Rhythm & Blues: Thirty Unearthed Gems 1949 - 1965
28/5/2016
Defining "Rhythm & Blues"
What is these days called "R&B" is an entirely different beast from what am talking about here.
The term is pretty much just shorthand for any contemporary American Black popular music. The term has always meant this ever since it was invented in the Forties and shortened to R&B or RnB in the 50's & 60's. In the late Sixties & the Seventies it meant Soul & Funk, in the Eighties something again & so on to today. Originally it was "....used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular." (Wikipedia) "It used to be called boogie-woogie, it used to be called blues, used to be called rhythm and blues...It's called rock now." Chuck Berry "Everybody started calling my music rock and roll, but it wasn't anything but the same rhythm and blues I'd been playing down in New Orleans." Fats Domino "Rhythm and blues used to be called race music. ... This music was going on for years, but nobody paid any attention to it." Ray Charles |
I blame it all on Amy Winehouse. If I had not seen her video single "You Know I'm No Good" in the pub one day in 2006, I would never have illegally downloaded her album "Back to Black" and listened to it so uncritically that it took me months to realise I was listening to music that previously I would have ignored as "that funky soul stuff".
Thus Amy opened a door I have never shut, and behind that door I have found a lot of music that I really like. Recently I have been listening to music in the general area of "Rhythm & Blues" from the Fifties and Early Sixties. I use the term loosely, as I am inclined to include anything in which I can detect elements of the Blues 12-bar structure, or rhythmic patterns used in the Blues, since not all Blues is strictly 12-bar, and some is practically without a bar structure (John Lee Hooker!) (Postscript: See my subsequent related post (What Is a Blues? The Perils of Binary Thinking) The other qualifier is that it just doesn't sound emotionally like the woeful side of "The Blues", and often has more diverse lyrics. I have been intrigued by the great variety of rhythmic treatments used, far more variation was used than in contemporary popular music, it seems to me. I have been using a YouTube playlist as a place to assemble any numbers I have come across which appealed to me. Most have come from recently bought compilation CDs in my collection, some I have discovered amongst the .mp3 files on my computer, and others have come up as happily received suggestions dredged up by the computer algorithms Google have harnessed to the gigantic resource that is YouTube. I have come across so many great numbers that I feel as though they should be more well known. I have listened to all sorts of music for sixty years and missed all these. Maybe they are well known to others. Anyway, this is my little effort to throw some light on some music I think a lot of people could like if they heard it. |
My YouTube playlist is far too big, so I thought I would just present a Top Ten.
However, I found myself with song after song I "couldn't leave out",
and after much deliberation, I have forced myself to compromise at a list of thirty.
Rather than agonise over ranking them by any particular merit, and without randomising by sorting on Artist name or Title, I have searched the release dates and ordered them by time, to give the listener a feel for the stylistic changes over the period I find most interesting, the Fifties and early Sixties.
However, I found myself with song after song I "couldn't leave out",
and after much deliberation, I have forced myself to compromise at a list of thirty.
Rather than agonise over ranking them by any particular merit, and without randomising by sorting on Artist name or Title, I have searched the release dates and ordered them by time, to give the listener a feel for the stylistic changes over the period I find most interesting, the Fifties and early Sixties.
First off, a BIG thank-you
to all the dedicated people who take the time and effort to put these old records up on YouTube.
to all the dedicated people who take the time and effort to put these old records up on YouTube.
