Rock and Roll

[stingrayPete1977]

I cant decide if I am a massive fan of Rock and Roll or just of Billy Haley and the Comets? I have bought a cd to get me in the zone to try and build up my choices for rock and roll style bass lines but I mainly like all the Bill Haley stuff, Burn that candle, what a tune!

[Cat Burrito]

Eddie Cochran? Buddy Holly? Barbara Pittman? Billy Lee Riley? Little Richard? Wanda Jackson? Gene Vincent? Janis Martin? Bob Luman? Jack Scott? Carl Mann? Johnny Burnette? Larry Williams? Jumpin' Gene Simmons? Ray Smith?.... I'm pretty sure there is loads of great stuff as well as Bill Haley and I didn't even have to mention Elvis!

[stingrayPete1977]

The CD I have is a collection including must of the artists you mentioned with some cool early Elvis stuff too but it's Bill I like the most by far, I'd grow a quiff but I'm bald!

Edited July 6, 2013 by stingrayPete1977

[ChrisF]

[quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1373102712' post='2133688']
Eddie Cochran? Buddy Holly? Barbara Pittman? Billy Lee Riley? Little Richard? Wanda Jackson? Gene Vincent? Janis Martin? Bob Luman? Jack Scott? Carl Mann? Johnny Burnette? Larry Williams? Jumpin' Gene Simmons? Ray Smith?.... I'm pretty sure there is loads of great stuff as well as Bill Haley and I didn't even have to mention Elvis!
[/quote]

Plus....Sonny Burgess, Eddie Bond, Jack Earls, Mac Curtis, Johnny Carroll, Charlie Feathers, Billy Lee Riley..... ah there are thousands. And they are all way better than bill haley ....but then who isn't !?!?!

You may have noticed that Im not a fan ..to me, he is very much the "safe-commercial-watered down face" of the music, and there is a huge wealth of artists that are much, much better.

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='ChrisF' timestamp='1373109761' post='2133795']You may have noticed that Im not a fan ..to me, he is very much the "safe-commercial-watered down face" of the music, and there is a huge wealth of artists that are much, much better.[/quote]

Plus the one. Haley did a great job of bringing working-class Black music to a middle-class White audience and turned out some great tunes, so I won't dismiss him altogether (plus his band [i]was[/i] rather good), but these two ought to serve as illustration…

Exhibit 'A' - The original:—

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMBZHUhBAYU[/media]

Exhibit 'B' - The sanitised version:—

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2UkFvKllLw[/media]

A similar comparison can be made between Little Richard's original of 'Rip It Up' & Haley's. No contest in my book.

P.

[JapanAxe]

+1 for Eddie Cochran - great songs and inventive guitar playing!

[Cat Burrito]

[quote name='ChrisF' timestamp='1373109761' post='2133795']
Plus....Sonny Burgess, Eddie Bond, Jack Earls, Mac Curtis, Johnny Carroll, Charlie Feathers, Billy Lee Riley..... ah there are thousands. And they are all way better than bill haley ....but then who isn't !?!?!

You may have noticed that Im not a fan ..to me, he is very much the "safe-commercial-watered down face" of the music, and there is a huge wealth of artists that are much, much better.
[/quote]

Chris - fair point and I felt at the time that I could have kept going. I can't believe I didn't mention Sonny Burgess but if you look again at my original list I did mention Billy Lee Riley You sound like a man after my own heart

[Bloodaxe]

No mention of Chuck Berry yet, so I'll throw that one in. The early stuff has Willie Dixon laying it down & a lot of it ain't easy. Check out what's going on in 'Johnny B Goode' for an example - sure as hell isn't an R-3-5 walk over the changes, Dixon's having a whale of a time under that.

Also worth bunging in are Amos Milburn, Wynonie Harris, & Louis Prima. The latter has (justifiably) got a bit of a reputation as a 'novelty act', but man, could his band swing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmT7jwEKiXo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kTcjXhGbxU

[ChrisF]

[b]Bloodaxe[/b].... Your thinking of Elvis... he brought the music into the mainstream.

