“Bubba Ho-Tep” on BLU RAY. A Review Of The 2002 Film And The 2010 Blu Ray Reissue.

"…Ask Not What Your Rest Home Can Do For You…But What You Can Do For Your Rest Home…"

Rewatching “Bubba Ho-Tep” is like reliving the first time you saw “The Big Lebowski”. Everything about it rocks. You’re left absolutely reeling - giggling like a fool and wincing in admiration. And this is before we talk about Elvis, a wart on his appendage and a 3000-year old soul-sucking Mummy…

This 2010 BLU RAY reissue is a rerun of the 2006 2DVD Edition with most of its generous and hugely entertaining extras still intact:

1. You can play the film with/without a Bruce Campbell “Intro”
2. 2.0 Stereo or DTS-HD Master Audio
3. Feature-length audio commentary by Director Don Coscarelli and Lead Actor Bruce Campbell
4. Second feature-length audio commentary by Bruce Campbell as “The King”
5. Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by Don Coscarelli and Bruce Campbell
6. “The King And I” – Don Coscarelli Interview
7. Bruce Campbell – Talks Bubba Interview
8. Original Theatrical Trailer
9. Music Video
10. Photo Gallery
11. Joe R. Lansdale reads from “Bubba Ho-Tep”
12. The Making Of
13. To Make A Mummy
14. Fit For A King – Dressing Bruce Campbell
15. Rock Like An Egyptian – Interview with Brian Tyler who composed the score

As I suspected, the lo-fi independent production values of the original 2002 film are ruthlessly exposed by the unforgiving nature of high definition. But I was still more than pleased to find out that there are huge improvements on the BLU RAY print.

Most of the movie was shot indoors - his bedroom, the corridors of the home, night scenes outside on the grass lawns (all notoriously hard to get clarity on) – so the vast majority of the print has a slight parlour of blocking. It isn’t huge, but it is there. However, once you get to the daylight shots (the grounds of the home in the morning, down by the river, the flashbacks to Elvis’ touring past) the picture is great – even beautiful in places. And the close-ups on Campbell’s heavily made-up face do now reveal just a little too many make-up lines you couldn’t see before – so you know the BLU RAY is working. For me the clarity is upped a great deal - it’s just worth pointing out that some might find it a little underwhelming.

So why is Bubba Ho-Tep so much fun - even poignant? A lot of the credit has to go to Bruce Campbell’s performance as an aged Elvis trapped in a Texas retirement home after a 20-year coma. He is extraordinary in the part – his mannerisms, the voice, the silly karate-kick gestures, lusting after young babes with a Johnson that hasn’t been functional since the passing of too many Presidents. Campbell somehow makes Elvis real. This is how The King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll would be thinking, ruminating on life, trying to push himself and his spirit back to its former greatness (title above). And of course Campbell’s “King” taps into our almost irrational love of Elvis Presley no matter how ludicrous he looked or became. Credit should also go to Brian Tyler’s guitar strum soundtrack, which adds so much to the overall vibe and giggle-factor.

Also running alongside Campbell is a wonderfully wry performance by Ella Joyce as “The Nurse” who gets to massage more than Aaron’s ego. Even better is veteran actor Ossie Davis as a black man who is convinced that he’s “JFK” abducted by aliens and with part of his brain replaced with a sack of sand. The fact that ‘Jack’ makes most sense about the Mummy stalking the rooms of their Mud Creek home in cowboy boots sucking the souls out of weak inmates through their ass as they sleep and writing Egyptian graffiti on toilet walls – is perhaps a tad worrying…

As you can gather from the above, Bubba Ho-Tep also has one of the most fantastically inventive and witty storylines ever. It was adapted from Texas born Joe Lansdale’s short story by Director Don Coscarelli and most of the dialogue virtually screams instant cult classic.
Just like “The Big Lebowski”, you’ll find yourself quoting it line for line at work... “How could my plans have gone so wrong? And when are they going to serve lunch?”.
"One glimpse of her panties and I felt my heart flutter...like a pigeon having a heart attack..."

How could the King Of Rock 'n' Roll have gone from knickers being thrown at him on stage to being marooned in a godforsaken Texan retirement home with a growth of his pecker and his shades semi-intact?
How did Elvis leave the building and what did the Egyptian hieroglyphics in the sky tell him when he did?
Will Priscilla still want him or will they have to 'talk' about it?
And in the end is there anything more to life than food, shit and sex?

Buy or rent "Bubba Ho-Tep" on BLU RAY now and find out.

And I truly envy you the journey...

PS: “Bubba Nosferatu – Curse Of The She-Vampires” is due in 2011 – can’t wait!

“The African Queen”. A Review Of The 1951 John Huston Classic Film - Now Fully Restored And Reissued on BLU RAY In 2010.

"…I Never Dreamed That Any Experience Could Be So Stimulating…"

Soldier ants three inches deep on the hut floor, hornet nests alongside the river bank, twenty crocodiles ready to eat you for breakfast should you actually venture into the river, dip your feet in the black rotten water of the river to dissipate the unbearable heat and a parasite called a Jigger Bug would lodge itself between your toes and eventually kill you though liver failure... When you listen to Jack Cardiff's spectacularly good feature-length commentary on the actual filming of "The African Queen" in 1951 (he was Director Of Photography), it's a small miracle that this beloved independent gem ever got made at all...

Escaping the suffocating McCarty trials in the USA at the end of The Forties and beginning of the Fifties (Bogie, Hep and Huston were all considered to have lefty affiliations), Director John Huston set off to Africa to film C.S. Forester's 1935 novel on location (an unheard of thing at the time). He dragged with him huge and cumbersome Technicolor cameras, his sickness-prone crew and Jack Cardiff's two lamps and small generator. 1st location was in Biondo on the Ruiki River in the Belgian Congo, 2nd location was Uganda and 3rd was back in the UK (all shots that required actors getting into the river were done in water tanks in London because the Ruiki was just too dangerous in real life).

Their trials and tribulations throughout the shoot are truly the stuff of Hollywood legend - Lepers carried their equipment, they bunked in bamboo huts with all manner of creepy-crawlies joining them under the netting and an African hunter who had been supplying them with meat on a daily basis was led off by authorities for suspected cannibalism (natives going missing). The water was contaminated with parasites (neither Huston nor Bogie got sick because they were gulping back whiskey), the boiler of the boat almost fell on Katherine Hepburn and nearly killed her (she was ill throughout the shoot, but trooped on), tropical rain storms turned pathways into rivers of mud, swarms of flies ate their skin and they couldn't do their necessaries because two deadly black mamba snakes were lurking in the latrine...ouch!

