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Earl King "Darling Honey Angel Child" Rex
The first of two essentials on the mighty Rex label, Rex was a label established by Cosimo Matassa in 1959, his intention was to provide a outlet for unsigned New Orleans musicians.
"Darling Honey Angel Child" was to the best of my knowledge originally recorded by Johnny Vincent for his Ace label but not released, around the same time as Cosimo put it out it was re-recorded as "Come On (let the good times roll)" for the Specialty label
this better known version ("Come On") was famously covered by Jimi Hendrix on Electric Ladyland.
Earl's is the voice you can hear on Professor Longhairs magical "Big Chief" - the name was his pet name for his mother.
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Mac Rebennack "Storm Warning" Rex
For the benefit of those who may not know, Mac Rebennack was the real name of New Orleans legend Dr John. "Storm Warning" was his first solo outing, released in 1959 according to a Billlboard review of that year (although many sources list the date as 1957). Around the time of this recording he was doing session work with Huey Smith and Professor Longhair amongst others and was becoming a regular face on the New Orleans music scene, a lot of his time was spent hanging around Johnny Vincent's Ace studio, watching people like Huey Smith, Earl King and Eddie Bo work. "Storm Warning" is a mindblowing guitar led instrumental with Mac's guitar playing equal (if not better) to Travis Wammack or Link Wray, a real testimony to the loss the music world suffered when he had his accident and switched to piano.
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Mac Rebenack "Sahara" Ace
Released in 1961, this is one of the last true greats on Vincent's Ace, I'm not quite sure what the deal was with the label design change but isn't it a beauty! The company sleeve it came in is equally nice too! A popular sound with both Rn'B and Jamaican collectors so pretty tough to find, and then you get the funk and rock collectors seeking it out. "Sahara" is a instrumental that'll work on any scene, a real cool and addictive sound. |
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Frankie Ford With Huey Smith "Alimony" Ace
Fantastic Rhythm n' Blues stormer from Frankie "Sea Cruise" Ford backed with Huey Smith, the melody is not a million miles apart from "Sea Cruise" but as any self respecting New Orleans collector will tell you - this is the one! Such great lyrics and singing, Smiths arrangement is pretty wild stuff. |
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Little Booker "Open The Door" Ace
As you've probably guessed already Little Booker is none other than James Booker, this early rock n' roll wailer features none other than Joe Tex on vocals. Recorded in 1958 "Open Up The Door" is a 200mph screamer with Booker tearing the keys apart as manically as Tex's screaming vocals. I wont go into Booker's colourful life story instead i'll recommend this link which documents his turbulent times wonderfully... http://www.cascadeblues.org/History/JamesBooker.htm |
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Bobby Marchan "Chickee Wah-Wah" Ace
A classic rock n' roller from from 1957 by everyones favourite New Orleans cross dresser, Marchan was one of Huey Smiths more famous singers who carried on releasing fantastic records through the sixties and long after parting company with Smith and his clowns. "Chickee Wah-Wah" is a great black rocker with a cool New Orleans style, it was one of Marchan's first releases as The Clowns new frontman. |
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Huey And Jerry "Little Chickee Wah Wah" Vin
Huey Smith is one of New Orleans true greats, criminally exploited in his career and sadly overlooked by the mainstream music industry today, largely due to his turning his back on that industry with more than a little bitterness on his part. The man recorded some truly amazing records and this is one of my faves. After he orchestrated Bobby Marchan's Ace recording "Chckee Wah-Wah", in the previous year, Smith got together with a local female singer by the name of Gerri Hall and cut this cool rock n' roller on Johnny Vincent's new Vin label. Despite the title similarity it's not really the same song as Marchan's recording, where that is a fast rocker this is a more typical Huey Smith New Orleans sing-a-long piano based dancer. |
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Daddy Cleanhead "Something's Goin' On In My Room" Specialty
