"All Aboard! 25 Train Tracks Calling At All Musical Stations" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Featuring Songs from 1947 to 2012 by Peggy Lee, Cyril Davies, Dusty Springfield, Joe Tex, Sister Rosette Tharpe, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Little Walter, James Carr and more (August 2015 UK Ace Records CD – Second Vicki Fox Compilation of Three – Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Ride That Freedom Train..."

 

For some reason I looked at the cover artwork to this fabulous compilation and thought 'Skiffle' – and that would be a massive disservice to this ingenious CD.

 

Secondly – this is a VICKI FOX themed compilation – a lady music lover and loveable personality who worked and shone around the Ace Records Rock On Record Shop in London's Camden Town when Ace were forming back in the mid Seventies. There are three CDs in honour of her (see list below).

 

And you might also be tempted to think that its singular theme (songs about trains coming and going, lovers arriving and leaving, freedom) – while neat - would quickly become tiresome. But because the music traverses everything from 40ts Peggy Lee shuffles through to 60ts and 70ts Harmonica driven R 'n' B, Country and Bluegrass, Rock and Pop, Reggae, Ska and Soul – the listen is as varied as it is amazing. Throw in very clever choices (tunes you don't know but should) and one of the most beautiful booklets Ace has ever produced for a CD and I'm gonna plug the Sun Records out of this little steam-driven beauty. Here are the rolling stock details...

 

UK released 28 August 2015 (September 2015 in the USA) – "All Aboard! 25 Train Tracks Calling At All Musical Stations" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDCHD 1450 (Barcode 029667073721) is a VICKI FOX CD Compilation of 24-Tracks that plays out as follows (68:56 minutes):

 

1. The Freedom Riders – HAROLD JACKSON & The Jackson Brothers (1961 USA 7" single on Edsel 787, A)

2. The Memphis Train – RUFUS THOMAS (1968 USA 7" single on Stax 250, A)

3. Country Line Special – CYRIL DAVIES & His Rhythm & Blues All Stars (1963 UK 7" single on Pye International 7N.25194, A)

4. Stop That Train – KEITH & TEX [Keith Rowe and Texas Dixon] (1968 UK 7" single on Island WI-3091, A)

5. Ghost Train – VIRGIL HOLMES (1961 USA 7" single on Atlantic 2103, A)

6. It Takes A Long Long Train With A Red Caboose (To Carry My Blues Away) - PEGGY LEE with Dave Barbour and His Orchestra (1947 USA 78" on Capitol 8445, A)

7. Won't Be Long – DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (from her 1965 UK Stereo LP "Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty" on Philips SRBL 1002)

8. Freedom Train – JAMES CARR (1968 USA 7" single on Goldwax 338, A)

9. No. 9 – TARHEEL SLIM (1958 USA 7" single on Fury 101, B-side to "Wildcat Tamer")

10. Pan American Man – CLIFF CARLISLE (1937 USA 78" on Bluebird 7717, A)

11. Last Train To San Fernando – JOHNNY DUNCAN & The Blue Grass Boys (1957 UK 7" single on Columbia DB 3959, A)

12. The Last Train From Kansas City – THE SHANGRI-LAS (1965 USA 7" single on Red Bird 10-036, B-side of "Right Now And Not Later")

13. The Downbound Train – CHUCK BERRY (1956 USA 7" single on Chess 1615, B-side of "No Money Down")

14. Ghetto Train – LUTHER INGRAM (1971 US 7" single on Ko Ko KOA-2108, B-side to "I'll Love You Until The End")

15. This Train – SISTER ROSETTA THARPE (1947 USA 78" on Decca 48043, A)

16. One Way Ticket (To The Blues) – NEIL SEDAKA (1959 US 7" single on RCA Victor 47-7595, B-side to "Oh! Carol")

17. Psychedelic Train – DERRICK HARRIOTT & The Chosen Few (1970 UK 7" single on Songbird SB 1029, A)

18. Hurry Hurray Choo Choo – SHARON TANDY (1968 UK 7" single on Atlantic 584 181, B-side of "Love Is Not A Simple Affair")

