"Just Shuckin' Around" 1953-1963 Wild & Crazy L.A. R&B

If, like me, you sometimes get a wild hair up your ass to hear some totally inappropriate and thoroughly enjoyable wild ass music, this is a candidate. This 24 track collection from one of Los Angeles' most obsessive record collectors has some wonderful and completely obscure black rock & roll from the glory days. Names you may have heard include Kid Thomas, Willie Egan & Chuck Higgins who share the spotlight with groups like the TORMENTORS, MOJO WATSON and the man who the movie "American Pimp" was fashioned after, CHARLES SIMS (aka Fillmore Slim). If you were to buy these tracks individually, you would be set back a few thousand...providing you could find them. (Bluebeat Music)Just Shuckin' Around serves up two dozen slabs of wild-west R&B, baked to perfection in the Los Angeles sun. This is R&B at its most raucous and uninhibited, with none of the polish and sophistication of radio-friendly soul music. Instead, the music positively reeks of gin, violence, and sex, a potent reminder of why white conservative audiences found it so alarming. Culled from the small independent labels dotting the postwar L.A. landscape, these songs are both timeless and alien, as if beamed in from another galaxy. Add to the package comprehensive liner notes and a center foldout depicting the legendary Flash Record Store, and it becomes essential for listeners seeking an antidote to the antiseptic sheen of contemporary urban music. Highlights include Gil Bernal's "The Whip," Johnny Wright's "Wine Head," and Flash Terry's "Cool It." (Jason Ankeny, Allmusic)

trax:

1. No Hootenanny - L.A. Brown 2. Rock And Roll Fever - Willie Egans 3. Cool It - Flash Terry 4. Papa Shotgun - Billy Stafford 5. Twisted - Paul Preston 6. Aw Shucks - J. J. Jones 7. Thunderbird - William "Thunderbird" Walker 8. Teenage Jamboree - The Dusters 9. Take A Bath - Charles Sims 10. Blacksmith Blues - Chuck Higgins 11. Half Ton Tillie - Little Johnny McCall 12. You Heard What I Said - Kid Thomas & Joe Bennett 13. Part Time - Hank Moore 14. Just Shuckin' Around - Slim Henry 15. Jealous Of You Baby - Gus Jenkins 16. Didn't It Rain - The Tormentors 17. Rock And Roll Is On My Soul - Chuck Grey 18. Too Fat - Little Freddie & Don 19. Don't Shine Me On - Franke And The Dell Stars 20. The Whip - Gil Bernal 21. Wine Head - Johnny Wright 22. Flip Your Daddy - The Cocoas 23. Love Blood Hound - K.C. Mojo Watson 24. My Girl Back In L.A. - Bob Starr

(Compiled by Dick Blackburn)

…served by Gyro1966...