Daddy Cleanhead was born Fred Higgins, he recorded this cool rocker in 1954 in Los Angeles for Art Rupes Specialty label, but its inclusion on this Southern excavation is a must regardless of where it was cut. A story about a brother getting riled because he thinks his girls up to no good in his room, he can hear that somethings goin' on up there and suspects a little infidelity. he song finishes up with him flinging the door open only to discover her dancing around with a broom! A real dance record here, proper floor filler! |
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Wynona Carr "Please Mr Jailer" Specialty
Wynona Carr is a name not all that commonly mentioned, she cut some absolute killer rhythm n' blues and gospel on Specialty Records. Wynona started out as a gospel singer and had reasonable success in that field but when Specialty A&R man Bumps Blackwell offered her the prestigious position of lead vocalist in his band that's when she changed style quite radically. This change was initiated by her first non-gospel release - the classic blues ballad "Please Mr Jailer", a devastating soulful tale, pleading for the return of her man from the hands of the jailer. During their time together Wynona and Bumps cut some great uptempo rockers up until Bumps and Rupe fell out. After the departure of Bumps she was left with his replacement Sonny Bono who didn't really get anything good out of her, and so she left the label to fade into obscurity until her death in 1976 (in between she did record for Reprise but cut nothing of greatness there). |
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Don And Dewey "Koko Joe" Specialty
Don (Don Harris) and Dewey (Dewey Terry) cut some of the wildest rock n' roll screamers on Specialty or any other label for that matter. They were born out of the Pasadena band The Squires who recorded on their own and as backing for Effie Smith. Don and Dewey came about when Effie and her husband John Criner heard the two singing a duet together (The Squires rehearsed at their house), the couple convinced them to record as a duet and Criner duly signed them to his own label Shade, these releases flopped and are now almost impossible to find. Rather than fade into obscurity Don and Dewey were picked up by Bumps Blackwell who brought them to Specialty where they cut the classics "Jungle Hop" and "Koko Joe" amongst others. |
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Tommy Ridgley "Jam Up" Atlantic
Jerry Wexler signed Tommy to his Atlantic label in late 1953 following Tommy's string of hits for Imperial Records, the first Atlantic release was 1954's "Ooh Lawdy My Baby" which despite featuring Ray Charles on piano remained only a regional hit doing very little outside the Crescent City. His follow up was a blues recording titled "Wish I Had Never", this was a slow seller until the flipside "Jam Up", a raucous jump blues number, was picked up. It then sold like crazy. "Jam Up" became a major black Rn'B record and even today remains an all-time classic. For whatever reason, Tommy never recorded a follow up for Atlantic but as we all know he went on to cut some outright killers, especially during his period of working alongside his friend Eddie Bo.
I can't begin to explain the sound of "Jam Up" it has to be heard to be believed, one of the wildest straight up RnB tracks ever cut onto vinyl, next time someone tells you Elvis invented Rock n' Roll - just before you ram their face into a wall - you may wanna play them this! |
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Diamond Joe "Moanin' And Screamin'" Minit
A stunning 45, strikingly different to his Sansu recordings, the first time I heard this I presumed it was an unissued Nina Simone recording, never once imagining it to be male let alone Diamond Joe. One of the most beautiful records i've ever heard, Joe's voice is mesmerising and seeped in emotion, a proper soul record! |
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Eddie Lang "Come On Home" RPM
RPM was founded in 1950 by brothers Joe and Jules Bihari, the label was home to BB King, in fact almost every other release was by BB King, in between great 45's by a dizzying roster of blues legends that included Jimmy McCracklin, Lowell Fulson, Howlin' Wolf, Roscoe Gordon , Ike Turner, Lightnin' Hopkin's, Johnny Guitar Watson, Richard Berry... on and on the catalogue goes, quite unbelievable stuff for a label not all that well known outside of collectors circles.
