Search - Bill Haley :: Bill Rocks

One Of The Top R&R Pioneers And A Hall Of Famer

06/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bear Family of Germany, with their excellent sound reproduction and detailed liner notes, have quietly (so far, it seems, from the lack of reviews) come up with a refreshingly new multi-track series dealing with the originators of R&R (and its R&B and Rockabilly roots) under the generic title Rocks. In addition to this volume, they also feature releases covering Carl Perkins, Buddy Knox & Jimmy Bowen & The Rhythm Orchids, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Sleepy LaBeef, Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, Wanda Jackson, Rusty York, Conway Twitty, Sonny James, Glen Glenn, Roy Hall, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Fats Domino, Dale Hawkins, Ronnie Hawkins, and Jack Scott. Each a gem.



Bill Haley, of course, sounded the clarion call for R&R when his modest 1954 Hit, (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock (# 23 that June) was resurrected a year later and used over the opening credits of the film The Blackboard Jungle in 1955. On its re-release by Decca it soared to # 1 Billboard Pop Top 100 and # 3 R&B in July, again with Thirteen Women (And Only One Man In Town) on the flipside. But long before that launched him and his band into the forefront of the birth of R&R, Bill, who started out as a member of a "Country & Western Swing" band known as The Down Homers, based in Pennsylvania, formed groups called The Range Drifters and then The Four Aces Of Western Swing in the late 1940s.



That last gathering landed a recording contract with Cowboy Records, founded in Philadelphia back in 1942 by songwriter Buddy DeSylva and vocalist Johnny Mercer (who would later form Capitol Records), and in late summer 1948, Four Leaf Clover b/w Too Many Parties And Too Many Pals was released on Cowboy CR-1201, followed in March 1949 by Candy Kisses b/w Tennessee Border on Cowboy CR-1202. Both did modestly well on a regional basis. So too did Stand Up And Be Counted b/w Loveless Blues, leased to Central Records in 1949 (Center 102) and, in 1950, the leased sides Deal Me A Hand b/w Ten Gallon Stetson and Susan Van Dusen b/w I'm Not To Blame (Keystone 5101 and 5102 respectively), and I'm Gonna Dry Every Tear With A Kiss b/w Why Do I Cry Over You? (Atlantic 721). Late that year, My Sweet Little Girl From Nevada b/w My Palomino And I was released on Cowboy CR-1701.



His focus then changed dramatically when he switched to Dave Miller's Holiday Records in Philadelphia in 1951, first changing the name of his group to The Saddlemen due to the sudden appearance of a very successful Pop quartet calling themselves The Four Aces, and then by covering Rocket "88" which was a smash # 1 R&B hit for Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats. Although it never made any national charts, b/w Tearstains On My Heart on Hollywood 105, it did attract a regional following. This was followed that year by Green Tree Boogie b/w Deep In My Heart on Holiday 108, Pretty Baby b/w I'm Crying on Holiday 110, and A Year Ago This Christmas b/w I Don't Want To Be Alone For Christmas on Holiday 113.



These were a mix of his old C&W sound and the new, emerging jump which was dominating the R&B listings, but by 1952 he had zeroed in on the style and sound that would carry him right through to his last original hit in 1960. After the rocking Sundown Boogie b/w Juke Box Cannon Ball came out on Holiday 113, Miller switched their releases to his Essex label with Rock The Joint b/w Icy Heart (Essex 303), followed by Rocking Chair On The Moon b/w Dance With A Dolly With A Hole In Her Stocking (Essex 305), Real Rock Drive b/w Stop Beatin' `Round The Mulberry Bush (Essex 310), and the one that launched him onto the national charts, Crazy, Man, Crazy, which made it to # 12 Pop in June 1953 b/w What'cha Gonna Do?



Two more Essex hits would follow, Fractured, # 24 in August 1953 b/w Pat-A-Cake on Essex 327, and Live It Up, # 25 that October b/w Farewell, So Long, Goodbye on Essex 332, before he and the band wound up at Decca. And the rest, as they, was history, some of it detailed in the wonderful liner notes. This is now one of the very best Bill Haley compilations on the market."