Search - Carl Perkins :: Dance Album

Classic Rock and Roll Album

Carl Savich | Detroit, MI, USA | 09/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Carl Perkins Dance Album, which was released in 1957 on Sun Records as Sun SLP-1225, Dance Album of ... Carl Perkins, is one of the most influential and most important albums in the history of rock and roll. The album was re-released in 1961 as Teen Beat: The Best of Carl Perkins. A British version of the Dance Album was released in the UK as Dance Album/Blue Suede Shoes on London HA-S 2202.



The songs included on this classic album are some of the most influential and most important in rock and roll.



Carl Perkins exploded on the music scene in 1956. He had been signed by Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee in 1954 and released his first single on the Sun subsidiary Flip. On March 19, 1955 he released Movie Magg b/w Turn Around on Flip 501. Flip was meant to cater to the country market. Jerry Lee Lewis later covered Turn Around, which was released on the Sun EP Great Ball of Fire. His second single, Gone Gone Gone b/w Let the Jukebox Keep on Playing, featuring steel guitar, was released on Sun in 1955. A recorded studio performance of Gone Gone Gone by John Lennon was released on The Lost Lennon Tapes in the 1980s. Lennon also based his song I Found Out on Gone Gone Gone. The third single that Carl Perkins released was entitled Blue Suede Shoes.



Blue Suede Shoes was released on January 1, 1956 and became a monster cross-over hit, reaching no.1 on the Billboard country and western charts where it stayed for 3 weeks, no.2 on the pop charts for 4 weeks, and no.2 on the rhythm and blues charts. In Britain, the single reached no.10 on the UK charts. The single quickly became a million seller and was the first gold record at Sun. The single, Sun 234, became one of the biggest hits and best-selling singles of 1956. Carl Perkins performed the song on the Perry Como show on television. Elvis Presley covered the song and performed it on the Dorsey Brothers Show and on the Milton Berle Show. Elvis' version climbed to no.20 on the U.S. charts and no.9 on the UK charts. The song also was the first selection on Elvis' eponymous first album release on RCA, which was no.1 for 10 weeks on the Billboard album chart. The B side was Honey Don't, which was covered by The Beatles, Wanda Jackson, Johnny Rivers, and British glam rocker T. Rex in the 1970s. Johnny Rivers would have a Top 40 hit in 1973 with his cover version of Blue Suede Shoes, reaching no.38 on the pop chart.



Carl Perkins would score the first gold record at Sun, putting the label on the national map. As a result, Sam Phillips would give Perkins a Cadillac to mark the achievement. Carl Perkins was one of the top "record stars" of 1956.



Boppin'the Blues was the follow-up single, co-written with Howard Griffin, which reached no.9 on the country chart and no.70 on the Billboard Top 100. The B side was All Mama's Children, co-written with Johnny Cash. Ricky Nelson covered the song Boppin' the Blues, along with Your True Love, on his first album for Imperial Records, an album that went no.1 on the U.S. album charts. The Beatles as well would later cover two Carl Perkins' compositions on a signle LP, Beatles '65 or Beatles for Sale in 1964. Gene Vincent would also cover the song on one of his last albums in 1970, The Day the World Turned Blue. The Kingbees, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Robert Gordon also covered Boppin' the Blues. NRBQ would cover the song in 1970 on an album entitled Boppin' the Blues, a collaboration with Carl Perkins on Columbia.



Dixie Fried, co-written with Howard Griffin, climbed to no.10 in October, 1956 b/w I'm Sorry, I'm Not Sorry. The record featured the "rave on" refrain which would be copied in the Buddy Holly song Rave On. George Thorogood later recorded a cover version of this song on his album Maverick. The Kentucky Headhunters also covered Dixie Fried in the 1990s. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin played on a Keith De Groot session that also featured Albert Lee and Big Jim Sullivan when this song was recorded in 1968 and released on the album No Introduction Necessary.



