...Jamie didn't really have a signature sound, which means that Classic Jamie Masters is all over the place in terms of sound and style, flipping between rock & roll, country, pop and R&B in the blink of the eye. Furthermore, the set doesn't contain many hit singles. While there are a number of famous names, only two of them -- Duane Eddy and Barbara Lynn -- are represented by big hits. Nevertheless, the set is a quite entertaining, especially for listeners who are looking for rarities, obscurities and arcane items from big names. Classic Jamie Masters contains tracks by Duane Eddy ("Rebel Rouser," "Because They're Young," "40 Miles of Bad Road"), Barbara Lynn ("You'll Lose A Good Thing," "(I Cried At) Laura's Wedding"), Titus Turner ("Sound Off"), Barbara Mason ("Yes I'm Ready"), Bruce Channel ("Going Back to Louisiana"), Johnny Rivers ("Hole In the Ground"), Mac Davis ("I'm a Poor Loser"), Danny & the Juniors ("Oh-La-La Limbo"), Neil Sedaka ("Ring A Rockin'"), Maureen Gray ("Dancing the Strand"), Lee Hazlewood ("Words Mean Nothing"), Sanford Clark ("Son of A Gun"), Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes ("Get Out"), and Barbara Mason ("Oh How It Hurts”).(Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic)trax disc 1:
1. Rebel Rouser - Duane Eddy 2. You'll Lose A Good Thing - Barbara Lynn 3. Quarter To Four Stomp - The Stompers 4. Pink Chiffon - Mitchell Torok 5. One Million Years - The Heartbeats 6. Maybe You'll Be There - Billy & The Essentials 7. Pop-Pop-Pop-Pie - The Sherrys 8. Unchained Melody - The Blackwells 9. Mother Nature - Floyd Robinson 10. The Girl From Across The Sea - Ernie & The Halos 11. Sound Off - Titus Turner 12. Dance, Beatle, Dance - The Beatlettes 13. Sweet Dreams - Tommy McLain 14. Yes, I'm Ready - Barbara Mason 15. Going Back To Louisiana - Bruce Channel 16. I Wonder - The Pentagons 17. Sea Of Love - The Kit Kats 18. Dry Your Eyes - Brenda & The Tabulations 19. I Really Love You - The Ambassadors 20. Won't Find Better Than Me - New Hope 21. The Horse - Cliff Nobles & Co. 22. Let Me Be Your Man - Tyrone Ashley 23. Ain't Nothin' But A House Party - The Show Stoppers 24. Storm Warning - The Volcanos 25. Tell Me - The Ethics 26. Here Am I Broken Hearted - The Four J's 27. Ooh-La-La-Limbo - Danny & The Juniors 28. Hole In The Ground - Johnny Rivers 29. I'm A Poor Loser - Mac Davis 30. Time Out For Tears - Savannah Churchill
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1. Linda Lu - Ray Sharpe 2. Because They're Young - Duane Eddy 3. Dancing The Strand - Maureen Gray 4. Ring A Rockin' - Neil Sedaka 5. Dry Your Eyes - The Inspirations 6. Words Mean Nothing - Lee Hazlewood 7. The Jam (Part 1) - Bobby Gregg & His Friends 8. Need You - Donnie Owens 9. Have Love, Will Travel - The Sharps 10. The Dance Is Over - Billy & The Essentials 11. Never, Never - Jordan Brothers 12. Darling, I Want To Get Married - The Heartbeats 13. Come On In - Craig Alden 14. Forty Miles Of Bad Road - Duane Eddy 15. Son Of A Gun - Sanford Clark 16. I'm In Love - The Pentagons 17. (I Cried At) Laura's Wedding - Barbara Lynn 18. Caribbean - Mitchell Torok 19. Strollin' After School - Ernie Fields 20. Get Out - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes 21. Slop Time - The Sherrys 22. Love (Can Make You Happy) - Mercy 23. Living Doll - Bobby Bond 24. Oh How It Hurts - Barbara Mason 25. For Your Precious Love - Geater Davis 26. Boogaloo Down Broadway - The Fantastic Johnny C 27. Don't Make The Good Girls Go Bad - Della Humphrey 28. Love Addict - Honey & The Bees 29. Right On The Tip Of My Tongue - Brenda & The Tabulations 30. Goodbye - The Temptones
…served by Gyro1966...
