Jack Scott - Rockin' Scott

You could get Jack's 5 CD Bear Family box set but that has lots of ballads and Gospel songs. I've trawled through the set and extracted the cream of his rockin' sides 40 tracks of pure gold.

The canuck rocker is renowned as a rock-a-billy star but to my ears he's more a country balladeer and if I may say so a slightly off key one. His rock sides are way better not really rock-a-billy more country rock but the more up tempo the better he sounds.

His later tracks for mine are his better work and he got more rockin the more into the sixties he got. My favourite track is no 27 where he takes Dylan's Rainy Day Women and turns it into a fine country rocker.

Tracks

01. Greaseball
02. Baby She's Gone
03. Two Timin' Woman
04. I Never Felt Like This
05. Go Wild Little Sadie
06. Baby, Baby
07. Good Deal Lucille
08. Oh Little One
09. Cruel World
10. Window Shopping
11. I'm Satisfied With You
12. Cool Water
13. There's Trouble Brewing
14. Jingle Bell Slide
15. I Knew You First
16. Blue Skies (Moving In On Me)
17. Wiggle On Out
18. Flakey John
19. Tall Tales
20. The Road Keeps Winding
21. Looking For Linda
22. Geraldine
23. Midgie
24. The Way I Walk
25. Goodbye Baby
26. Billy Jack
27. Blues Stay Away From Me / Stones
28. Bo's Going To Jail
29. Country Witch
30. Patsy
31. True True Love
32. One Of These Days
33. Strange Desire
34. True, True Love
35. Sad Story
36. You Only See What You Wanna See
37. I Can't Hold Your Letters (In My Arms)
38. Cry Cry Cry
39. Grizzly Bear
40. Meo Myo

Link

Rememberin' Elvis

I seem to be listening to a lot of early rock these days including some really good Elvis imitators. Of course Elvis is the king of the early days and I've collected the complete 50s, 60s and 70s masters.

Funnily enough I think he hit his peak, certainly from a rock point of view, in the early to mid sixties with tracks like Little Egypt, His Latest Flame and Viva Las Vegas etc. The 50s of course were the classic years for his rockin' songs although the religious songs and sappy ballads don't do it for me.

The 70s were, well the era of fat Elvis and warbly over done ballads and lugubrious rock songs although there were some gems amongst the dross.

Anyway another Elvis comp is not much fun so here's some obscure Elvis imitators, artists from the same era who did the same songs as Elvis and even some more modern attempts at the Presley ouvre.

My choice for best Elvis imitator is Vince Everitt. there's only one album of 15 songs available but its smashingly good, its the great Elvis album he didn't do. Ral Donner is pretty good also although he didn't do many Elvis songs so his albums are like new Elvis albums. He enjoyed some success in the early 60s but not a good career choice for longivity.

The best 70s fat Elvis imitator is masked singer Orion, he of the favourite strange record cover for Orion Reborn where he actually looks more like Roy Orbison in disguise than Elvis. He did some records for Sun Records in the late 70s and they are pretty good if some songs are marred by cheesy synth effects.



His manager also produced some records with Orion doing duets with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis by overdubbing their old records. It does sound remarkably like Elvis and I think his name was left off the record labels to create the impression that it was really Elvis.

Worth seeking the masked one out as his records are worth a listen and his bizarre life ended when he was shot by a robber in his pawn shop in the late 90s.

Best Elvis song not done by Elvis is Terry Stafford's Suspicion which at one stage in the early 60s was the only record in the top 5 not done by the Beatles. He also did not have a long career and ended up dying early.

Best more recent Elvis imitator is a Belfast postal worker called "The King" and he's surprisingly good performing more recent songs which may be how they would have sounded if Elvis had survived and sung them.

Oh and not to forget the ladies, best rock n roll female artist Wanda Jackson, who else?

Anyhow here it is and well worth a listen, would I steer you wrong?

link

Brian Setzer Orchestra - Ultimate Collection Live

A wonderfully recorded live album by Brian Setzer and his Orchestra of two concerts. Lots of lounge, surf and straight out rock here. Who knew Brian was such a great arranger for his not tiny orchestra.

Review by Thom Jurek AMG

Say what you want about Brian Setzer and his cool retro-swing, but the man can not only play the hell out of a guitar, he can lead a big band like a pro, singing and playing sure, but he can write charts too. This set is rather ingenious. It contains two discs chock-full of the tunes that the Brian Setzer Orchestra has become (in)famous for.

Disc one is a show from the band's first tour, and disc two is live in Japan after all the hoopla and success in 2003. There are no overdubs or edits of any kind on either set. One gets both the raw and refined here, popping through the years. The first disc includes 15 goners, including "James Bond Theme," "Brand New Cadillac," "Good Rockin' Daddy," "That Mellow Saxophone," "Ghost Radio," "Route 66," "Rumble in Brighton," and "Rock This Town."

The way Setzer's guitar screams here is the sound fans were dying to hear on the studio records. Disc two has swaggering background vocalists and slicker arrangements, but there's no dearth of pure finger-poppin' rock here either. There's "Mystery Rain," "Hawaii Five-O," "Jump, Jive an' Wail," "Stray Cat Strut," "Caravan," "Gene & Eddie," "Sleepwalk," and a slew more. In all, this is a deeply satisfying collection capable of covering the "best-of" needs and giving punters who haven't experienced Setzer an opportunity to hear the excitement jumping out of the grooves his band cuts.

Link Part 1 Part 2 Part 3