And a contest between Litte Richard and haley is a hands down win for Little Richard every time

[b]BurritoBass [/b]....Ive been listening to Rockabilly for 35 years... and I still love it.

We haven't even mentioned the 70s/80s bands. Or the more recent ones...of which, by far my favourite are The Boom Boom Booms.

Edited July 6, 2013 by ChrisF

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='ChrisF' timestamp='1373120490' post='2133935']
[b]Bloodaxe[/b].... Your thinking of Elvis... he brought the music into the mainstream. [/quote]

I wasn't, although you're right, he did. Elvis tapped the raw nerve & was seen as rebellious, whereas Haley was safe enough to play to your granny (Bill never got banned from the waist down did he:D) - different markets. qv Stones vs Beatles m'lud.

Of the 'modern lot' I'm quite a fan of Brian Setzer, especially his Orchestra stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uR35eeADJ8

P.

[stingrayPete1977]

So much to learn just on this genre and all its sub genres! I wish I had gone to the DB ten years ago now

[stingrayPete1977]

I still like Bill though

[keeponehandloose]

If Bill's your thang try Louis Jordan.

[keeponehandloose]

You can tell if Rockabilly is for you by listening to the Johnny Burnette Trio.
If you dig it then your a Cat, if you dont ,your a square , ( you gotta learn the lingo as well as the notes)

[slap_it_hard]

Interesting thread...
Yes, Bill Haley Rocked out some awesome tunes, & if you think back to 1951, it was actually 'Rock The Joint" that started Rock 'n' Roll.
Of course Dick, Joey & the recently passed on Marshall Lytle (an awesome bass player, great guy & friend of mine) left to form The Jodimars (I believe in 1955), so have a listen to that stuff too!

Not to take anything away from any of the greats, oh, & someone should mention Benny Joy too :-)

[ChrisF]

[quote name='keeponehandloose' timestamp='1373135128' post='2134091'] You can tell if Rockabilly is for you by listening to the Johnny Burnette Trio. If you dig it then your a Cat, if you dont ,your a square , ( you gotta learn the lingo as well as the notes) [/quote]

Spot on

[ChrisF]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1373132794' post='2134066']
I still like Bill though
[/quote]

To be fair...if you like him then that's cool.
My mum was a massive Elvis fan and my dad was a huge Haley fan.... me and my dad didn't really get on...which is probably why Im an Elvis fan and cant stand Haley.

A psychiatrist would have a field day in my head lol

[paddy109]

Charlie Feathers - now your talking!

I enjoy listening to Bill Haley/Marshall Lytle but I find it a little too polished, the rawness of the early rockabilly bass has always had me hooked.

[stingrayPete1977]

I have about a years worth of listening already, but I like it, next thing the Spiros will be coming off for a set of weedwackers

[ChrisF]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1373151186' post='2134250']
I have about a years worth of listening already, but I like it, next thing the Spiros will be coming off for a set of weedwackers
[/quote]

Good man

[keeponehandloose]

[quote name='ChrisF' timestamp='1373152563' post='2134260']
Good man
[/quote]
And then youll need to cut the the lawn, so buy some guts and save the hassle of all that string swapping.

[stingrayPete1977]

True

[Rabbie]

Get guts

[cattytown]

For me Bill Haley is the definitive rock n roll sound. People like Big Joe Turner I class as R&B, Sonny Burgess/Billy Lee Riley are rockabilly.

Paul.

[ChrisF]

[quote name='cattytown' timestamp='1373438656' post='2137501']
For me Bill Haley is the definitive rock n roll sound. People like Big Joe Turner I class as R&B, Sonny Burgess/Billy Lee Riley are rockabilly.

Paul.
[/quote]

Yup ....cant disagree with that.

Im a rockabilly, but there is a lot of rock n roll that I like too. And Im embarrassed to say that I only discovered people like Big Joe Turner and Bull Moose Jackson fairly recently