Search - Joe Turner :: Big Joe Turner - Greatest Hits

A Giant Of A Man And A Whale Of A Singer

Ken Rogers | 10/01/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Joe Turner not only was at the forefront of those now considered to have paved the way for R&R, he carried right on into the early years of the genre with some of the most memorable hits of the era. The only thing that kept him from becoming as big (pardon the pun) as, say, Little Richard and Chuck Berry was that, while they were 23 and 29 respectively when it kicked into gear in 1955, he was already 44 and with a girth that earned him the nickname Big Joe. Hardly the prerequisites for becoming a teenage idol.



But could the man ever sing, turning out 21 hit singles from 1945 to 1958, most for Atlantic Records, including memorable gems such as Chains Of Love (later covered by Pat Boone and Bobby Bland), Shake Rattle And Roll (later covered by Bill Haley & His Comets and Elvis Presley, among others), and Corrine, Corrina (later a hit for Ray Peterson and covered by many others).



For his contributions he was inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame in 1983 and was honored by the R&R Hall Of Fame, two years after his death on November 24, 1985, with induction in the "blues pioneer" category. This release of an earlier Atlantic vinyl album added seven bonus tracks (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 19 and 21), and all told there are eleven of his 21 hits along with six B-sides and four miscellaneous cuts (tracks 7, 18, 19, and 20 were not among his hits or their B-sides).



His first two hits came for the National label when S.K. Blues - Part 1 peaked at # 3 in April 1945 on what then passed for the R&B charts. billed to Joe Turner with Pete Johnson's All Stars. Just over a year later My Gal's A Jockey went to # 6 R&B with the backing of Bill Moore's Lucky Seven Band. Neither of those cuts is here, nor is his 1950 hit, Still In The Dark, which reached # 9 in March on the Freedom label.



But both sides of his first three Atlantic hits are, as Chains Of Love made it to # 2 R&B/# 30 Pop in summer 1951 (and hung around on the R&B charts for an incredible 25 weeks) b/w After My Laughter Came Tears, The Chill Is On topped out at # 3 R&B in late 1951/early 1962 b/w Bump Miss Suzie, and Sweet Sixteen also made it to # 3 R&B in May 1952 b/w I'll Never Stop Loving You. Unfortunately, they did not include Don't You Cry (# 5 R&B in August 1952) and its flipside, Poor Lover's Blues. All were backed by Van "Piano Man" Walls & His Orchestra.



It took over a year before he appeared on the charts again, bu when he did it became his first # 1 as Honey Hush shot to the top R&B spot that fall and stayed there for EIGHT weeks, spending 25 weeks in total on those charts and also reaching # 23 Pop b/w Crawdad Hole. For some reason, they also left out his next hit, TV Mama which, featuring Fats Domino on piano, got to # 6 R&B in early 1954 b/w Oke-She-Moke-She-Pop, which IS included here.



Then came the seminal Shake, Rattle And Roll which spent three weeks at # 1 R&B and stayed around on those charts for THIRTY-TWO weeks while also reaching # 22 Pop b/w You Know I Love You. Bill Haley & His Comets would cover it with a watered-down (lyrically-speaking) # 7 Pop version. Late that year, Well All Right got to # 9 R&B b/w Married Woman, in early spring 1955, Flip Flop And Fly made it to # 2 R&B b/w Ti-Ri-Lee, and in the fall, Hide And Seek was a # 3 R&B b/w Midnight Cannonball. None of the last four B-sides are here.



Early in 1956, recording now as Joe Turner & His Blues Kings, The Chicken And The Hawk (Up, Up And Away) peaked at # 7 R&B b/w Morning, Noon And Night which also charted at # 8 - but is not included here. He then had the backing of The Cookies on Corrine Corrina which reached # 2 R&B/# 41 Billboard Pop Top 100 in May/June 1956, b/w Boogie Woogie Country Girl, a "follow-along" R&B hit featuring Van "Piano Man" Walls.



After that he had four more hits, but none are included here: Lipstick, Powder And Paint (# 8 R&B with The Cookies) b/w Rock A While (# 12 R&B) in fall 1956; Love Roller Coaster (# 12 R&B with the Choker Campbell orchestra in fall 1957 b/w A World Of Trouble); and Jump For Joy (# 15 R&B the Howard Biggs orchestra in May 1958) b/w Blues In The Night (which IS here).



Other than a listing of the tracks showing the musicians/backing vocalists involved with each cut, there are no liner notes, and although the sound quality is excellent, it has to lost 1 star for that and the exclusion of those missing hits in favor of four obscure selections.



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Up, up and away!

Johnny Heering | Bethel, CT United States | 05/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Joe Turner was an R&B/Jump Blues singer who was a tremendous influence on early rock and roll. This CD contains 21 of his best songs from the 1950s (although his career started long before that, and ended long afterwards). Many of these songs are now considered classics. This is a really enjoyable CD. Recommended to fans of early rock and roll/rhythm and blues."

THE GENESIS OF ROCK AND ROLL

Alfred Johnson | boston, ma | 08/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A few years ago there was a little controversy about whether songs like Joe Turner's Shake, Rattle and Roll or some early Elvis Presley tunes like Hound Dog or It's All Right, Mama represented the genesis of rock and roll. That might be an interesting discussion for musicologists with time on their hands but if you really want to know the answer listen here. If you do not find the base line here for all later classic rock then I am afraid it is lost in the mist of time. Musical trends draw from many influences but the rhythm and blues of the early 1950's seems to have been the real jump point for the turn to rock.



This compilation, that is moreover technically competent, is a case study for the above stated propositions. It all comes together here on Shake, Rattle and Roll- the rest just complete the argument.

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