Rock 'n' Roll 237 Items

Elvis Presley’s self-titled debut album forever changed popular culture on release in 1956, its earthquake aftershocks still felt some 65 years later. Gritty adaptations of Carl Perkins’ ‘Blue Suede Shoes,’ Ray Charles’ ‘I Got A Woman’ and Little Richard’s ‘Tutti Frutti’ helped make it the first Rock ‘n’ Roll album to top the Billboard charts, where it remained unchallenged for a full ten weeks. The iconic cover image with its distinctive lettering, showing Presley brandishing his acoustic guitar, helped embed the instrument in rock mythology too, indelibly changing how we conceive of the genre and its axemen. Elvis Presley proved that our hero was already the undisputed King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, just as he still is today.

Monkey is the second single by The Rellies since releasing 'Isabella is Annoying/ Brainwaves' in 2020. Ryan, guitarist and dual singer and songwriter for the band describes the making of 'Monkey' during lockdown with his brother Riley. "During covid we got very bored. Originally, we wanted to get our Monkeys and run them over with our dad's car, but we settled for filming them falling down the stairs and writing a song about it. When the other members of band finally heard the song, they liked the Monkey and then we made a clip with our friends and some TV monkeys. Everyone sang 'I like the Monkey' and soon everyone liked the Monkey!" Helicopter is Ryan's sonic representation of "hunks of steel flying through the sky. I'm an aviation nerd." He doesn't disappoint. Helicopter's opening riff is catchy and travels. Ryan's vocal powers through the song and the background vocals from kid brother Riley kicks it up a notch as he improvises his way through the chorus begging for a ride. The Rellies ages range from 13-16 and developed at Kings Cross Conservatorium. The brothers began writing and recording at age 9 and 11 respectively and doing shows as The Rellies in 2018 with Jarlath Kiernan on drums. In 2021, the band replaced guitarist Aiden Burke with Lachlan Knight when Aiden decided rehearsal was too loud. Ryan: "We love the Beatles but lately we've got more of a punk energy in our songs. Also, Riley likes a lot of different stuff like Tyler the Creator... his lyrics are inspiring us to be creative with humour."

Superb 45 featuring two Hammond-led instrumentals. The A-side is taken from The Guy HamperTrio's second long player due out on Hangman Records. The B-side is exclusive to this release. 'Man in the Mouth of a Cave' - I have painted St. Cuthbert's Cave, Northumberland on many occasions and decided that it was imperative that I write a great jazz /beat theme all about it. (Important info: After Viking raids monks from Lindisfarne wandered the north-east carrying the body of St. Cuthbert. Legend has it that they took refuge in 'St. Cuthbert's Cave.') I wrote the song with my friend Jamie Taylor in mind to have his way with it, which he does to thunderous applause - I should imagine. '107 Sleepless' is a tune I wrote in the early 1980s when me and Mick Hampshire would stay up the entire weekend writing songs for our group The Milkshakes. (We lived at 107 Rochester Street, Chatham.) About 3am Sunday morning we would be flagging and sitting there senseless. I would play this jazz riff over and over for some unknown reason. Meanwhile it should make a nice theme tune to some yet to be written HBO series and make me a millionaire - I should imagine. GUY Hamper - April 2023

LP - 180 Gram Vinyl / Limited to 500 Units12 festive songs recorded by The King in 1957 - a few even with the famous vocal quartet The Jordanaires. This LP full of Rock`n`Roll christmas hits takes you back into another time.

Discodelic and Groovie Records present two incredible singles / amazing finds of musical archeology. Four recordings made in Panama in the 70s and lost in time, we finally managed to license these Latin Psych Funk gems through Tamayo Records in a deluxe limited edition. These four groups Conjunto Raza, The Meditators, The Scepters and Los Misticos, were groups that barely recorded a single, which were only used for radio stations and forgotten in warehouses, they represent the most underground and forgotten Panama!

Discodelic and Groovie Records present two incredible singles / amazing finds of musical archeology. Four recordings made in Panama in the 70s and lost in time, we finally managed to license these Latin Psych Funk gems through Tamayo Records in a deluxe limited edition. These four groups Conjunto Raza, The Meditators, The Scepters and Los Misticos, were groups that barely recorded a single, which were only used for radio stations and forgotten in warehouses, they represent the most underground and forgotten Panama!

This EP contains their second & third singles. Both were originally released in 1965 by Parlophone. Produced by Joe Meek.