You learn most of these fab titbits from two sources - Jack Cardiff's commentary and a truly superb near 60-minute feature called "Embracing Chaos - Making The African Queen" (with or without subtitles). It includes contributions from large numbers of luminaries and those actually involved in the movie - John Huston and Katharine Hepburn (excerpts from The Dick Cavatt Show 1972/1973), Guy Hamilton (Assistant Director), Sir John Wolff (Producer), Angela Allen (Script Supervisor), Theodore Bickel (officer on the German boat), Desmond Davis (Clapper Boy), Jack Cardiff (DOP), Lawrence Grober (Huston's biographer), William J. Mann (Hepburn's biographer), Laurence Bergreen (James Agee's biographer), Eric Lax (Bogart's biographer), Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni (Sam Spiegel's biographer - Producer/Financier), Warren Stevens (Bogart's friend), John Forester (C.S Forester's son) and Martin Scorsese. There's even clips of and stuff about Lauren Bacall as Bogie's husband, camp cook, medical helper and general all-round on-set good person. Their romance was genuine and real and it's treated with great affection here. "Embracing Chaos..." is a feast of detail and beautifully put together storytelling - it really is.

The "Posters & Lobby Cards" extra has 6 posters (in full colour) and 6 lobby cards - a treat to look at. The "Star Profiles" of Bogart, Hepburn, Huston and Cardiff turn out to be on-screen info snippets which are good rather than great. The "Behind The Scenes" stills are photos on set with animal noises in the background - again not great. And the trailer only shows you how washed out the original film had become.

Which brings us to the print itself - it's GLORIOUS. Digitally restored in 2009, the vast majority of the film is a joy to look at. Sweat on the hairs of Bogart's arms, the lipstick on Hepburn's lips in the church scene at the beginning, the rusty and stained woodwork of the old boat itself, Robert Morley's huge bug eyes as he watches the natives huts burn...it's all beautifully rendered.

There are drawbacks - the aspect is 14:9 - so when your player actually throws the print onto a widescreen TV, it's in a centred box. However, if you adjust it to fit the whole screen, I still found it fitted well and without too much compromise to stretching. There are also sections where there's slight blurring of the focus, stock footage of the river that was damaged - but - and I stress this - it's miniscule.
As I stood back from the 42" Sony and looked at the print - I was gobsmacked at how beautiful it looked almost all of the time.

But the film itself belongs to the astonished lead duo of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn playing Charley Allnut and Rose "Rosie" Sayer - an American gin-sozzled steamboat Captain and a straight-laced prim and proper English Missionary lady. James Agee's wonderfully loaded dialogue spiked up the tension between the two at first, then the slow burning romance and then the mutual appreciation of each other (Huston loved beautiful losers) right up the hoisting of the Union Jack and the patriotic torpedoing of a German gunboat at the very end. Such was the chemistry and force of their brilliant performances - both actors virtually reinvented their careers on the back of the movie (Charles Laughton and Betty Davis had initially been thought of for the parts). A genuinely amazed and humbled Bogart even nabbed the Oscar from the clutches of Marlon Brando and Montgomery Cliff.

This BLU RAY reissue is a triumph because it works on the two most important levels - the print is as lovely as it's ever going to be and the two main extras match that.

"The African Queen" is 60 years old next year and this superb 2010 Blu Ray reissue does that enduring classic proud.

Recommended big time.

PS: for other superb restorations on BLU RAY see also my reviews for - "The Italian Job", "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning", "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner", "Zulu", "North By Northwest", "Cool Hand Luke", “The Dambusters” and “The Prisoner – The Complete (TV) Series In High Definition”, “Braveheart”, “Snatch” and “The Ladykillers”

"Natural Four/Heaven Right Here On Earth" by NATURAL FOUR - 1974 Debut and 1975 Second US Albums on Curtom Records and Singles from 1976 (September 2010 UK Soul Brother Records Compilation - 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD with Four Bonus Tracks) - A Review by Mark Barry.... A Review Of Their Two Classic Seventies Soul Albums Now On A 2010 CD With Added Bonuses.

This Review Along With 145 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

MORE THAN A FEELING 

1976

Your All-Genres Guide To 

Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs

Just Click Below To Purchase (No Cut and Paste Crap)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MORE-THAN-FEELING-All-Guide-Exceptional-ebook/dp/B0BGT69MVZ?crid=1RTTPB6MEK9Y7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aCLqQD_0x4Xc4Kd7CEKllFnbfqhZ11PdMT_72etNzX9uk4_p_dYzE7ix7BD2qIIrl8-pAv90HElKfIB-_ZesIaS7TKJ-pDCFTgEP2k9aFX6a08GeBKgOKqyKHE6gcf0WacJEY4AKfVHlvo1EyZXb-psq6hf7c8WNvfvSSQUcNdP73WQfDavTWOHn5u81XeWCHJ47XMXWJqovt2Cx2c7BHgnvhCDYy23xFnpilpsAe90.T6uf-EhIxX_KJ8LfLu5E7Pk739m39vwP0A9sw0LfGno&dib_tag=se&keywords=more+than+a+feeling+mark&qid=1717663975&sprefix=more+than+a+feeling+mark%2Caps%2C78&sr=8-4&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=02abe7807076077061be2311e2d581b1&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

"…What's On The Inside…"

Putting two Curtom Records LP rarities back out in the marketplace (and with 4 bonus tracks tagged on) smacks of a good idea to me. THE NATURAL FOUR aren't as well known as their label mate Curtis Mayfield for sure - but these two platters contain wonderful Seventies Soul - and in this great sound quality - it's a proper blast to hear them again. Here are all natural details... 

UK released April 2010 in the UK (reissued September 2010) - "Natural Four/Heaven Right Here On Earth" by NATURAL HIGH on Soul Brother Records CD SBPJ 41 (Barcode 5013993674122) is a Compilation that offers 2LPs (from 1974 and 1975) Remastered onto 1CD Plus Four Bonus Tracks (Single Sides from 1976). It breaks down as follows (76:33 minutes):

1. Can This Be For Real

2. You Bring Out The Best In Me

3. Try Love Again

4. You Can't Keep Running Away

5. This Is What's Happening Now

6. Love That Really Counts

7. Try To Smile

8. Love's Society

9. Things Will Be Better Tomorrow

Tracks 1 to 9 are their debut album "Natural Four" issued 1974 in the USA on Curtom CRS 8600 (No UK release)

10. Heaven Right Here On Earth

11. Love's So Wonderful

12. Count On Me

13. Baby Come On

14. What Do You Do

15. Give This Love A Try

16. What's Happening Here

17. While You're Away

Tracks 10 to 17 are their 2nd album "Heaven Right Here On Earth" issued 1975 in the USA on Curtom CU 5004 and August 1975 in the UK on Curtom K 56142

BONUS TRACKS:

Track 18 is a rare USA-only 7" single issued in late 1973 on Curtom CR 1984 - it's a cover version of Curtis Mayfield's "Eddie You Should Know Better". The original Mayfield version is on his 1972 "Superfly" soundtrack album – it's given a different arrangement here by The Natural Four.