19. Big Train – BOBBY WAYNE (1963 USA 7" single on Jerden 709, B-side of "The Valley")

20. Up The Line – LITTLE WALTER (1963 USA 7" single Checker 1043, A)

21. Night Train – JAMES BROWN & The Famous Flames (1962 USA 7" single on King 5614, A)

22. Steam – CAROLINE DAY (1964 USA 7" single on Dimension 1025, B-side of "Teenage Prayer")

23. Train To Skaville – THE ETHIOPIANS (1967 UK 7" single on Rio R 130, A)

24. Go Go Train – JACKIE PAINE (1966 USA 7" single on Jet Stream JS 725, A)

25. Death Train Blues – DADDY LONG LEGS (from the 2012 LP "Evil Eye On You" on Norton ED 382)

 

NOTES: all are MONO except Tracks 7, 12, 14 and 16 – which are STEREO

 

The 20-page booklet is amongst the prettiest I’ve ever seen – fantastic colour photos of various train-related items – a rare Euro picture sleeve of "Memphis Train" by Rufus Thomas – cool British 45s on Rio Records, Atlantic and Columbia – Red Bird, Checker and Chess labels from the USA – sheet music for Johnny Duncan's "Last Train To San Fernando" – pictures of Cyril Davies uber-rare British EP on Pye, Rosetta Tharpe's album on Decca (never seen a copy) – there's even an advert for Tarheel Slim. My only gripe might be that although VICKI FOX’s liner notes are suitably enthusiastic and fun – they're actually a bit short on facts (this is her second compilation for Ace out of three before her sad passing – see list below). But that's a very minor complaint. And of course the NICK ROBBINS Remasters rock in all the right places – especially given the wildly variable sources and music types.

 

As you can glean from the track list above – many of these clever choices are obscure B-sides – so the artists may be familiar but the material isn't. Not surprisingly "All Aboard!" opens with the chugs and puffs of an American locomotive preparing to leave – then you're hit with a wild almost Salsa rhythm which harbours an undercurrent that's perceptively angry and dangerous as they shout "Ride On Freedom Flyers!" Written by Jazz Musicians Dimples and Harold Jackson in 1962 who were sickened when black people were dragged off a segregated bus in 1961 in the Deep South and beaten – they shout out their solidarity with the brave "Freedom Riders" - his wife singing, "...this old Jazz has got to go!" Storming Harmonica-driven R&B hits you right in the kisser with British pioneer Cyril Davies who gives you "Country Line Special" – his debut 45 in 1963 on Pye International. His backing band were Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages and the track was also the lead off on his impossibly rare 1969 EP "The Sound Of Cyril Davies" listed at £75+ - but I've never seen a copy in 20 years of working in a secondhand record shop. It’s a winner in the same vein as the best Little Walter put out on Chess.

 

A cover of a tune the Spanishtonians cut in Jamaica – "Stop That Train" by Keith & Tex (Keith Rowe and Texas Dixon) is the kind of irresistible Ska chugger that gets vinyl collectors week at the knees – its uber-rare 1968 Island Records UK original clocking in at a cool £150. There's also a beautiful poster on Page 6 of the pair headlining a "Stop That Train" Festival for Ska, Reggae and Rock Steady in Hamburg, October 1968 (where do they find these things). The decidedly eerie shuffle of "Ghost Train" by Virgil Holmes (doing his best Elvis Presley quiver vocal) is produced by Bob Crewe and is said to have Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons on Backing Vocals. A tremendous and uplifting surprise goes to Peggy Lee – her 1947 Capitol Records 78" for "It Takes A Long Long Train With A Red Caboose (To Carry My Blues Away)" pictured on Page 7 - and rightly so.