"Space Heater" is Horton Heat's 5th studio album & second/last for Interscope Records. Again, it may not be his best & you may prefer other discs he's recorded over this one, but the fact remains that The Rev. just NEVER puts out a bad album.
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It's just me having fun with my 45's and whatever random record I pull out of the boxes. I will try to give both sides of the 45 unless one side is dull, unbearable or unplayable. I hope you enjoy. (Gyro1966)
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...There are liner notes, and they discuss with a fan's abandon many of the performers included here The music itself is ultimately what matters, and these 20 tracks are strictly topnotch. The masters are no big deal in terms of quality, but it seems likely that there are fewer than a couple of handfuls of the original singles on the planet, so what are you going to do? These are definitely mastered from records, not session tapes. This collection is symptomatic of a genre of music that was widely recorded -- like doo wop before it -- and barely documented. While it's true that this is for the most part a bootleg, it is perhaps the only source for music that deserves to be studied, disseminated, and -- most of all -- played for perpetuity.(Thom Jurek, Allmusic)
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It's just me having fun with my 45's and whatever random record I pull out of the boxes. I will try to give both sides of the 45 unless one side is dull, unbearable or unplayable. I hope you enjoy. (Gyro1966)
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Joe Meek did not record nearly as many female artists as male artists. However, this might just as well be because of the greater difficulty female artists experienced securing radio exposure in the 1960s. Nonetheless, this superb collection demonstrates Meek's efforts with a respectable number of girl singers and, at the same time, provides a great sampler of archetypal British girl records from the early 1960s.
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Gone With the Wave (1964) was an obscure surf movie directed by Phil Wilson, son of Revue (later Universal) music director Stanley Wilson. The elder Wilson was a beloved mentor for many prominent composers, including John Williams and Lalo Schifrin. Schifrin gladly accepted Stanley Wilson's invitiation to score son Phil's surf picture, and recorded 31 minutes of original compositions with a top-flight West Coast jazz band.
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...Many years of hard living are clearly audible in Williams' voice on the album Can You Deal with It?, which pairs him up with a band of ragged but right R&B mavens called the New Orleans Hellhounds, but if his instrument is a bit rough around the edges, the spirit is not just willing but raring to go, and this set manages to fuse the crazed, hallucinogenic rent-party vibe of Silky and The Black Godfather with full-strength soul and old-school funk backdrops that bring Williams' music of the '60s and '70s into the present day. Williams has made plenty of albums that are louder and crazier, but it's been a long time since he grooved as hard as he does on "Your Woman" and "If You Leave Me," and the rowdy country-soul vibe of "Pray for You Daughter" and "Rosalie" sounds downright playful, a quality that hasn't always been at the forefront of Mr. Rhythm's work. "Never Had a Problem" blatantly borrows its hook from "Should I Stay or Should I Go," but it manages to rock even harder than the Clash's variation on this theme, and "Can't Take 'Em Off" would make the ideal theme song for some particularly kinky and imaginative exotic dancer. The band (which includes whacked-out keyboard genius Mr. Quintron) grooves with gusto on these sessions, but it's Andre Williams who really brings this show to life, and whether he's moaning, laughing, scolding, or pleading, he's the raunchiest senior citizen on the face of the Earth and he's inviting you to one wild party on Can You Deal with It? The AARP ain't got nothin' on this man. - AllMusic Review by Mark Deming
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Fortune Records was an American family operated, independent record label located in Detroit, Michigan from 1946 to 1995. The label owners were Jack and Devora Brown, their son Sheldon Brown recorded for the label. Original releases tapered off after 1972 aside from a few albums in the mid-1980s. Fortune specialized in R&B, blues, soul and doo-wop music, although the label also released pop, big band, hillbilly, gospel, rock and roll, and polka records.
...A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless" and "High School Confidential". However, Lewis's rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to his 13-year-old first cousin once removed when he was 23 years old.
