GREAT BRITISH ROCK 'N' ROLL Vol. 2: Just About As Good As It Gets - disc 1

This fascinating collection sets out to show what was going on in the swing rock 'n' roll scene in Britain from the early 50's to 1956.
Many would argue that there was no such thing as Great British Rock 'n' Roll in the 1950s, or at least not until 1958 when Cliff Richard's "Move It" offered a rather more convincing home-grown hit than all of its predecessors. However, apart from the Skiffle explosion, there was another quirky musical scene happening in Britain during the late '40s and 1950s. As far as we are aware, this compilation is the first authoritative musical documentation of that scene.
Perhaps it should better be classed as NOSTALGIA rather than Rock 'n' Roll but there is a lot of fascinating stuff here, such as the Deep River Boys (from Virginia, USA, recording in Britain during their many UK tours), Ray Ellington (a British-based black bandleader of American & Russian descent) and Winifred Atwell, a classically trained pianist from Trinidad who would go to 'her other piano' to belt out some rockin' boogies. Elsewhere there are numerous talented British jazzers seeing which way the wind was blowing and jumping that jive, and some up 'n' coming UK popsters swaying their hips to the transatlantic rhythm. And of course Tommy Steele, who was acclaimed as Britain's first Rock 'n' Roll star (long before he started serenading little white bulls).
This goes to show that swing rock 'n' roll was being recorded and performed on Britain in the early 50's far more than most realized.

trax CD 1:
1. Love Bug Crawl - Marty Wilde & The Wild Cats 2. Knee Deep In The Blues - Ricky James 3. C'min And Be Loved - Terry Dene 4. Be My Girl - Jima Dale 5. Hey You - Tommy Steele & The Steelmen 6. Rock A Chicka - Frankie Vaughan 7. Spike's Rock - Ray Sendit & His Rockey Team 8. Let's Have A Party - Rikki Henderson 9. Slim Jim Tie - Terry Wayne 10. Raunchy - Ken Mackintosh 11. Rockin' At The 2 II's - Wee Willie Harris 12. Teenage Party - Tommy Steele & The Steelmen 13. Fabulous - Alma Cogan 14. Honeycomb - Marty Wilde & The Wild Cats 15. Bluer Than Blue - Ricky James 16. Teddy Bear - Shorty Mitchell 17. Quiet Quiet Shhh - Bert Weedon 18. A White Sports Coat - Terry Dene 19. I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone - Joey Castell 20. Wild Eyes And Tender Lips - Colin Hicks & His Cabin Boys 21. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On - The Tunettes 22. Boogie Woogie Stomp - The Saints Jazz Band 23. The Green Door - Frankie Vaughan 24. I'm In Love Again - Alma Cogan 25. Crazy Dream - Jim Dale 26. Flannel Foot - Bert Weedon 27. A Handful Of Songs - Tommy Steele & The Steelmen 28. Cool Shake - Larry Page 29. Late Extra - Russ Conway 30. She's Long, She's Tall - Johnny Southern & The Western Rhythm Kings 31. Boppin' The Blues - Terry Wayne 32. Applejack - Ken Macintosh 33. Butterfly - Tommy Steele
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