New Orleans blues singer Eddie Lang only cut one record for the label, he also recorded for Savoy, and went on to record with Eddie Bo in the mid sixties. "Come On Home" is a great New Orleans blues rocker, not a million miles removed from what Huey Smith was doing in the late fifties. |
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Shin-Dig Smith And The Soul Shakers "Through Fooling Around" Pitter-Pat
Difficult to put a date to this, around the mid sixties Huey Smith's career was dipping so he was working with all sorts of frontmen for Joe Banashak's labels trying to get the hits back, he started recording under slight pseudenyms, I suspect in an attempt to cloak his identity and past and to create the buzz of a new act. Pitter Pat was a name that he used as a band (the PitterPats on Instant) and (I think) later used as a name for his own short lived record label Pitter - Pat. "Through Fooling Around" is straight out of the jump blues standard of the late forties and early fifties but with a mid sixties twist. The song is a tale of a man who's done too much doggin' around and his woman's had more than enough of his misbehaving so she goes and gets him sorted by shooting him stone cold dead. In the tradtion of all Huey's great recordings it's a mixture of humour and serious coolness. |
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Lee Tillman "Will Travel" Ron
A great version of Richard Berry's classic "Have Love Will Travel", no not as good as the Sonics killer version, but a close third! Getting a bit of heat at the moment it seems. |
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Sonny Jones "Can't You See" Chart
Sonny Jones or Little Sonny Jones as he was more commonly known is one of many New Orleans great blues singers who never quite made his way out of fifties obscurity and into mainstream consciousness, he cut some incredible tracks and even went on to revive his career in the late sixties under Eddie Bo at Scram records while working with Bo's friends - the Lastie Brothers. "Can't You See" is a classic example of the many strong records out of New Orleans that time has forgotten, its by no means the best record on this page but surely worthy of some attention. |
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Paul Gayten "Hot Cross Buns" Anna
Some big names are associated with this release from 1959, not only are we talking about Paul Gayton - a true legend who wound up founding the Pzazz label once his own career dried up but Anna Records was closely associated with Berry Gordy if memory serves me well. "Hot Cross Buns" is an outragious tittyshaker, this is boogaloo before there was such a thing and with a bonus flipside called "The Hunch" - you know there are no bad hunch records!
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Guitar Gable "Congo Mombo" Excello
Guitar Gable or as his momma knew him Gabriel Perrodin cut his first release "Congo Mombo" on Ernie Young's Excello in 1956, it became a big regional hit and remains a classic example of Louisiana rhythm n blues with its wild percussion and fast driving pace. The more you dig into this music the more you see just what a melting pot it all was, listening to the wild drums and scratchy guitar on this makes me immediately think of Huey Smith on Ace or Eddie Bo on Apollo, but of course this came way before them both! |
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The Pitter Pats "It Do Me Good" Instant
Huey Smith in disguise from 1966, this is essentially the same recording outfit that he recorded as the Hueys featuring Brenda Brandon's great vocals. This is a great, overlooked soul 45 that should be a huge spin. Let's get this one activated! |
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Al White & The Hi-Liters "Noise With The Boys" Tune-Kel
A killer New Orleans funk 45, from Joe Banashak's never ending stable of artists, Al White & the Hi-Liters seemingly did not cut one single bad record, so far as I can ascertain they are all total classics! "Noise With The Boys" is a fave with the break junkies as it's got one of the baddest drum intros out there. |
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Percy Mayfield "Louisiana" Specialty
Recorded in 1952, this is a pretty tricky one to pin down on 45 as I usually just see it on 78's and never in too good a condition. Mayfield was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and this was his ode to his homeland, a catchy feelgood rhythm n blues shuffler extolling the virtues of his birth state. |
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Huey Smith & The Clowns "You Got Too" Instant
In 1969 Huey Smith was almost at breaking point, his music was becoming increasingly faster and more urgent, he was yet to reclaim his hitmaker status with Skip Easterling and "Hoochie Coochie Man". On this release he featured a singer that he used over at Seven B a mysterious fellow by the name of Little Buck who seemingly was a new face on the Banashak recording network but vanished almost as quickly as he arrived, which is such a shame as every release he made was an outright killer. "You Got Too" is a real killer, it kicks off with Little Bucks deep, wailing voice before dropping into a real nasty drum break, the melody goes in and out of Watermelon Man but like you cannot imagine. Absolutely top drawer. |