Tracks 19, 20 and 21 are "I Think I Found The Girl", "How Have You Been" and "Get It Over With" - taken from their 3rd album "Nightchaser" issued in 1976 in the USA on Curtom CU 5008 and April 1976 in the UK on Curtom K 56224

Charly reissued "Natural Four" on CD in 1996 and Sequel reissued both albums in 2000 - but this is the first time they've been paired together and had 4 bonus tracks thrown in too (from their 3rd LP). But the big draw on these albums for Seventies Soul and Funk fans is the songwriting genius and involvement of LeROY HUTSON - not to mention the fact that original vinyl issues of these 2-Step monsters have been costing punters huge amounts of money for years. The booklet is a fairly basic 8-page colour affair with liner notes by Laurence Prangell and musician/album credits. It doesn't say who remastered what and where but the sound quality is superb - very clear, clean and good on the ear.

This is classy Soul - sort of Philly International meets Cadet meets Brunswick - funky love songs one minute ("Try Love Again" - lyrics above) and social commentary tunes the next ("Things Will Be Better Tomorrow"). When they slow it down on "Can This Be Real" (a R&B chart hit Stateside in December 1973) or the lovely "Heaven Right Here On Earth", you're reminded of The Dells, The Chi-Lites, The Main Ingredient, Blue Magic and of course - LeRoy Hutson solo stuff. There's even a Hall & Oates vibe going on in there too.

Genius choice goes to the lone 45 cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Eddie You Should No Better" sounding not unlike a more string-filled outtake - it's superb and a real rediscovery. They've even included the better dancer tracks from the disco-fuelled 3rd album which sounds like AWB with Ben E King in places, but you're likely to return to the first two albums more because that's where the real quality is...

Very tasty indeed - another excellent reissue from Soul Brother Records of the UK…

“Blowing The Fuse – 29 R&B Classics That Rocked The Jukebox In 1954” by VARIOUS ARTISTS. A Review Of The Award-Winning 2005 Bear Family CD Compilation

"...I Didn’t Want To Do It ...But She Sends Me So..."

The "Blowing The Fuse" series of CD compilations stretches across 16 volumes from 1945 to 1960 and was then followed by Bear Family's equally magnificent "Sweet Soul Music" series of 10 sets from 1961 to 1970 (I've reviewed all 10 of those in detail). Having been drawn in by the truly beautiful sound quality and presentation of the ‘Soul’ discs, I knew it would be a big blow to my bank balance buying even one of these R&B issues - and it was! But – and I can’t state this enough – they are a new benchmark in terms of sound and packaging, and are intended as such…

"Blowing The Fuse - 29 R&B Classics That Rocked The Jukebox In 1954" is on Bear Family BCD 16709 AS and was released April 2005 in Germany. Each US-based yearly compilation comes in a 3-way foldout card digipak sleeve. The left flap pictures an original record relevant to the year (1954 has "Hearts Of Stone” by The Charms on DeLuxe), the centre flap holds a 70 to 90 page oversized booklet that slips out so you can read it separately and the right flap a colour-themed CD that matches the outer packaging. As with the 10 "Sweet Soul Music" compilations, each of the 16 R&B spines makes up a whole photo when placed alongside each other (a fantastic black & white shot of a crowd of hip dudes and their gals dancing at some Saturday night bar). As you can see from the cover photos of these compilations too, the theme of people dancing and artists enjoying themselves is repeated right across all of these wonderfully restored photographs (they're from The Showtime Music Archive in Toronto). This 1954 issue has 72-pages in its booklet and the CD runs to a healthy 79:08 minutes.

Compiler Dave "Daddy Cool" Booth took his time with this - actually playing the set through - mixing in the famous with the obscure but in a new order - and the result is a truly satisfying listen rather than a patchy one. The compilation begins in January and in rough chronological order ends in December. And even the way-too-familiar tracks on here like "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite" by The Spaniels, "I Just Want To Make Love To You" by Muddy Waters and "Honey Love" by The Drifters are sorted out by the next big plus...the beautifully clear sound...

THE SOUND and TRACK CHOICES:
Bear Family have gotten all the ORIGINAL master tapes from each record company (both Mono and Stereo) and their resident expert JURGEN CRASSER has mastered them with care - and given the wildly varying sources, the sound is uniformly GLORIOUS.

Bear Family have gotten all the ORIGINAL master tapes from each record company (both Mono and Stereo) and their resident expert JURGEN CRASSER has mastered them with care - and given the wildly varying sources, the sound is uniformly GLORIOUS.

It opens with a genre-mixing double-whammy, "Gee" by The Crows and "You're So Fine" by Little Walter - romantic Doo Wop followed by hard-hitting Blues and R'n'B. "Gee" sounds really clean, but the drums and guitar of Freddie Bellow and Jimmy Rogers on "You're So Fine" (as well as Walter's harmonica) are just huge - like they're going to invade your living room. The audio drops a notch on the infamously lo-fi Johnny Ace track "Saving My Love For You" - the hiss is more than apparent, but it's still the best I've ever heard this fateful song (he died in 1954). I'm not particularly enamoured with Faye Adams or Guitar Slim, but the saucy "I Didn't Want To Do It" by The Spiders is a dancer I'll never tire of (lyrics above). There's also a wonderful indication of changing times on Page 22 which pictures Buddy And Ella Johnson's wonderful "I'm Just A Fool" 45 - its Mercury Records label-bag proudly announcing that their 7" single product is "non-breakable" (unlike the shellac 78)!

Fans of the much-loved vocal group The Harp Tones will be shocked at the clarity of Willie Winfield's lead vocal on the churchy "Sunday Kind Of Love". The same applies to "Gloria" by The Cadillacs. The audio quality is just beautiful, incredibly clean - and even towards the end of the song where there are two or three clicking glitches on the tape, Bear Family hasn't edited them out - thereby keeping the integrity of the recording intact (as their blurb on transfers regularly says).