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…They played an hour set before a break and then came back on as backing band for the Black Godfather. Andre Williams (who entered through the stage door while the band was building him up) is an interesting figure. In his long career he’s been on Chess Records, wrote songs for Stevie Wonder, Parliament and Funkadelic, worked with Ike Turner, battled drug addiction and homelessness, and released a long list of albums between 1960 and 2006. I first heard about Williams though his relationship with In the Red Records, the original home of the Ponys, the Black Lips, and Jay Reatard, and soon after, my old band had the chance of opening up for him and the Flash at Alex’s in Long Beach. His performance then blew me away. Last night he showed up in a blue suit with a red tie and a black fedora, and though now in his seventies, he looked as sharp as ever. He immediately broke into songs like “Jail Bait” and “Pass the Biscuits Please,” with a vocal style more talking than singing. And he’s an eternal ladies’ man: he’d slow the songs down to spout lines like, “Hey baby, you’re the apple of my eye! If you need anyone, call—winter, spring, summer, fall!” and then build back into heavy, murky guitars and shouted vocals. He’s an endearing old man, and he was at his best Wednesday night. I kept hearing allusions to a Safari Sam’s show this summer when he was unable to complete a song, but that wasn’t the case here. He exited the stage during a chant of “Pussy stank, but so do marijuana!” before returning for a brief encore. — Daniel Clodfelter
It's just me having fun with my 45's and whatever random record I pull out of the boxes. I will try to give both sides of the 45 unless one side is dull, unbearable or unplayable. I hope you enjoy. (Gyro1966)
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...As it is, its mere existence as a mid-priced double CD, alongside the presence of the two best-of compilations from MCA and Mercury, makes collecting the best Dell Vikings material extremely complicated. Collectables Records got access to the complete recordings that the original group made for Fee Bee Records, which covers their history from 1956 through 1957, overlapping with the history of the Mercury version of the group. This includes the hit version of "Come Go With Me," as well as "Whispering Bells" (both of which appear on MCA's best-of in those very same versions) and their other early tracks. Collectables also got access to an extraordinary body of outtakes -- a magnificent fast version of "I'm Spinning" that's completely different from the version that appears on both the MCA and Mercury best-of discs. There are distinctive outtakes of "Willette" and oddities such as the Joey Biscoe single "What Made Maggie Run," on which the group sang backup in a hurried attempt to get them out before the public again after that first hit. More important are tracks like "Uh Uh Baby," a fast jump number that shows the group at about its rockingest and nimblest, with a killer guitar solo courtesy of Joe Lopes. Other highlights include radiant outtakes of "Girl, Girl" and "Cold Feet" (done a cappella), little snippets of session chatter (amazing the stuff survived 40 years), and rehearsal and audition versions of the group's songs and generally the fullest account possible of the history of the Fee Bee Records version of the group that you'll ever see.(Bruce Eder, Allmusic)
Exploding onto the Australian east coast scene some years ago, The Alohas have earned their reputation as one of the most unique and powerful live acts to play the local circuit. The Alohas sound is fuelled by 1960's garage punk and surf twang of Dick Dale, Sonics, Atlantics, and the Remains. Their high-energy instrumental sounds and jungle rhythm groove makes for an evening of twisting go-go action stomp! The Alohas have supported the likes of 60's surf legends – The Atlantics as well as oz rock acts The Celibate Rifles, The Crusaders, The Finkers and Thurston Howlers. - from: http://www.citadel-records.com/
The Alohas:
...But the road got a bit too rough for comfort a few years into the new millennium, and 2010's That's All I Need was cut after Williams went through a stay in the hospital and a stint in rehab, and one press release reports this is the first album he's recorded entirely clean and sober. The 74-year-old Williams does sound better controlled and less frantic on That's All I Need, but the songs suggest that getting straight hasn't changed him all that much -- "There Ain't No Such Thing As Good Dope" is a tale of street life that focuses on money rather than personal health, on "Cigarettes and My Old Lady," he wonders which is going to kill him first, he recalls adventures both good and bad on "My Time Will Come" and once again insists he's got the skills to be your lover man on "Tricks." Williams produced this set in collaboration with Matthew Smith (who, after overseeing sessions with Nathaniel Mayer and Scott Morgan, seems to be making a career out of working with legends of Michigan R&B), and Smith has put together a tight, emphatic band for That's All I Need, with Motown guitar legend Dennis Coffey working alongside underground rock stalwarts Troy Gregory, Dave Shettler, and Mike Alonso. That's All I Need isn't as fiery as some of Williams' recent efforts, but this is music that clearly aims for a feel that's soulful rather than manic, and on that level it works very well, especially on the confessional "Amends" and the title tune. 54 years after his first hit record, Andre Williams still has plenty to say and can conjure up a tough, funky groove that comes straight from the heart, and That's All I Need suggests he may have another decade or two of potent music left in him.