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1949
Dinah Washington – Long John Blues Contrast: sophisticated production and earthy lyrics This is pretty much straight Blues format, but the sophisticated urban treatment and the knowing innuendo of the lyrics are a long way from the Rural Blues of the South. People go on about Contemporary R&B being highly sexualised, but it is nothing new! 1950
Dave Bartholomew - Country Boy Influence: Old Brass sounds with Blues vocal structure This would be called Rock & Roll if it was 40% faster, had a guitar solo instead of trumpet, and weren't too old to qualify. It also shows the transition from Rural to Urban culture going on at the time. |
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1951
Ray-O-Vacs - My Baby's Gone Foreshadow: The beginnings of the vocal Doo-Wop genre This is still pretty much 12-bar structure, but the arrangement and rhythm stand out as very different from a Blues. 1952
Gladys Hill - Don't Touch My Bowl Influence: Old Brass sounds with Blues vocal structure This also still has the old Big Band stylings, but with a smaller band, and a more sparse arrangement. And there's that innuendo again. |
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1954
Jo Ann Henderson - Baby Please Don't Go Influence: Old Brass sounds with Blues vocal structure I'd guess I first heard this as done by Them in 1964, as influenced by John Lee Hooker's 1949 blues version. I like the novelty of this different version, again still brassy, but more urban and brash than the above, and I like Jo Ann's vocalising of the brass riffs. 1954
Rose Mitchell - Baby Please Don't Go Rhythm: New Orleans Afro-Cuban sounds. I was really impressed by this very original and groovy rendition. I especially like the rhythm section, with what sounds like a rolling tom-tom rhythm and prominent handclaps; and the strong vocals. |
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1955
Otis Blackwell - Let The Daddy Hold You Foreshadow: The brassy sound morphing towards Soul alternates with Rock n Roll styling. I like the funky rhythm and the greasy sexuality of the delivery. This verges on the edge of creepy actually. 1955
Little Walter - Roller Coaster Culture Shift: Rural harmonica to urban electric sound I like this moody instrumental and its use of the styling of a Blues combo with harmonica for a rendition of a completely non-blues number. Little Walter is usually blasting away with a blues band in Chicago electric style. (Written by Bo Diddley, not known for his straight blues.) |
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1956
Fats Domino - Blue Monday Regional Colour: The New Orleans sound I like how this gets called Rock N Roll as per the quote at top, but when you listen, it is pretty much blues phrases, with a few key changes thrown in, and a good rocking rhythm. (Dig the Radiogram, wow, a radio and gramophone in one box! My parents had a Stereo one, but wouldn't let me pull out one speaker to another box to get some separation.) 1957
Dave Bartholomew - The Monkey Foreshadow: Rock Riffs and Social Conscience I was blown away when I heard this. The very modern-sounding guitar, the social observation of the lyrics, the deeply sardonic delivery, and the driven backing, rolling along behind the spoken vocals all combine for a very different and impactful sound. |
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1957
Frankie Lee Sims – She Likes To Boogie Real Low Foreshadow: Here is "Rock" in the midst of "Rock n Roll" I like the raunchy rock sound of this very basic number with its choppy lead playing. No fancy drum or bass playing here. . Party, girl, pictures, and the Boogie, this has it all. 1957
Dolly Lyon - Palm of Your Hand Cultural Change: Brass shifts to backing & guitar gets solo I just like the rhythm and feel of this number. The YouTube poster calls it a Popcorn stroller. I def get the stroller part as descriptive of the tempo, but Popcorn I only learned the other day refers to a particular style favoured by a Belgian scene! It looks like some of these here would qualify. |
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1957
Frankie Lee Sims - Walkin' With Frankie Foreshadow: The Rock extended jam. Another I like for its basic rockin' rhythm, and simple structure in the style of John Lee Hooker's one-chord rhythmic jams. I am not sure why people think cheesy amateur glamour shots become cool just because they are old. 1958
LaVern Baker - Voodoo Voodoo Stylistic blending: Rhythm and Blues or Rock n Roll? I liked this cool lady, she is a real rocker on this number with its typically Rock n Roll rasping sax solo. Her vocal style on this is reminiscent of Little Richard to me. |
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1958
Slim Green - Shake 'em Up Rural Sounds: Blues riffs make a dance instrumental What if Batman joined Credence Clearwater Revival down on the bayou? This cool and funky instrumental appears of course! I just like the loose and herky-jerky rhythm of the guitar playing on this. All right! 1959