“Lovey Dovey” by The Clovers, “It Should Have Been Me” by Ray Charles and “Oh What A Dream” by Ruth Brown show why Atlantic was such a great label – and all of them sonically improved to my ears. The chipper dancefloor rhythms of "Work With Me Annie" with Hank Ballard’s great vocal work follow perfectly after Cozy Eggleston’s "Big Heavy" – a brilliant guitar and brass instrumental re-working of Louis Jordan’s “Blue Light Boogie”. Like so many cleverly written songs of the day, they reached out to the teen audience and their longings (especially the whites) and won them over.

Obscurities and genius choices go to a rare outing by Fats Domino’s principal songwriter Dave Bartholomew on "Jump Children” (a great bopper) and the hugely likeable dancer called “Hearts Of Stone” by The Charms who featured Otis Williams on Lead vocals (the tune is a re-working of a Doo Wop track by The Jewels on R&B Records from earlier in the year). And it all ends with a genuine gem – the huge blasting Saxophone of Joe Houston on his largely instrumental “All Night Long” – the kind of cool party tune that’s going to turn up in a hip-movie coming to you real soon.

THE BOOKLET:
Although slightly different in layout, like the "Sweet Soul Music" series, the booklet is to die for. With an intro on Page 4, the text for the songs begins on Page 5 and ends on Page 71, so there's almost no wasted space. Each artist is pictured using quality publicity shots, and every now and then, a beautiful full colour plate of lesser-seen singles and their label bags graces an entire page (“I Feel So Bad” by Chuck Willis on Okeh and “Shake, Rattle & Roll” by Joe Turner on Atlantic are on Pages 43 and 48). Each song then has an essay on its history by noted writer COLIN ESCOTT with knowledgeable contributions from BILL MILLAR, DAVE BOOTH, Marv Goldberg's online R&B site, Robert Pruter, Robert L. Campbell and Tom Kelly. And because the booklet allows Escott to spread out on each song, the details come thick and fast - like Dahl's work on "Sweet Soul Music" - it's a fabulously entertaining and informative read. I just wish there was more of it…

Niggles - the glossy card sleeve is easy to smudge and I wish the booklet was 90 pages and not 72, but apart from that there's just way too much great stuff on here to whinge about.

To sum up - even though they're expensive as imports, I think once long-time collectors actually get their hands on even one of these compilations (no matter what the date) - they'll be irresistibly hooked. For the casual buyer just looking for a great one-stop account of R&B Music for a given year - "1954" is 'the' place to start.

Compilations like this live or die based on a few key ingredients - great track choices, properly remastered sound and all of it wrapped up in knowledgeable and (if you're lucky) sumptuous presentation. Well "Blowin The Fuse" wins on all counts - it really does. The entire series is gorgeous to look at and especially to listen to. Well done to all involved...

Track List for the CD "Blowing The Fuse 1954"
(Label & Catalogue Number For The US 7" Single Follow The Title. If There's TWO Catalogue Numbers, The First Is The Original; The 2nd Is The Reissue In That Year)

1. Gee – THE CROWS (Rama RR-5)
2. You’re So Fine – LITTLE WALTER And His Dukes (Checker 788)
[Features Willie Dixon on Bass and Jimmy Rogers on Guitar]
3. Saving My Love For You – JOHNNY ACE And Band (Duke 118)
4. I’ll Be True – FAYE ADAMS with Joe Morris Orchestra (Herald H-419)
5. I Didn’t Want To Do It – THE SPIDERS (Imperial 45-5265)
6. Sunday Kind Of Love – THE HARP-TONES Vocal Solo Willie Winfield (Bruce 101)
[Co-written with Louis Prima, aka “A Sunday Kind Of Love”]
7. I Do – THE “5” ROYALES With Charlie “Little Jazz” Ferguson And His Orchestra (Apollo 452)
8. I’m Just Your Fool – BUDDY JOHNSON And His Orchestra Vocal By Ella Johnson (Mercury 70251)
9. The Things That I Used To Do – GUITAR SLIM And His Band (Specialty 482)
10. Lovey Dovey – THE CLOVERS (Atlantic 969)
11. It Should Have Been Me – RAY CHARLES And His Orchestra (Atlantic 1021)
12. Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite – THE SPANIELS (Vee-Jay VJ-107)
13. Big Heavy – COZY EGGLESTON And His Combo (States S 133)
[A cover version of Louis Jordan’s “Blue Light Boogie” from 1950 on Decca]
14. Work With Me Annie – THE MIDNIGHTERS (Federal 12169)
[Written by and featuring Hank Ballard on Lead Vocals]
15. Jock-A-Mo – SUGAR BOY And His Cane Cutters (Checker 787]
[Sugar Boy Crawford – the song was originally an Indian chant first recorded in the 1940’s by Danny Barker’s Creole Cats as “Chockomo-Fendo-Hey”. It was later revised as “Iko Iko” by The Dixie Cups in 1965 and then covered as “Iko Iko” by many other artists since then – including most famously by Dr. John]
16. Just Make Love To Me – MUDDY WATERS And His Guitar (Chess 1571)
[78”s carried the title “Just Make Love To Me”, but it is of course more famously known as “I Just Want To Make Love To You”]
17. I Feel So Bad – CHUCK WILLIS (Okeh 7029)
18. Sh-Boom – THE CHORDS (Cat 104)
19. Shake, Rattle And Roll – JOE TURNER And His BLUES KINGS (Atlantic 1026)
20. Oh What A Dream – RUTH BROWN And Her Rhythmakers (Atlantic 45-1036)
[Her ‘Rhythmakers’ were The Drifters under another name]
21. Riot In Cell Block No. 9 – THE ROBINS (Spark 103)
[Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller]
22. Honey Love – THE DRIFTERS Featuring Clyde McPhatter (Atlantic 45-1029)
23. Evil is Goin’ On – HOWLIN’ WOLF (Chess 1575)
[Written by Willie Dixon]
24. Oop Shoop – SHIRLEY GUNTER And The Queens (Flair 1050)
25. Jump Children – DAVE BARTHOLOMEW (Imperial 5308)
26. Gloria – THE CADILLACS With The Jesse Powell Orchestra (Josie 765)
27. You Upset Me Baby – B.B. “Blues Boy” KING And His Orchestra (RPM 416)
28. Hearts Of Stone – THE CHARMS (DeLuxe 6062)
29. All Night Long – JOE HOUSTON (Money 203)

"Blowing The Fuse – 30 R&B Classics That Rocked The Jukebox In 1956” by VARIOUS ARTISTS. A Review Of The Award-Winning 2006 Bear Family CD Compilation

"…She Digs That Music With A Beat…Rock 'n' Roll Is Her Meat…"

The "Blowing The Fuse" series of CD compilations stretches across 16 volumes from 1945 to 1960 and was then followed by Bear Family's equally magnificent "Sweet Soul Music" series of 10 sets from 1961 to 1970 (I've reviewed all 10 of those in detail). Having been drawn in by the truly beautiful sound and presentation of the Soul discs, I knew it would be a big blow to my bank balance buying even one of these R&B issues - and it was - but they're absolutely 'so' worth it...