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…Yep, and this 92-track examination of Greer's 1949-1955 stay at RCA Victor virtually never grows stale, either, thanks to the torrid jump blues tempos Greer often favored. "Got You on My Mind," and the often-covered blues ballad that proved Greer's lone hit, is here, as are rocking renditions of "Bottle It Up and Go," "Come Back Maybelline," and "Clambake Boogie." Guest vocalists include the Du Droppers, Annisteen Allen, and Damita Jo. Typically exhaustive liner notes and discographical info in the Bear Family tradition. (Bill Dahl, Allmusic)
...Guitar-based and extremely lyrical, Tolman has grown into his rough-hewn vocal style and sounds more comfortable with it than ever, aided by co-producer Steve Wynn and Wynn's band. "Two Drinks From Genius" has an eerie keyboard line and genuinely funny straight line: "Two drinks from genius and my breath is starting to smell." Great lines abound in "King City"; "She's My Alibi," a fairly trad folk-rock track is difficult to resist in its simplicity. Female vocals throughout the album add to the moody romance/obsession. With his Leonard Cohen/Lou Reed-style delivery, lovers of those wordsmiths will also find much to enjoy in Tolman's brand of Americana.
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...Casey is a very good rock and surf guitarist, but the material is often average or boring period instrumental rock, and not so elevated by Casey's guitar licks and arrangements that they demand repeated listening. The most exciting cuts are the surf ones produced (and often written) by Lee Hazlewood, including "Surfin' Hootenanny," Casey's biggest hit. The more obscure "El Aguila (The Eagle)" and "The Hearse" show Casey's skill at dipping his axe in reverb to ride the surf wave, while "Thunder Beach" and "Baja" borrow, as a lot of surf did, from Latin melodies and rhythms. Casey also does his own version of "Ramrod," a Casey composition that colleague Duane Eddy had taken into the Top 30 a few years previously. Surf-heads should know, though, that much of this disc is not surf music, but bluesy early-'60s R&B-rock, on which the organ is sometimes as or more prominent than Casey's guitar. In fact, "Cookin'" and "Jivin' Around," which both lurched into the bottom of the Top 100, are a lot closer to Jimmy Smith than Dick Dale; those songs and "Doin' It" are actually pretty respectable as far as that genre goes. Two of the songs on the CD were previously unreleased. - AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger
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...What's here are three tracks recorded in 1967 in Detroit with many of the Motown session players and ten tracks recorded in 1977 in Chicago with a band Williams put together called the Velvet Hammer. The Detroit songs are smooth, soulful ballads, with Williams oozing some of his unique charm, "The Velvet Groove: Blue" being an especially nice instrumental. The Chicago session marks Williams' foray into the world of disco and, as usual, he does it his way. "Whip Your Booty" is a nasty and funny dancefloor-filler; "I Don't Need Mary (Juana)" an ode to Williams' newly clean lifestyle. Williams sings lead on that track and "Betcha Gonna Like It" only; the rest he gave to the other members of the group. A highlight of the set is Karl Tarleton's soaring vocal on the sweet ballad "Impossible." The tracks were originally slated to be released on the Susie label, which Williams started with a Chicago-area restaurant-owner, but the plans fell through and the tracks were in limbo for many years. Fans of Andre Williams will find this disc to be fun, but not essential. For anyone else, you won't miss much if you pass this one by. - AllMusic Review by Tim Sendra
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It's just me having fun with my 45's and whatever random record I pull out of the boxes. I will try to give both sides of the 45 unless one side is dull, unbearable or unplayable. I hope you enjoy. (Gyro1966)
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This CD is the fried pork chops; poke salit, grits and gravy of American rhythm and blues. It doesn't get more basic or better. You've got your barrelhouse piano, squealing sax, echoing harmonica, throaty whisky vocals, pithy guitar, and shoe scuffling scooting. You could polish the floor to this stuff. Picture seven adults nestled comfortably in the confines of a late 1960s Cadillac sedan, whispering down interstate, clipping off the mileage makers at a rate of 70 plus MPH. All the windows are down; a couple of rod and reels stick askew out of a not quite closed trunk, just above an I LOVE BEAUMONT bumper sticker. This incredible sound emanates from the car. “Are we in heaven yet?” “No, but we’re getting darn close.” You arrive at some bent wood tavern off a beaten down dirt road, with bottle cap littered parking, sagging post oaks, broken, sputtering neon, and a small room filled-to-capacity. The floor is shaking, beer