On February 11, 1957, Sun released Your True Love b/w Matchbox, which reached no.13 on the country chart and no.67 on the pop chart. Ricky Nelson covered the A side on his first no.1 charting album, Ricky. The Beatles also are reported to have performed and recorded this song. The next single in the summer of 1957 was That's Right b/w Forever Yours, the A side being co-written with Johnny Cash. Charlie Rich later covered the A side.



Carl Perkins released "Matchbox" on February 11, 1957 as the B side to the Sun 45 "Your True Love", Sun 261, published and copyrighted by Knox Music, Inc., BMI U-231. The music is totally original and has nothing to do with any earlier traditional and public domain versions of "Match Box Blues". Carl Perkins merely used a line from the earlier song but wrote entirely new lyrics. Carl Perkins and his band performed "Matchbox" live on the Ranch Party television show in 1958 and on the Town Hall Party television series. In the Ranch Party performance, Perkins added the lyrics "Talk to me little box, Let's go now, Let's go." In a signed copy of the lyrics to the song, Perkins had an additional verse which he did not sing in the recorded version: "If you don't want my peaches don't shake my tree/If you don't want my loving/Then honey don't flirt with me."



"Matchbox" was included on the Carl Perkins Dance Album on Sun Records, as Sun SLP-1225. The Beatles most likely first heard "Matchbox" on either the U.S. or British versions of the Carl Perkins Dance Album on Sun Records.



The "Your True Love" b/w "Matchbox" single by Carl Perkins on Sun Records peaked at no. 13 on the Billboard Country and Western chart and no. 67 on the pop chart. Both sides were produced by Sam Phillips. Carl Perkins played a 1956 Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster guitar, known as "the Matchbox guitar", for the "Matchbox" sessions. Jerry Lee Lewis played piano on the songs on both sides of the single. Ricky Nelson covered the A side, "Your True Love", on his first album for Imperial "Ricky", released in November, 1957. During the "Your True Love/Matchbox" sessions at Sun Studios in 1956, Elvis Presley visited the studio and jammed with Perkins, Lewis, and Johnny Cash, in what came to be known as the Million Dollar Quartet.



George Harrison sang lead and played lead guitar on a performance of the Carl Perkins song in the late 1980s at a Los Angeles club with Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Jesse Ed Davis, and Taj Mahal, referred to as "The Silver Wilburys", which was recorded. Harrison played the Carl Perkins-composed music based on the 1957 Sun single and sang two verses of the lyrics written by Carl Perkins, ad libbing the lines, "I'm sittin' here wonderin' will Bob Dylan hold my clothes." Pete Best, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison have all performed the Carl Perkins song and have sung lead on it. John Lennon sang lead on a version released on The Lost Lennon Tapes in the 1980s. "Matchbox" was also on a segment of The Beatles ABC Saturday morning cartoon show in the 1960s.



Bob Dylan recorded a version of the Carl Perkins song in 1969 and sang lead on a duet of the song with Carl Perkins in 1994, which is available on Youtube. Bob Dylan also recorded a version of the Perkins song in 1970 in sessions with George Harrison at Columbia Studios.



Jerry Lee Lewis recorded a version of the Carl Perkins song on his first Sun LP in 1958 and released "Matchbox" on Sun EPA-110 as an EP. Ronnie Hawkins, with Duane Allman on lead guitar, recorded a version of the Carl Perkins song.



Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins performed the song on the Johnny Cash TV show in 1970 when Derek & the Dominos were guests. Eric Clapton also performed "Matchbox" on the cable TV special A Rockabilly Session with Carl Perkins on the 30th anniversary of the release of "Blue Suede Shoes" in 1985.



Willie Nelsom recorded "Matchbox" in a duet with Carl Perkins that appeared on the Go Cat Go! album.



It has been reported that Elvis Presley was considering making "Matchbox" a part of his Las Vegas comeback repertoire in the late 1960s and that he rehearsed the song for possible inclusion in his concert set. He based his version on the Carl Perkins and The Beatles recordings.