"Blowing The Fuse - 30 R&B Classics That Rocked The Jukebox In 1956" is on Bear Family BCD 16711 AS and was released April 2006. Each US-based yearly compilation comes in a 3-way foldout card digipak sleeve. The left flap pictures either a 7" single or album relevant to the year (1956 has "Honky Tonk (Part 1)" by Bill Doggett), the centre flap holds a 80 to 90 page oversized booklet that slips out so you can read it separately and the right flap a colour-themed CD that matches the outer packaging. As with the 10 "Sweet Soul Music" compilations, each of the 16 R&B spines makes up a whole photo when placed alongside each other (a fantastic black & white shot of a crowd of hip dudes and their gals dancing at some Saturday night bar). As you can see from the cover photos of these compilations too, the theme of people dancing and artists enjoying themselves is repeated right across all of these wonderfully restored photographs (they're from The Showtime Music Archive in Toronto). This 1956 issue has 84-pages in its booklet and the CD runs to a generous 79:20 minutes.

Dave "Daddy Cool" Booth took his time with this - actually playing the set through - mixing in the famous with the obscure but in a new order - and the result is a truly satisfying listen rather than a patchy one. The compilation begins in January and in rough chronological order ends in December. And even the way-too-familiar tracks on here like "The Great Pretender", "In The Still Of The Night" and "Roll Over Beethoven" are sorted out by the next big plus...the beautifully clear sound...

THE SOUND and TRACK CHOICES:
Bear Family have gotten all the ORIGINAL master tapes from each record company (both Mono and Stereo) and their resident expert JURGEN CRASSER has mastered them with care - and given the wildly varying sources, the sound is uniformly GLORIOUS.

It opens with a fantastic-sounding double-whammy, "Speedo" by The Cadillacs and "Pretty Thing" by Bo Diddley. I've had both on other CDs, but the sound quality here is unbelievably good - the brass, the vocals, the drums - Bo Diddley fans especially will need to hear this. The Doo Wop tracks virtually define the era (especially The Five Satins) and the Atlantic songs are all noticeably better.
The chipper dancefloor rhythms of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" with Frankie Lymon's great vocal work follow perfectly after Ruth Brown's "I Want To Do Better" - both smartly giving voice to the teenage needs and longings of the day. The same clever sequencing applies to the girly pleading of "Eddie My Love" by The Teen Queens, followed by the sheer primeval menace of "Smokestack Lightning" from Howlin' Wolf - the big man sounding like he's a danger to society even now.

Obscurities and genius choices go to "Try Rock And Roll" by Bobby Mitchell - written by Dave Bartholomew and Pearl King, it's a sly reworking of "Blueberry Hill" and is a brilliant discovery. "Jivin' Around" by veteran orchestra man Ernie Freeman is another that fits the dancing bill - it has some crackle at the very start, but soon disappears into an infectious instrumental boogie that virtually screams ‘coming to a TV advert near you - and soon'.
We're so used to the Peggy Lee version of "Fever" that Little Willie John's take comes as a both a shock and a welcome change. The lesser-heard dancer of "Little Girl Of Mine" by The Cleftones is a genius inclusion too. And as one classic follows after another - there's the astounding influence of these artists stretching out across the decades - James Brown on "Please, Please, Please", Ray Charles on "I Cried A Tear" and Little Richard on the blistering "Long Tall Sally" - each so gobsmackingly good, but in different ways.
But the joy of "Boogie Woogie Country Girl" by Joe Turner (lyrics above) sums it all up for me. It makes me cry as Big Joe and Van ‘Piano Man' Walls literally fill my living room with the sound of a nation ready to party - alive and breaking free from the chains of old.

THE BOOKLET:
Although slightly different in layout, like the "Sweet Soul Music" series, the booklet is to die for. With an intro on Page 4, the text for the songs begins on Page 5 and ends on Page 80 (pictures of Big Walter Price and the Seeburg V-200 Jukebox grace Pages 81 and 82), so there's very little wasted space. Each artist is pictured using quality publicity shots, the 7" single itself is there - or if not a trade advert for the label - and every now and then - a beautiful full colour plate of lesser-seen album sleeves (The Teenagers rare self-titled album on Gee and a sheet music collage are on Pages 18 and 19 in colour, while The Teen Queens equally rare "Eddie My Love" set graces Page 23). Each song then has a 2 to 3 page essay on its history by noted writer COLIN ESCOTT with knowledgeable contributions from BILL MILLAR and DAVE BOOTH and Marv Goldberg's online R&B site. And because the booklet allows Escott to spread out on each song, the details come thick and fast - like Dahl's work on "Sweet Soul Music" - it's a fabulously entertaining and informative read.

Niggles - the glossy card sleeve is easy to smudge and mark and the absence of Elvis Presley is a big hole in a year that many will feel was ground-zero (1956) - but apart from that there's just way too much great stuff on here to whinge about.

To sum up - even though they're expensive as imports, I think once long-time collectors actually get their hands on even one of these compilations (no matter what the date) - they'll be irresistibly hooked. For the casual buyer just looking for a great one-stop account of R&B Music for a given year - "1956" is 'the' place to start.

Compilations like this live or die based on a few key ingredients - great track choices, properly remastered sound and all of it wrapped up in knowledgeable and (if you're lucky) sumptuous presentation. Well "Blowin The Fuse" wins on all counts - it really does. The entire series is gorgeous to look at and especially to listen to. Well done to all involved...