spilling, cigarette smoke so thick it melts into fog. Sweating bodies swaying and rubbing to the sounds of Junior Wells, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, J.B. Lenoir, Mighty Joe Young and the entire family that made USA Records the bastion of blues and soul recording artist during the 1960s Chicago. USA Records served as a clearinghouse of sorts as most of their artist made the obligatory one hit, and then moved on too bigger things. This is a collection of those hits. "Figure Head" by Lonnie Brooks, "She's A Sweet One" by Junior Wells, "Going and Coming" by Ricky Allen, "Momee, Momee" by Eddy Clearwater aren't exactly national hits but serve as prime examples of a sound that went on to influence The Rolling Stones, Robert Cray, and you start to get the idea. The music was and is absolutely essential in the evolution of American rhythm and blues. The fact that 26 choice cuts have been remastered and included with 8 pages of liner notes, you too could appear to know more than you do on the subject. This is a wonderful thing - timeless, classic, and way, way cool.(Blues World)
...There's just one original on this set, Nelson's "Andy Song," and the album sticks to a loose but R&B-focused groove, sometimes stretching the songs out in a fashion that probably would have been more tightly edited had such an approach not been in vogue in 1970. Nelson's vocals are consistently strong and stirring, and the material is commendably diverse, though overall it's just an okay album that could use a little more oomph. The white R&B vibe is tempered by strong streaks of gospel, New Orleans music, and even a bit of jazz, particularly on the smoother parts of "Groovy Way." - AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger
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Drawing on inspiration from legendary Link Ray & Dick Dale, mixed with class acts like Pixies, Bob Hund & Sonic Youth - and with a profound love for the garage scene, El Ray is more than music, it's deadly fun. 'Chasing Ray' is the band's tribute to former bas player extraordinaire, "El Kid'o", who died tragically of cancer at the age of 27. With new bass player La Chiquilla in place, El Ray is once again ready to get in character and play bikinis and trunks of every cool cat in town. Ink or no ink, you're all welcome at El Ray's surf party and as the band says: 'As long as you're into surfing the genre with a twist and more than ready to venture into the night, you're a Ray'.
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…This collection of rare and unreleased soul from small labels, covering 1965-1971, finds Williams moving and grooving, showing and proving. Known for his greasy rhythm & blues of the 1950s, Williams had already scored hits in the early '60s writing and producing for Alvin Cash & the Crawlers ("Twine Time") and the Five Du-Tones ("Shake a Tail Feather"). Rib Tips & Pig Snoots finds Williams complementing his grooves with the occasional flute or string arrangement, all to a positive effect. "Pearl Time" and "Do It," among other vocal numbers, show that Williams still had his game uptight, working the ladies and starting new dance steps at the same time. A strong, long-overdue collection that showcases Williams at the top of his game as a performer and producer. - AllMusic Review by Kurt Edwards
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Here’s a copy of Dale’s hard-to-find album that he recorded for Warner Bros in the late 90’s, but due to contractual problems, it was never released. Dale ended up putting the unreleased songs out on his own, and selling them at local Austin shows to die-hard fans.
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The rockabilly reverend, who preaches the gospel of '50s rock and roll rebel arrogance, is at his self-aggrandizing best on "Big Red Rocket Of Love," which opens his fourth album by coupling his Mack Daddy proclamations with an ominous, chugging surf groove. "Spell On Me" is a hard-driving voodoo tale, and when Heat sings of his encounters with the supernatural, he sounds as natural as your neighbor recounting his Grand Canyon vacation trip. The turbocharged rhythm section of Jimbo Wallace and Scott Churilla is with the cracked clergyman every step of the way, providing an energetic, propulsive backbeat for Heat's fire-breathing vocals and radioactive guitarwork. Whether transmogrifying Black Sabbath riffs on the slow, moody "Or Is It Just Me" or delivering a monologue about the trials and tribulations of life on the road over a cool, jazzy backing on "That's Showbiz," Reverend Horton Heat delivers a punchy, distinctive wallop capable of making you believe that anytime is MARTINI TIME. - from: http://www.cduniverse.com/
The Reverend Horton Heat:
This is a totally solid retrospective of this fine band, with the added bonus of a number of newly released tracks added for good measure. Recommended, this CD has a large volume of great tracks. - Phil Dirt
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