The last single released by Carl Perkins on Sun was Glad All Over b/w Lend Me Your Comb, songs which the Beatles covered. The Beatles' I'll Cry Instead is based on Glad All Over, which the Beatles recorded live for broadcast on the BBC. Lend Me Your Comb is on the Beatles Anthology One album. The Jeff Beck Group also covered Glad All Over for the 1972 Orange album on Epic. Carl Perkins and his band, brothers Jay and Clayton and Fluke Holland on drums, performed the song in the 1957 movie Jamboree.



The Dance Album also contains the country ballad Sure to Fall (In Love with You) which was rush released in 1956 in the wake of the spectacular success of Blue Suede Shoes b/w Tennessee. Both songs were covered by The Beatles. Sure to Fall was part of the 1962 Decca audition tape that the Beatles made and was later recorded and released by Ringo Starr in the 1980s on a solo album. The Beatles performed Tennessee at the Get Back/Let it Be sessions in 1969. Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby was an adaptation of a 1936 song by Rex Griffin which Roy Newman also recorded. Perkins wrote new music for the song and new verses but also retained adapted verses from the Griffin recording. The Beatles recorded the song in 1964 and performed it at the historic 1965 Shea Stadium concert. In 1998, Bruce Springsteen performed the song in concert as a tribute to Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash recorded the song in a duet with Perkins. Included on the album were also covers of The Platters' Only You, done in a slowed down tempo, and William Piano Red Perryman's Right String, Baby, but the Wrong Yo-yo, which was also later performed by the Beatles relying on the Perkins frenetic and speeded-up arrangement. Piano Red would later record as Dr. Feelgood and the Interns.



Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash left Sun and signed with Columbia in 1958. Carl Perkins recorded the Whola Lotta Shakin' album, an album of cover songs, on Columbia in 1958 and a series of singles up to 1963. On the Whole Lotta Shakin' LP, Perkins is shown playing a Fender Stratocaster guitar, a change from his Gibson Les Paul and Switchmaster sound. The first single was Jive After Five and Pink Pedal Pushers which was released on a double-sided picture 45 by Columbia. Pink Pedal Pushers, which was also covered by Jerry Lee Lewis, reached no.17 on the country charts and no.91 on the Top 100 in May, 1958. Pointed Toe Shoes b/w Highway of Love made it to no.93 on the Hot 100 in June, 1959. Perkins released several teen and rock based singles such as Rockin' Record Hop, Levi Jacket (And a Long Tail Shirt), Pop, Let Me Have the Car, L-O-V-E-V-I-L-L-E, Sister Twister, and Hambone on Columbia, but they did not chart. In 1964, Perkins released the single Big Bad Blues on Decca.



Carl Perkins turned to songwriting in the 1960s. He wrote So Wrong for Patsy Cline in 1962, which reached no.14 on the country chart and no.85 on the pop chart. The song was included on her 12 Greatest Hits album which sold over 10 million copies, becoming an RIAA Diamond album. It was no.1 on the country charts and is one of the all-time best-selling country albums.



In 1964, Carl Perkins embarked on a tour of England where he was able to meet The Beatles, who recorded three of his songs for their studio albums and performed and recorded his songs live for the BBC. Perkins jammed all night with the Beatles, missing his plane to the U.S. Perkins would continue to collaborate and work with the Beatles throughout his career. In 1969, John Lennon performed Blue Suede Shoes at the Toronto rock and roll revival concert with Eric Clapton on lead guitar. The song later appeared on the gold album on Apple entitled Live Peace in Toronto.



In a 1975 Rolling Stone interview, John Lennon stated that Carl Perkins was the only artist that he could listen to for an entire album. And the album that Lennon was most likely referencing was the 1957 Dance Album.



Carl Perkins wrote The Ballad of Boot Hill for the 1965 Johnny Cash album Johnny Cash Sings the Ballads of the True West. Perkins also wrote "When You're Twenty-One" for the Johnny Cash Family Christmas album in the 1970s.