Track List for the CD "Blowing The Fuse 1956"
(Label & Catalogue Number For The US 7" Single Follow The Title. If There's TWO Catalogue Numbers, The First Is The Original; The 2nd Is The Reissue In That Year)

1. Speedo – THE CADILLACS With The Jesse Powell Orchestra (Josie 785)
2. Pretty Thing – BO DIDDLEY (Checker 827)
[Although credited on the label as by McDaniels, it was written by Willie Dixon]
3. The Great Pretender – THE PLATTERS (Mercury 70753)
4. I Want To Do More – RUTH BROWN And Her Rhythmakers With Orchestra (Atlantic 1082)
[Written by Jerry Leiber And Mike Stoller
Her ‘Rhythmakers’ were the vocal group The Cues under another name]
5. Why Do Fools Fall In Love – THE TEENAGERS Featuring FRANKIE LYMON (Gee GG-1002)
6. Jivin’ Around (Part 1) – ERNIE FREEMAN COMBO (Cash 1017)
7. Eddie My Love – THE TEEN QUEENS (RPM 453)
8. Smokestack Lightning – HOWLIN’ WOLF (Chess 1618)
9. Try Rock And Roll – BOBBY MITCHELL (Imperial 5378)
10. Drown In My Own Tears – RAY CHARLES And His Band (Atlantic 1085)
11. We Go Together – THE MOONGLOWS (Chess 1619)
12. Long Tall Sally - LITTLE RICHARD And His Band (Specialty 572)
13. Please, Please, Please – JAMES BROWN With The Famous Flames (Federal 12258)
14. I’m In Love Again – FATS DOMINO (Imperial 5386)
15. Boogie Woogie Country Girl – JOE TURNER And Orchestra Featuring Van ‘Piano Man’ Walls (Atlantic 1088)
[Written by Doc Pomus and Reginald Ashby]
16. Treasure Of Love – CLYDE McPHATTER (Atlantic 1092)
17. Little Girl Of Mine – THE CLEFTONES With Jimmy Wright And His Orchestra (Gee GG-1011)
18. Fever – LITTLE WILLIE JOHN (King 4935)
19. Roll Over Beethoven – CHUCK BERRY (Chess 1626)
20. It’s Too Late – CHUCK WILLIS (Atlantic 1098)
21. Let The Good Times Roll – SHIRLEY And LEE (Aladdin 3325)
[Shirley Goodman and Leonard Lee]
22. Rip It Up – LITTLE RICHARD And His Band (Specialty 579)
23. In The Still Of The Night – THE FIVE SATINS (Standord 200/Ember E-1005)
[Also known as “(I Remember) In The Still Of The Night”]
24. Honky Tonk (Part 1)
25. Honky Tonk (Part 2) – BILL DOGGETT (King 4950)
26. Stranded In The Jungle – THE CADETS (Modern 994)
[The vocal group was also known as “The Jacks” and later became “The Vibrations”]
27. A Thousand Miles Away – THE HEARTBEATS (Hull 720/Rama 216)
[The Heartbeats featured James Sheppard who later became Shep And The Limelites]
28. You’ve Got Me Dizzy – JIMMY REED (Vee-Jay VJ 226)
29. (Everytime I Hear) That Mellow Saxophone – ROY MONTRELL And His Band (Specialty 583
30. Pack Fair And Square – BIG WALTER And His Thunderbirds (Peacock 5-1666)

“Blowing The Fuse – 31 R&B Classics That Rocked The Jukebox In 1957” by VARIOUS ARTISTS. A Review Of The Award-Winning 2006 Bear Family CD Compilation

"…Come On Sugar And Think…About The Good Things…"

The "Blowing The Fuse" series of CD compilations stretches across 16 volumes from 1945 to 1960 and was then followed by Bear Family's equally magnificent "Sweet Soul Music" series of 10 sets from 1961 to 1970 (I've reviewed all 10 of those in detail). Having been drawn in by the truly beautiful sound and presentation of the Soul discs, I knew it would be a big blow to my bank balance buying even one of these R&B issues – and it was - but they are absolutely so worth it…

"Blowing The Fuse - 31 R&B Classics That Rocked The Jukebox In 1957" is on Bear Family BCD 16712 AS and was released April 2006. Each US-based yearly compilation comes in a 3-way foldout card digipak sleeve. The left flap pictures either a 7" single or album relevant to the year (1957 has the 7" single of "Little Darlin’” by The Gladiolas), the centre flap holds a 80 to 90 page oversized booklet that slips out so you can read it separately and the right flap a colour-themed CD that matches the outer packaging. As with the 10 "Sweet Soul Music" compilations, each of the 16 R&B spines makes up a whole photo when placed alongside each other (a fantastic black & white shot of a crowd of hip dudes and their gals dancing at some Saturday night bar). As you can see from the cover photos of these compilations too, the theme of people dancing and artists enjoying themselves is repeated right across all of these wonderfully restored photographs (they're from The Showtime Music Archive in Toronto). This 1957 issue has 84-pages in its booklet and the CD runs to a generous 77:39 minutes.

Dave "Daddy Cool" Booth took his time with this - actually playing the set through - mixing in the famous with the obscure but in a new order - and the result is a truly satisfying listen rather than a patchy one. The compilation begins in January and in rough chronological order ends in December. And even the way-too-familiar tracks on here like "Ain’t Got No Home", "Come Go With Me" and "Lucille" are sorted out by the next big plus...the beautifully clear sound...

THE SOUND/TRACK CHOICES:
Bear Family have gotten all the ORIGINAL master tapes from each record company (both Mono and Stereo) and their resident expert JURGEN CRASSER has mastered them with care - and given the wildly varying sources, the sound is uniformly GLORIOUS.

Little prepares you for the clarity and wallop of a great opening double act – “Blue Monday” by Fats Domino and the joyful “Jim Dandy” by LaVern Baker. Both sound fabulous – piano, drums, brass – all of it – far better than the versions I already have. In fact, it’s a bit of a thrill for me as a collector of the Atlantic label to hear just how good their tracks sound on here – “Lucky Lips”, “Searchin’”, “C.C. Rider” and especially “Since I Met You Baby” by Ivory Joe Hunter – revelatory stuff.

Obscurities and genius choices go to the melodrama doo-wop of Johnnie & Joe on “Over The Mountain, Across The Sea" and the beautiful sound quality on “Think” by The “5” Royales when the sax solo kicks in (lyrics above). The teen dating smoocher “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby” is cleverly followed by Slim Harpo’s slinky and sexy “I’m A King Bee” (the kind of man your Fifties mother warned you about), while again little prepares you for the staggeringly lurid lyrics of “Jailbait” which would probably get a performer arrested in 2010! It’s also nice to hear the original of “Farther Up The Road” after so many bar bands have covered it, which in turn is brilliantly followed by the instrumental “Raunchy”. It all ends with the joy of “Reet Petite” sounding like it was recorded yesterday. In fact - of the titles I’ve reviewed so far (1960, 1959 and 1958) - this is my favourite in the series - an embarrassment of riches from start to finish and presented in a genuinely classy way by people who care.

THE BOOKLET:
Although slightly different in layout, like the "Sweet Soul Music" series, the booklet is to die for. With an intro on Page 4, the text for the songs begins on Page 5 and ends on Page 81 (pictures of Jackie Wilson and his Brunswick 45 “Reet Petite” grace Pages 82 and 83), so there's very little wasted space. Each artist is pictured using quality publicity shots, the 7" single itself is there - or if not a trade advert for the label - and every now and then - a beautiful full colour plate of lesser-seen album sleeves (The Dell-Vikings rare "Come Go With Us" LP on Dot and "The King Of The Stroll” LP by Chuck Willis on Atlantic are on Pages 28 and 46). Each song then has a 2 to 3 page essay on its history by noted writer COLIN ESCOTT with knowledgeable contributions from BILL MILLAR and DAVE BOOTH and Marv Goldberg's online R&B site. And because the booklet allows Escott to spread out on each song, the details come thick and fast - like Dahl's work on "Sweet Soul Music" - it's a fabulously entertaining and informative read.