Tarheel Slim - No 9 Train Blues with Rhythm: Nearly a Rock number. I like the raunchy drive of this electric blues number, I think it still qualifies as Rhythm and Blues, or even a gritty Rock n Roller. There is a great blues band I already knew before I heard this; I swear their whole sound comes just from this song. See The Red Devils. |
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1959
The Nightriders - Looking For My Baby Cultural Mashup: Blues stylings and Middle Eastern rhythm I just like the craziness of this, and its great rhythm. Predates "Little Egypt" by 5 years. 1960
Ike and Tina Turner - A Fool in Love Transcending Genre: Gospel, Soul, R&B, Rock, its here! I was blown away by this on a Sue Records collection CD. The YouTube video from 1965 is a bonus. Tina is sensational and the band are dynamic. Sound is too quiet, this needs volume! |
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1961
Betty O Brien - She'll Be Gone Old is Still Good: Brass & Strings do Rhythm & Blues This has a mid-Fifties Pop sound to the arrangement, but I still really like the driving rhythm of this number from a lady who won't stay around for long. 1961
Sherri Taylor - He's The One That Rings My Bell Genre mix: Rhumba-tinged Pop meets Rhythm & Blues I like this for her voice really, even though it uses the Fifties pop staple rhythm I that has always irritated me, see Janie Grant - Triangle for a typical cliche-ridden example. |
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1961
Aretha Franklin - Sweet Lover Style clash: Sweet love song in Blues format. I was pleasantly surprised to find this, with Aretha not doing her usual gospel/soul-style work. 1962
Jessie Mae - Don't Freeze On Me Genre Mix: Funk and Soul are creeping in here I like the backing's funky support for Jessie Mae's spirited vocals on this dynamic number. |
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1962
Charlie Jester & The Team Mates - Crazy Baby Hot Hook: Sax goes for it I like this for just one note! I have heard some long notes held, but this guy goes all the way through the 12 bars, and then some! There is a good slashing guitar solo too. 1963
Carrie Grant and the Grandeurs - Mish Mash Genre Mix: Dance Craze number in Rhythm & Blues form I just like the energy of this. If you don't want to dance to this get your pulse checked. Honking sax, "the coloured girls" in the back, and a falsetto vocalist channeling Little Richard! |
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1964
Alvin Robinson - Down Home Girl Genre Mix: Moving right along to Funky! I liked this on first hearing, and found it turning up in my brain for days after. Catchy as hell! I like the punchy brass punctuation, and the tongue-in-cheek lyrics about how hot the girl is. Covered by The Rolling Stones. Another production from the great Lieber & Stoller, who wrote or co-wrote over 70 chart hits. 1964
Don Covay and the Goodtimers - Mercy Mercy Genre Mix: Funk and Rhythm and Blues I had to include this, it features a then unknown Jimi Hendrix on guitar. I like the drumming as well. Sounds like Three Dog Night raided it for their hit "Joy To the World". |
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1965 (Educated Guess)
Larry Hanna - Good Lovin' Genre Mix: Rhythm & Blues Pop sounds to a rural groove. I like the good-time gentle feel to this. It just cruises along with its jangly groove. I can't find a single fact about this, not date, nor label, nothing. 1965
Ernie Washington - Lonesome Shack Genre Mix: Urban Rhythm & Blues about rural life I like the rhythm section and the classic "funky" style production. This has every cliche of the genre, but in a good way. |
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1966
Model “T” Slim - Shake Your Boogie Genre Mix: Rural Blues & Boogie Rhythm Another I like for the basic nature of the rhythm and structure. A great dance number. 1966
Slim Harpo - Baby, Scratch My Back Genre Mix: Rhythm & Blues meets the Swamp Blues I like this for its easy groove, with Slim's simple harmonica figures. His only #1 on the soul singles chart where it stayed for 2 weeks. It also crossed over to the Top 40 and was his most commercially successful single. Some nifty dance clips too. |
Rhythm & Blues still Rocks!
So there it is. Thirty Rhythm & Blues numbers I like from the 50's & 60's.
I hope that listeners will be so fired with enthusiasm for this music they will rush off and
start collecting rare old Rhythm & Blues 45s.
Well...., at least concede there might be some good party numbers in there somewhere.
I hope that listeners will be so fired with enthusiasm for this music they will rush off and
start collecting rare old Rhythm & Blues 45s.
Well...., at least concede there might be some good party numbers in there somewhere.