In 1966, Perkins released Country Boy's Dream on Dollie which reached no.22 on the country charts beginning a comeback. The follow-up single Shine, Shine, Shine reached no.40 on the country charts in June, 1967.



With the success of his collaborations with Johnny Cash, the national exposure from his role as a regular on the Johnny Cash Show, Carl Perkins was resigned by Columbia and in 1969 began a string of chart successes. Columbia released an album in 1969 entitled Carl Perkins on Top which featured Champaign, Illinois, a song Perkins co-wrote with Bob Dylan.



Daddy Sang Bass was a Carl Perkins composition that Johnny Cash recorded and released as a single, which was no.1 on the country charts for 6 weeks and became a country gospel classic. Glen Campbell, the Statler Brothers, Leon Russell, The Oak Ridge Boys, Jean Shepard, Skeeter Davis, Nat Stuckey, Connie Smith, Mel Tillis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Story also covered the song. Carl Perkins also played lead guitar on the Johnny Cash smash hit single "A Boy Named Sue", which was no.1 on the country charts for 5 weeks and no.2 on the pop charts in 1969.



Perkins released his Columbia single Restless in 1968, a hit single which reached no.20 in March, 1969, on the country charts and which was included on the Carl Perkins album on Harmony in 1970. Restless would later be covered by Mark O'Connor with an all-star ensemble. Perkins performed the song in 1995 with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on the Go Cat Go! album. The single Me Without You reached no.65 in June, 1971. Cotton Top climbed to no.53 on the country chart in December, 1971. In June, 1972, High On Love made it to no.60.



In 1973, Perkins remade his 1956 Sun classic Dixie Fried for Mercury Records which was titled (Let's Get) Dixie Fried, which got to no.61 on the country chart.



In 1985, Perkins celebrated the 30th anniversary of Blue Suede Shoes and the 1955 emergence of Sun Records and rock and roll. Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee lewis, and Roy Orbison recorded an album entitled Class of '55. In 1986, the single from that album, The Birth Of Rock and Roll, was released as a picture sleeve single and reached no.31 on the country chart. In 1987, the Class Of '55 single made it to no.83 on the country chart.



Carl Perkins continued to tour, to record new material, and to write new songs. In 1989, he co-wrote Let Me Tell You About Love for The Judds which became a no.1 country hit. He also wrote Wild Texas Wind for Dolly Parton's TV movie of the same name. Dolly Parton would record Carl Perkins' song Silver and Gold, which reached no.15 on the country chart. George Strait recorded When You're a Man on Your Own, which was written by Carl Perkins.



Mark O'Connor recorded Restless in 1991 on his New Nashville Cats album with an all-star cast, the New Nashville Cats, which included Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, and Steve Wariner, which reached no.25 on the country chart and won a Grammy Award in 1992 for Best Country Vocal Collaboration.



The bonus tracks Put Your Cat Clothes On and You Can Do No Wrong were originally unreleased Sun tracks that both feature Jerry Lee Lewis on piano. Put Your Cat Clothes On features a duel between Perkins, the "Rockin' Guitar Man", and Lewis, and "his Pumpin' Piano", in their solo breaks to see who can top the other. Jerry Lee Lewis plays piano on five of the tracks on this collection.



The Dance Album of Carl Perkins has the essential Sun releases from the 1950s as well as unreleased album tracks. This is one of the most important and influential albums in rock and roll history.



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Defective MP3s

S. Menhinick | Boston, MA | 07/07/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"BEWARE! The last four tracks of this record are full of static and completely unlistenable. DO NOT BUY!"

Carl Perkins' First Record For Sun

S. A. Davis | 03/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Carl Perkins' first Lp, Dance Album, was released on Sun Records in 1957. This is one of the very best rock and roll albums from the mid-to-late '50s rockabilly era. On par with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Everly Brothers, and other early rock artists at the time. This record plays like a greatest hits collection and his classic material like 'Blue Suede Shoes' have since become rock and roll standards. A must have for any serious rock collection."