Niggles - the glossy card sleeve is easy to smudge and mark and that's about it! Mostly there's just too much great stuff on here to whinge about.

To sum up - even though they're expensive as imports, I think once long-time collectors actually get their hands on even one of these compilations (no matter what the date) - they'll be irresistibly hooked. For the casual buyer just looking for a great one-stop account of R&B Music for a given year - "1957" is 'the' place to start.

Compilations like this live or die based on a few key ingredients - great track choices, properly remastered sound and all of it wrapped up in knowledgeable and (if you're lucky) sumptuous presentation. Well "Blowin The Fuse" wins on all counts - it really does. The entire series is gorgeous to look at and especially to listen to. Well done to all involved…

Track List for the CD "Blowing The Fuse 1957"
(Label & Catalogue Number For The US 7" Single Follow The Title. If There's TWO Catalogue Numbers, The First Is The Original; The 2nd Is The Reissue In That Year)

1. Blue Monday – FATS DOMINO (Imperial 5417)
2. Jim Dandy – LaVERN BAKER And THE GLIDERS (Atlantic 1116)
[Written by Lincoln Chase; The Gliders were the vocal group The Cues]
3. Love Is Strange – MICKEY And SYLVIA (Groove 0176)
[Mickey Baker And Sylvia Vanderpool]
4. Ain’t Got No Home – CLARENCE “FROG MAN” HENRY (Argo 5259)
5. Since I Met You Baby – IVORY JOE HUNTER (Atlantic 1111)
6. Little Darlin’ – THE GLADIOLAS (Excello 2101)
[Features Maurice Williams]
7. Next Time You See Me – LITTLE JUNIOR PARKER With BILL HARVEY’S BAND (Duke 164)
8. Come Go With Me – THE DELL-VIKINGS (Fee Bee 205/Dot 15538)
9. Lucky Lips – RUTH BROWN (Atlantic 1125)
[Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller]
10. Just Because – LLOYD PRICE (KBC 587/ABC-Paramount 9792)
11. Searchin’ – THE COASTERS (Atco 6087)
[Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller]
12. Lucille – LITTLE RICHARD And His Band (Specialty 598)
13. I’m Walkin’ – FATS DOMINO (Imperial 5428)
14. Over The Mountain, Across The Sea – JOHNNIE And JOE (J&S 1664/Chess 1654)
[Johnnie Richardson and Joe Rivers]
15. C.C. Rider – CHUCK WILLIS (Atlantic 1130)
16.Short Fat Fannie – LARRY WILLIAMS (Specialty 608)
17. School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell) – CHUCK BERRY (Chess 1653)
18. Glory Of Love – THE VELVETONES (Aladdin 3372)
19. Louie Louie – RICHARD BERRY (Flip 321)
20. Mr. Lee – THE BOBBETTES With REGGIE OBRECHT ORCHESTRA (Atlantic 1144)
21. Think – THE “5” ROYALES (king 5053)
22. Let The Four Winds Blow – ROY BROWN (Imperial 5439)
23. Happy, Happy Birthday Baby – THE TUNEWEAVERS With Frank Paul’s Orchestra (Casa Grande 4037/Checker 872)
24. I’m A King Bee – SLIM HARPO (Excello 2113)
25. Rockin’ Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu, Part 1 – HUEY ‘PIANO’ SMITH And His Clowns (Ace 530)
26. Little Bitty Pretty One – THURSTON HARRIS And The Sharps (Aladdin 3398)
27. Jailbait – ANDRE WILLIAMS (Mr. Rhythm) With THE CHARLIE MORRIS ORCHESTRA (Fortune 837)
28. Flat Foot Sam – OSCAR ‘T.V. SLIM’ WILLS With The PAUL GAYTEN ORCHESTRA (Argo 5277)
29. Farther Up The Road – BOBBY “BLUE” BLAND With The BILL HARVEY ORCHESTRA (Duke 170)
30. Raunchy – ERNIE FREEMAN And His Combo (Imperial 5474)
31. Reet Petite (The Finest Girl You Ever Want To Meet) – JACKIE WILSON (Brunswick 9-55024)
[Co-written by Tyran Carlo [aka Billy Davis] and Berry Gordy (founder of Motown)]

“Blowing The Fuse – 31 R&B Classics That Rocked The Jukebox In 1958” by VARIOUS ARTISTS. A Review Of The Award-Winning 2006 Bear Family CD Compilation

"…Hound Dog Barking Upside The Hill…Love Is Dragging Him Through The Mill…"

The "Blowing The Fuse" series of CD compilations stretches across 16 volumes from 1945 to 1960 and was then followed by Bear Family's equally magnificent "Sweet Soul Music" series of 10 sets from 1961 to 1970 (I've reviewed all 10 of those in detail). Having been drawn in by the truly beautiful sound and presentation of the Soul discs, I knew it would be a big blow to my bank balance buying even one of these R&B issues - and it was! Get even one and you're screwed - you'll have to own the lot.

"Blowing The Fuse - 31 R&B Classics That Rocked The Jukebox In 1958" is on Bear Family BCD 16713 AS and was released April 2006. Each US-based yearly compilation comes in a 3-way foldout card digipak sleeve. The left flap pictures either a 7" single or album relevant to the year (1958 has the 7" single of "Maybe" by The Chantels), the centre flap holds a 80 to 90 page oversized booklet that slips out so you can read it separately and the right flap a colour-themed CD that matches the outer packaging. As with the 10 "Sweet Soul Music" compilations, each of the 16 R&B spines makes up a whole photo when placed alongside each other (a fantastic black & white shot of a crowd of hip dudes and their gals dancing at some Saturday night bar). As you can see from the cover photos of these compilations too, the theme of people dancing and artists enjoying themselves is repeated right across all of these wonderfully restored photographs (they're from The Showtime Music Archive in Toronto). This 1958 issue has 86-pages in its booklet (yes 86!) and the CD runs to a generous 76:49 minutes.