 

Other genius inclusions include the obscure but brilliant R&B dancer B-side of "No. 9" by Tarheel Slim where the number-nine train has unfortunately taken his baby up the line (no fault of his own you understand). Dusty Springfield shows her impeccable song-picking chops with the Aretha Franklin Soul bopping "Won't Be Long" which features Doris Troy and Madeline Bell on Backing Vocals (makes me want to drag out my "Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty" LP and play it to death). And this compilation has possibly my favourite R&B dancer of all time – the fantastic "Up The Line" by Little Walter – a Harmonica and Saxophone warbler guaranteed to return eyesight to the blind and a conscience to politicians (the second is unproven).

 

After all that fun - things get properly Soulful when James Carr gives you "Freedom Train" – an inspirational slice of 1968 magic on Goldwax. Sounding like the lovechild of Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett – he didn't just have the gravel and grit in his larynx – Carr could use his bipolar hurt and get to you - move you with the pathos in his genuinely sensational voice. In 1937 the yodel and violin of Cliff Carlisle advises us on his sorry-assed lonesome state - "...Cold on a dreary afternoon...I've just left the jail...waiting for the evening train to Pan American Mail...hear the engine moan and groan rambling through the land...I'll swing aboard that cannonball...I'm the Pan American Man...." That's followed by some good old boys (Johnny Duncan) giving it some Bluegrass speed-playing on "Last Train To San Fernando" which in turn is followed by the 'never do anything to hurt you' melodrama of The Shangri-Las on "The Train From Kansas City" – Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich giving the girls yet more which-boy-will-I-choose angst to deal with on this rare B-side. After all that cars-and-girls poetry and sock-hop joviality – the positively devilish "Downbound Train" by Chuck Berry comes as a dark shock and is the kind of there-be-evil-going-on tune that makes Nick Cave's interpretive guitar-fingers twitch.

 

Social Soul kicks in with the stunningly express Luther Ingram bemoaning that others have regular nine-to-five jobs but his "Ghetto Train" is five to four in the morning (a wicked Ko Ko Records groove from 1971). Without missing a beat we jump back to Sister Rosetta Tharpe in 1947 where she enthusiastically sings of a railway line to the Lord. Wish I could say Neil Sedaka's "One Way Ticket (To The Blues)" is a carriage bound for glory but its not (awful stuff). Far better is a Ska song with the unusual title of "Psychedelic Train" by Derrick Harriott & The Chosen Few – the boys successfully jumping on a music genre bandwagon (never mind how unlikely it sounds). Cult singer Sharon Tandy sings of her 'lonesome hen' feelings for her 'ever-loving Rooster' coming back home on the 'choo choo' train.

 

And where would a compilation like this be without the wonderful "Night Train" by James Brown name checking American cities with pride (a song I never tire of). And after the wickedly atmospheric "Train To Skaville" by The Ethiopians (what a tune) and the Soulful neck-jerking funk of "Go Go Train" by Jackie Paine – it ends on the manic Neo-Rockabilly of "Death Train Blues" by Daddy Long Legs whose singer sounds and looks like Jim Morrison - so the tune feels as if its The Doors trying to tap into their inner Rockabilly Soul (very cool like Son Of Dave's "O2" album from 2005). 

 

A wonderful CD from Ace Records (yet again) and proof positive (should we need it) as to why this British Reissue Label has stayed in collector's hearts for forty whole years. A 2015 'Reissue Of The Year' for me - and the most fun a body can have without blowing their Whistle in the swimming pool at Ladies Hour (we won't elaborate on that any further). Brilliant stuff and I urge you to buy it...and then check out the other two...also reviewed...

 

Vicki Fox CD Compilations for Ace Records

 

1. "Feline Groovy: 24 Purrfect Tracks For Kool Kats"

24-Track CD compilation released 31 March 2008 on Ace Records CDCHD 1168 (Barcode 029667030229)

 

2. "All Aboard! 25 Train Tracks Calling At All Musical Stations"

24-Track CD compilation released 28 August 2015 on Ace Records CDCHD 1450 (Barcode 029667073721)

 

3. "Sounds Of The Unexpected: Weird & Wacky Instrumentals From Pop's Final Frontiers"

24-Track CD compilation released 25 August 2017 on Ace Records CDTOP