Joyce Harris was born in Kentucky in 1939 and moved to New Orleans with her family when she was 13 years old. Harris learned to play guitar, write songs and was soon performing duets with her younger sister Judy. They released three singles – ‘He’s The One’ / ‘Hey Pretty Baby’, ‘Washboard Sam’ / ‘Nursery Rock (Beedle De Bop)’ and ‘Hey Little Baby’/ ‘Rock And Roll Kittens’ – as Judy and Joyce in 1958. When her sister got married, Harris spent a year singing in restaurants in Mexico and a first solo single ‘It’s You’ / ‘The Boy In School’ was released on New York’s U.T. Records at the end of 1959. A talent spotter saw her in Mexico and was impressed enough to secure her an audition with the Austin, Texas-based Domino label. Harris was soon in the studio with Tommy Kaspar and Don Burch of Domino’s vocal quartet, the Slades, to record ‘I Cheated’ / ‘Do You Know What It’s Like To Be Lonesome?’ (r-903) in October 1960. ‘No Way Out’ / ‘Dreamer’ (r-905) followed in January 1961 and sold strongly enough to be licensed to Infinity Records. On 7 April 1961, Harris performed ‘No Way Out’ live on TV on American Bandstand. Three more singles would be issued on different labels between 1963 and 1966.

Les Dynamites make a jubilant return to Batov Records" Middle Eastern Grooves series of vinyl 45s with two irresistible instrumentals capturing the spirit of the Mediterranean surf rock renaissance, "Uzi Kinrot" and "Sea Gull".

In 1960, Dick Dale released his last single before his surfer days with the small company Cupid Records, from Sherman Oaks, California. On it, he was backed by Tommy Oliver's band, and its B-side contains THE Fairest OF Them ALL, a marvellous piece of orchestrated rock'n'roll, with a crooner touch, that we rescue to open this EP, and which marked the end of his first musical stage. The B-side of this EP features two previous songs from 1960, both released on his second single for his father's label, Del-Tone Records. Stop Teasing is a hot rhythm & blues, New Orleans style, a far cry from what Dick had recorded on his early records, topped off with a great guitar solo. It was originally paired with Whitout Your Love, a slow blues, in the same vein as Elvis Presley's Don't Ask Me Why, which opens up even more the musical spectrum that Dick was handling before he made his leap to fame. These three tracks perfectly complement the three ones that make up the first EP in this series, and are a perfect summary of Dick's rock'n'roll years, before the release of his next single, Let's Go Trippin' / Del-Tone Rock, his first one with The Del-Tones and his consecration as the king of surf music. DeeJay Francho

Dick Dale’s first recording came two years before he formed the Del-Tones and was crowned King of The Surf Guitar. That record was “Ooh Whee Marie,” released on his father’s fledging Del-Tone label in the summer of 1958. Dale was 21 years old at the time and encouraged by his father to learn guitar and trumpet. His musical hero was Hank Williams and other country stars he heard on the radio, including Buddy Holly, whose influence is apparent on “Marie.” He soon developed an impression of Elvis that he took to various talent shows around the Los Angeles area. He won enough of these shows to bring him to the Town Hall Party stage, a three-hour live Saturday night viewing staple broadcast from Compton. Dale played trumpet in the backing band that accompanied various guest stars. There was also plenty of rockabilly music from the younger artists on that show, which influenced Dale’s third outing on record, “Jessie Pearl” and “St. Louis Blues,” recorded earlier, but released in the summer of 1960. “Jessie Pearl” was Dale’s first self-penned song. “St. Louis Blues,” an old W.C. Handy jazz number, was a song Dale had picked up learning how to play trumpet. Around July, 1960, Dick Dale formed the Del-Tones and began playing to capacity crowds at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Newport Beach. His next release was “Let’s Go Trippin’.” He had single-handedly launched the surf music genre. --John Blair

The Angry Young Them' is the first album from the Northern Irish rock and roll group Them. The album was released in the UK in June 1965. The band's lead singer and songwriter was Van Morrison. Six of the songs on the album were Morrison originals, including the famous garage band anthem 'Gloria'. Another song on the album, 'Mystic Eyes', was a spontaneous creation that came out of the band just "busking around" in Morrison's words and after seven minutes of instrumental playing he impulsively threw in the words of a song he had been working on.

Formed in 1961, Los Jets are one of the essential bands in the emergence of rock & roll music in Argentina. They were the first group (and possibly the only one) to include two drummers, they sang and did three-part choruses before The Beatles appeared on the scene, and were also pioneers in fusion as they recorded Argentine and Latin American folk songs with a rock beat. This compilation gathers tracks from their two LPs, singles and their only surviving live recording, registered in January 1966. Includes CD with 15 bonus tracks.

Surfers’ Choice is a true landmark of surf rock, being the album that established the genre more than any other release. First issued in 1962 and mostly recorded at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa Beach, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego, it has rollicking surf anthems like ‘Surf Beat,’ ‘Shake ‘N Stomp,’ ‘Surfing Drums’ and ‘Take It Off,’ as well as Dale’s adaptations of ‘Night Owl,’ ‘Fanny Mae’ and a strangely orchestrated take of ‘Sloop John B.’ With a soaring guitar that’s drenched in reverb at centre stage and Dale’s gritty vocals varying the action, this is the enduring start of surf rock and a blistering start at that!