Mayfield, famous for penning Charles’ ‘Hit The Road Jack’ and a smooth R&B vocalist in his own right. John Lee Hooker was another blues great who passed through.
Other fascinating names included Don & Dewey, a rock’n’roll duo featuring Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris and Dewey Terry, while Roddy Jackson was one of the very few white rock’n’rollers on the roster. Art Rupe also made some of the first recordings by zydeco giant Clifton Chenier, while Sonny Bono, soon to be half of hitmakers Sonny and Cher, worked with Specialty as a producer and songwriter (of, among others, Rene Hall’s ‘Flippin’’).
Rupe carried the label on into the Sixties, even recording Little Richard again when he returned to the secular world, but with diminishing success. Refusing to pay for airplay, Art eventually retired from music, though in 1970 he re-activated his back catalogue and released a number of recordings. The label was finally sold to Fantasy Records in 1990.
This three-CD set captures a flavour of the exciting and diverse music Specialty had to offer in its heyday. It reflects a formative time in the history of American popular music and the far-sighted musical policy of one of its guiding lights. Art Rupe, who was given the Ahmet Ertegun Award by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, lives on, as does his legend.
trax disc 1:
1. Dizzy Miss Lizzy - Larry Williams 2. Farmer John - Don & Dewey 3. Tutti Frutti - Little Richard 4. Forgive Me, Clawdy - Lloyd Price 5. That's All I Need to Know - Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers 6. Goin' Back Home to Mama - Vicky Lee 7. My Baby Don't Want Me - Sonny Knight 8. I Know - Angel Face & The Jimmy Davis Combo 9. Everybody's Blues - John Lee Hooker 10. I've Got My Sights on Someone New - Roddy Jackson 11. Ding Dong Baby - Marvin & Johnny 12. Diggin' The Moonglow - Percy Mayfield 13. Gone - Jesse Belvin 14. Harpers Express - Harper Brinson Band feat. Rabon Tarrant & Lady Will Carr 15. Should I Ever Love Again - Wynona Carr 16. I Got Sumpin' For You - Guitar Slim & His Band 17. You Bug Me Baby - Larry Williams 18. Eternity - Ernest Kador 19. Jungle Hop - Don & Dewey 20. Do You Love Me Pretty Baby - Joe Liggins & His Honey Drippers 21. Mr. Bumps - Edgar Blanchard 22. No One But Me - Earl King 23. My Confession - David Ford & The Ebbtides 24. Boppin' The Rock - Clifton Chenier & His Band 25. Who's Been Fooling You - Big Boy Myles & The Shaw-Wees
trax disc 2:
1. long tall sally - Little Richard 2. touch and go - Wynona Carr 3. little school girl - Larry Williams 4. baby i need you - Benn Zeppa & The Zephys 5. malinda - Bobby Mandolph 6. dye ooh mambo - Chuck Higgins 7. i need you now - Sam Cooke 8. flip - Marvin & Johnny 9. baby please come home - Lloyd Price 10. think it over - Clifton Chenier 11. just a little lovin' - Don & Dewey 12. ooh bop she bop - The Dukes 13. stepping high - Edgar Blanchard 14. love, love of my life - Jesse Belvin 15. stand by me - Guitar Slim 16. arabian love call - Art Neville 17. harper's return - Harper Brinson Band 18. irene - The Holidays 19. whiskey, women & loaded dice - Joe Liggins & His Honey Drippers 20. keep a knockin' - Little Richard 21. it's spring again - The Pentagons 22. superman - Johnny Two-Voice 23. you were lyin' to me - Percy Mayfield 24. that mellow saxophone - Roy Montrell 25. I - Tony Allen & The Champs
trax disc 3:
1. Jump Jack, Jump! - Wynona Carr 2. Mamo Mamo - Marvin Phillips & His Band 3. Oooh-Wee Baby - Art Neville 4. Ready Teddy - Little Richard 5. King Cotton - Lloyd Lambert 6. Tears on My Pillow - The Chimes 7. The Sound of You Voice - David Ford & The Ebbtides 8. Do Baby Do - Ernest Kador 9. Twenty-Five Lies - Guitar Slim & His Band 10. Ay Tete Fee - Clifton Chenier 11. One Little Blessing - Jesse Belvin 12. Oo Ee Baby - Lloyd Price 13. True to You Baby - Neal Johnson 14. Baby, You're Rich - Percy Mayfield 15. What Can I Do? - Roy Milton & His Solid Senders 16. Just Because - Larry Williams 17. Forever - Sam Cooke 18. Oh Kay - The Dukes 19. It's True - The Twilighters 20. Someday, Somewhere, Somehow - Wynona Carr 21. The Letter - Don & Dewey 22. Sweet Breeze - Vernon Green & The Phantoms 23. Broke - Chuck Higgins 24. Send Me Some Lovin' - Little Richard 25. Flippin' - Rene Hall Orchestra
...served by Gyro1966...
trax disc 25:
trax disc 26:
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