
Not Now Music's three-disc, 75-track 2014 set Cruisin' Rockabilly is a heavy dose of jumping rockabilly and rock & roll, one that spends as much time on the margins as it does on the big names. And, make no mistake, there are some big names here, beginning with the king of rock & roll himself, Elvis Presley, and running through Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Jack Scott, Charlie Feathers, and Johnny Burnette. There are also cult favorites here -- the Collins Kids, Warren Smith, Sid King & the Five Strings, Billy "Crash" Craddock -- plus a bunch of other cool cats who are known to many, but not all, aficionados. It can be fun to spot trends, such as the rocking septuagenarians of Skeets McDonald's "You Oughta See Grandma Rock" and Mac Curtis' "Grandaddy's Rockin'," and find original versions of songs later popularized by big-name rockers (Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac," which was covered by the Clash on London Calling); it's also cool to hear a country singer like Dave Dudley dabble in rockabilly or discover the occasional song that shares a title with a better-known tune (Don Woody's "Bird Dog," which has nothing to do with the Everly Brothers song of the same name). Chronological order is thrown out the window, and there are some big artists and songs missing, but this never attempts to be a definitive rockabilly set: it's a cruise through the music's '50s heyday and it's plenty fun indeed. (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic)
trax disc 1:
1. Cruisin' - Gene Vincent 2. Red Headed Woman - Sonny Burgess 3. Big Blon' Baby - Ronnie Self 4. Rock A Bye Baby Rock - Connie Dycus 5. Boppin' High School Baby - Don Willis 6. One Hand Loose - Charlie Feathers 7. Teenage Ball - Elroy Dietzel & The Rhytm Bandits 8. One Of These Days - Jack Scott 9. Lonesome Train (On A Lonesome Track) - Johnny Burnette 10. If I Had Me A Woman - Mac Curtis 11. Gonna Rock n Roll Tonight - Carl Mann & The Kool Kats 12. Drive In Show - Eddie Cochran 13. Hey Baby - Bill Lawrence 14. Won't Tell You Her Name - Al Urban 15. Go! Go! Go! - Roy Orbison 16. Big Door - Gene Brown 17. Bang Bang - Janis Martin 18. I've Got A Woman - Eddie Bond & The Stompers 19. Cast Iron Arm - Peanuts Wilson 20. Rockin' With My Baby - Malcolm Yelvington 21. Movie Magg - Carl Perkins 22. I'm Countin' On You - Ray Vernon 23. You Oughta See Grandma Rock - Skeets McDonald 24. Rockin' - The Strikes 25. Uranium Rock - Warren Smith
trax disc 2:
1. That Ain't Nothing But Right - Mac Curtis 2. Sitting On Top Of The World - Curtis Gordon 3. Going Down That Road - Ersel Hickey 4. Bottle To The Baby - Charlie Feathers 5. Cadillac Baby - Bill Sherell 6. So Tired - The Chavis Brothers 7. Barking Up The Wrong Tree - Don Woody 8. Rockin' Daddy - Eddie Bond 9. Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight - Sid King & The Five Strings 10. Jungle Rock - Hank Mizell 11. Ten Little Women - Terry Noland 12. I Got The Bug - Kenny Owen 13. Rock & Roll Nursery Rhyme - Dave Dudley 14. Bop, Bop Baby - Wade & Dick 15. Rock All Night - Glenn Honeycutt 16. Hop Skip & Jump - The Collins Kids 17. Go Cat Go - Bill Flagg 18. Boo Hoo - Marvin Rainwater 19. Race With The Devil - Gene Vincent 20. Honey Don't - Carl Perkins 21. Mystery Train - Elvis Presley 22. Born To Love One Woman - Ric Cartey 23. Rock On The Moon - Jimmy Stewart 24. Dig That Ford - Doug Harden 25. Brand New Cadillac - Vince Taylor
trax disc 3:
1. Shirley Lee - Bobby Lee Trammell 2. Dig Boy Dig - Freddie Hart 3. Grandaddy's Rockin - Mac Curtis 4. Draggin' - Curtis Gordon 5. Ooby Dooby - Sid King & The Five Strings 6. Twenty Flight Rock - Eddie Cochran 7. Crazy Baby - Gene Maltais 8. Bird Dog - Don Woody 9. Boppin' The Blies - Carl Perkins 10. Pink Thunderbird - Gene Vincent 11. Burning The Wind - Billy Wallace 12. Sixteen Tons Of Rock N Roll - Jimmy Murphy 13. If You Can't Rock Me - The Strikes 14. Black Slacks - Joe Bennet & The Sparkletones 15. Done Gone - Earl George 16. Rock Billy Boogie - Johnny Burnette 17. Hot And Cold - Marvin Rainwater 18. Walk My Way Back Home - Dwight Pullen 19. Rockin' Bones - Ronnie Dawson 20. Go 'Way Hound Dog - Cliff Johnson 21. Only Teenagers Allowed - Jackie Walker 22. Tongue Tied Jill - Charlie Feathers 23. Birddoggin' - Billy "Crash" Craddock 24. Seven Nights To Rock - Moon Mullican With Boyd Bennet & His Rockets 25. So Long, Good Luck & Goodbye - Weldon Rogers
...served by Gyro1966...