Dave "Daddy Cool" Booth took his time with this - actually playing the set through - mixing in the famous with the obscure but in a new order - and the result is a truly satisfying listen rather than a patchy one. The compilation begins in January and in rough chronological order ends in December. Also, because of the extended playing time, there's usually only a one second space between each track, so it feels like you're listening to a jukebox of the time - or a good DJ cueing up song after song - seamlessly segueing one cool tune after another. And even the way-too-familiar tracks on here like "For Your Precious Love", "Lonely Teardrops" and "Yakety Yak" are sorted out by the next big plus...the beautifully clear sound...

THE SOUND/TRACK CHOICES:
Bear Family have gotten all the ORIGINAL master tapes from each record company (both Mono and Stereo) and their resident expert JURGEN CRASSER has mastered them with care - and given the wildly varying sources, the sound is uniformly GLORIOUS. The organ on Gene Allison's "You Can Make It If You Try" is incredibly clear as is the blasting brass on the instrumental that follows it - "Walkin' With Mr. Lee" by Lee Allen. The wildness of Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly" is still exciting and the remaster makes you hear the band literally trying to keep up with him as he frantically batters those piano keys. The Doo Wops all sound great despite their varying rough 'n' ready recordings while both Sam Cooke's beautiful "I'll Come Running Back To You" and "For Your Precious Love" by Jerry Butler And The Impressions predate soul by years. "Talk To Me, Talk To Me" by Little Willie John is surprisingly romantic too.

Obscurities and genius choices go to the infectious doo-wop-pop of Roy Hamilton's "Don't Let Go" (lyrics above), while the equally brilliant lyrics of "Itchy Twitchy Feeling" by Bobby Hendricks (a cash-in on Rock'n'Roll song titles) is followed perfectly by the strumming doo wop melodrama of "You Cheated" by The Shields. The Atlantic sides sound fresher too and all of it finishes in a flurry of truly great vocalists - Dee Clark, Jackie Wilson, Harvey Fuqua of The Moonglows, Clyde McPhatter, Fats Domino - all of them sounding like they were recorded yesterday. In fact as you finish listening to 1958, you realise it's an embarrassment of riches - and presented in a genuinely classy way by people who care.

THE BOOKLET:
Although slightly different in layout, like the "Sweet Soul Music" series, the booklet is to die for. With an intro on Page 4, the text for the songs begins on Page 5 and ends on Page 85 (pictures of Fats Domino and his band grace Pages 86 and 87), so there's very little wasted space. Each artist is pictured using quality publicity shots, the 7" single itself is there - or if not a trade advert for the label - and every now and then - a beautiful full colour plate of lesser-seen album sleeves (Lee Allen's rare "Walkin' With Mr. Lee" LP and Little Willie John's "Talk To Me" LP are on Pages 13 and 31 in full-colour and are a wow). Each song then has a 2 to 3 page essay on its history by noted writer COLIN ESCOTT with knowledgeable contributions from BILL MILLAR and DAVE BOOTH and Marv Goldberg's online R&B site. And because the booklet allows Escott to spread out on each song, the details come thick and fast - like Dahl's work on "Sweet Soul Music" - it's a fabulously entertaining and informative read.

Niggles - the glossy card sleeve is easy to smudge and mark and that's about it! Mostly there's just too much great stuff on here to whinge about.

To sum up - even though they're expensive as imports, I think once long-time collectors actually get their hands on even one of these compilations (no matter what the date) - they'll be irresistibly hooked. For the casual buyer just looking for a great one-stop account of R&B Music for a given year - "1958" is 'the' place to start.

Compilations like this live or die based on a few key ingredients - great track choices, properly remastered sound and all of it wrapped up in knowledgeable and (if you're lucky) sumptuous presentation. Well "Blowin The Fuse" wins on all counts - it really does. The entire series is gorgeous to look at and especially to listen to.

As with every single one of the other years in this extraordinary series, I'm properly taken aback - I cannot recommend these beautiful compilations enough. Well done to all involved...

Track List for the CD "Blowing The Fuse 1958"
(Label & Catalogue Number For The US 7" Single Follow The Title. If There's TWO Catalogue Numbers, The First Is The Original; The 2nd Is The Reissue In That Year)

1. Buzz-Buzz-Buzz - HOLLYWOOD FLAMES (Ebb 119)
2. You Can Make It If You Try - GENE ALLISON (Vee Jay VJ-256)
3. Walkin' With Mr. Lee - LEE ALLEN And His Band (Ember 1027)
4. Don't Let Go - ROY HAMILTON (Epic 9257)
5. Maybe - THE CHANTELS (End E-1005)
6. I'll Come Running Back To You - SAM COOKE (Specialty 619)
7. Good Golly, Miss Molly - LITTLE RICHARD And His Band (Specialty 624)
8. Get A Job - THE SILHOUETTES (Junior 391/Ember 1029)
9. Talk To Me, Talk To Me - LITTLE WILLIE JOHN (King 5108)
10. The Walk - JIMMY McCRACKLIN And His Band (Checker 885)
11. Don't You Just Know It - HUEY (PIANO) SMITH And The Clowns (Ace 545)
12. Book Of Love - THE MONOTONES (Mascot 124/Argo 5290)
13. What Am I Living For - CHUCK WILLIS (Atlantic 1179)
14. Do You Wanna Dance? - BOBBY FREEMAN (Josie 835)
15. Johnny B. Goode - CHUCK BERRY (Chess 1691)
16. One Summer Night - THE DANLEERS (Amp-3 2115/Mercury 71322)
17. Willie And The Hand Jive - THE JOHNNY OTIS SHOW (Capitol 3966)
18. Slow Down - LARRY WILLIAMS (Specialty 626)
19. Yakety Yak - THE COASTERS (Atco 6116
[Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller]
20. For Your Precious Love - JERRY BUTLER And THE IMPRESSIONS (Vee Jay VJ-280 and Falcon/Abner 1013)
21. Rockin' Robin - BOBBY DAY (Class 229)
22. Itchy Twitchy Feeling - BOBBY HENDRICKS (Sue 706)
23. You Cheated - THE SHIELDS (Tender 513/Dot 15805)
[The Shields featured Jesse Belvin]
24. Western Movies - THE OLYMPICS (Demon 1508)
25. This Little Girl's Gone Rockin' - RUTH BROWN (Atlantic 1197)
26. Tears On My Pillow - THE IMPERIALS (End 1027)
27. Nobody But You - DEE CLARK With The RILEY HAMPTON ORCHESTRA (Abner 1019)
28. Lonely Teardrops - JACKIE WILSON (Brunswick 55105)
29. Ten Commandments Of Love - HARVEY And The MOONGLOWS (Chess 1705)
30. A Lover's Question - CLYDE McPHATTER (Atlantic 1199)
31. Whole Lotta Loving - FATS DOMINO (Imperial 5553)