GENE VINCENT "The Indispensable Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps 1956-1958"

Thanks to Be-Bop-a-Lula, Gene Vincent and his group The Blue Caps became rock’s champions. Their first recordings featuring the dazzling guitarist Cliff Gallup can be found here in a jumping blues, rock ‘n’ roll and hillbilly anthology which communicates all their incomparable energy and magic. These raw, uncompromising titles represent the very essence of pure rockabilly, the genre they largely contributed to create. - Patrick FRÉMEAUXNorfolk, Virginia-born Vincent Eugene Craddock should need no introduction for the majority of readers – as Gene Vincent he recorded ‘Be Bop A Lula’ in 1956 and plenty of other rock’n’roll material for Capitol Records, though Gene has been redefined more as a rockabilly performer these days. This three CD set contains his first recordings, from ‘Race With The Devil’ onwards, meaning that not only are the well-known hits like ‘Bluejean Bop’ and ‘Dance To The Bop’ present, alongside frantic rockers such as ‘Gomma Back Up Baby’, ‘Jump Back, Honey, Jump Back’, ‘Hol Me, Hug Me, Rock Me’ and the collection closer, ‘Rocky Road Blues’, but also his interpretations of standards such as ‘Up A Lazy River’ and ‘Peg O’ My Heart’, witch do (incredibly) at least keep some elements of rockabilly. He also has a bluesy touch – try ‘Jumps Giggles And Shouts’ for an unlikely sounding example, the Bo Diddley influenced ‘Cat Man’, or ‘Pretty Pretty Baby’, and there is a Fats Domino influence descenible on his versions of ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ and ‘By The Light Of The Silver Moon’. ‘I Love You’ and ‘Little Lover’ are successful attemps at a Buddy Holly flavoured approach. In general though, Gene’s vocal are often very similar to those of Elvis and there is a live version of ‘Hound Dog’ from August 1957 to underline the comparison ; ditto the presence of The Jordanaires on some tracks. Cliff Gallup plays excellent guitar on nearly every song on wich he appears – listen to him tear it up on ‘Cruisin’ – as later does Johnny Meeks. Eddie Cochran even turns up as a backing vocalist on some of the last titles here. All these sides predate Gene’s move the britain. As a callow youth, I do recall seeing him on television in the 60s ‘, when he seemed to be the quintessential rocker – but although I was only familiar with some of these numbers, I Thoroughly enjoyed just about everything here. Norman DARWEN – BLUES & RHYTHM

INFO:

http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=81&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1447&option=com_virtuemart

trax disc 1:

01 Race With The Devil 02 Be Bop A Lula 03 Woman Love 04 I Sure Miss You 05 Jezebel 06 Crazy Legs 07 Peg O My Heart 08 Wedding Bells 09 Waltz Of The Wind 10 Up A Lazy River 11 Ain't She Sweet 12 Gonna Back Up Baby 13 Who Slapped John 14 Jumps Giggles And Shouts 15 Bluejean Bop 16 I Flipped 17 Bop Street 18 Well I Knocked And I Knocked 19 You Told A Fib 20 Jump Back Honey Jump Back 21 Hound Dog 22 Be Bop A Lula (Version 2)

trax disc 2:

01 Teenage Partner 02 Blues Stay Away From Me 03 Five Feet Of Loving 04 Cat Man 05 Double Talkin' Baby 06 Hold Me, Hug Me, Rock Me 07 Unchained Melody 08 Bi Bickey Bi, Bo Bo Go 09 Pink Thunderbird 10 Pretty Pretty Baby 11 Cruisin' 12 Important Words 13 You Better Believe 14 Red Bluejeans And Pony Tail 15 Five Days Five Days 16 I Got It 17 Wear My Ring 18 Lotta Lovin' 19 Rollin Danny 20 Time Will Brig You Everything 21 True To You 22 In My Dreams 23 Dance To The Bop

trax disc 3:

01 Your Cheatin Heart 02 Baby Blue 03 Walkin' Home From School 04 It's No Lie 05 Should I Ever Love Again 06 Flea Brain 07 Brand New Beat 08 Frankie And Jonnhy 09 You Belong To Me 10 Keep It A Secret 11 Yes I Love You Baby 12 By The Light Of The Silvery Moon 13 Right Now 14 You'll Never Walk Alone 15 I Got A Baby 16 Dance In The Street 17 Get It 18 I Love You 19 Teenage Partner (Version 2) 20 You Gave Me Peace Of Mind 21 Lovely Loretta 22 Little Lover 23 Rocky Road Blues

...served by Gyro1966…