This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And legends is what I'll bring to you, as usual, and for today a great mix of the best and hottest rhythm and blues of late fifies and early sixties. In these days, when Rock 'n Roll swept the nation, some of the old Rhythm & blues artists went with the flow and started recording what the audience wanted. Others kept to their own style and actually lost, as the Rhythm and Blues style had grown out of fashion. Most of the records were doomed to be obscurities, to be dusted off and played in later years when the interest revived.
But lets not bother you with too much talking, I'll just start with the first one. Here is Little Sylvia with a kiss for my baby.
01 - Little Sylvia - A Kiss For My Baby
Little Sylvia Vanderpool with a kiss for my baby - somewhere from the mid-fifties but it wasn't released until 1997 on a CD called Jubilee Jezebels. Now Sylvia was quite a remarkable woman. In the mid-fifties she hooked up with guitarist Mickey Baker and together they had some great hits, probably you will know their song Love is strange from 1956, and later, in 1973, as a solo artist she sang the succesful disco classic Pillow Talk. From the mid-sixties to the eighties she started several record labels, such as All Platinum, Sugar Hill and Bon Ami records, doing quite some innovative work in soul, funk and hiphop.
The word Little was often used in young artist names, so here are two more little singers. Little Eddie Mint with Two more days on Memo records, the flip of Bring Yourself Back Here, from 1959. After that Little Clydie and the Teens with Oh Me.
02 - Little Eddie Mint - Two More Days
03 - Little Clydie & The Teens - Oh Me
Little Clydie and the Teens, on RPM records from 1956. Clydie King had been part of Ray Charles' backing group the Raelettes for three years when she started for her own in 1956. It was Richard Berry who got her on the track for a career as a lead singer and she did quite some releases, but she still remains best known as a background singer for many pop artists including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Linda Ronstadt.
More vocal stuff - here are the Eboniers with Shut Your Mouth, the flip of Hand in Hand from 1959 on Port records.
04 - Eboniers - Shut Your Mouth
05 - Five Keys - I Can't Escape From You
Five Keys with I Can't Escape From You. Like so many of these groups they started in highschool when they won a contest, by then as the Sentimental Four and it brought them to the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Personnel changes due to members of the group being drafted in the army made that they ended up five and changed their name to The Five Keys. It took a while when they were signed to Alladin Records where they had quite some success with the label and later on Capitol. This song is a pretty late one, it's from 1964 on the King label. Now you don't get them that young from me often.
On with the legendary Big Maybelle. Hear that voice of this blues lady in Rock House on Savoy from 1957. After that The Cats with I Don't Care No More from 1955 on Federal records.
06 - Big Maybelle - Rock House
07 - Cats - I Don't Care No More
(rocking dutchman jingle i.p.v. T05)
08 - Charlie & Ray - Little Fool
09 - Charlie & Ray - Sweet Thing
Two songs from Charlie & Ray - Little Fool from 1956 and Sweet Thing from 1957, both on the Herald label. Now these two guys were unabashedly gay and by then it was quite unseen that homosexuality was displayed in open. They won the amateur night contest in the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem for five weeks in a row. With their openly gay appearance and their rocking tunes they were the sensation of the moment and they toured with the famous Top Ten R & B Show. Yet their career was short-lived as the rock & roll craze soon made their music sound old-fashioned.
BTW, The word gay, by then, didn't have the meaning it has now. Nowadays you can't think of a group calling themselves The Gay Poppers unless they'd want to be associated to an sex-enhancing drug that is popular in the gay community. Hey, you'll learn something every time when you tune in to the legends of the Rocking Dutchman. By then it didn't have any suggestive meaning of course. So next up two songs by the Gay Poppers: I need your love and I want to know.
10 - Gay Poppers - I Need Your Love
11 - Gay Poppers - I want to know
The Gay Poppers with I want to know. Now back to 1954 - the beginning days of the Platters when they were signed at Federal records but they had little success. It wasn't until 1955 and their change to Mercury records that their career took off with "Only You". From them Love all night.
12 - Platters - Love All Night
13 - Eugene Church - Don't Stop Loving Me
Don't stop loving me - that was Eugene Church. It was recorded somewhere in the late fifties but never released until 1994, one year after the singer died.
Next up Clarence Palmer and the Jive Bombers. Their big hit Bad Boy was in 1956 on Savoy, but both the group and the song have a history that goes back way into the thirties. In 1936 Lil Armstrong wrote and recorded Brown Gal, and Bad Boy is a remake of this song. Also in the thirties there was the group the Palmer Brothers, with Clarence on lead, based on Rhode Island. Together with the group Sonny Austin and the Jive Bombers, they recorded it as Brown Boy in 1949 under the name of Al Sears & the Sparrows. In 1952 the two groups had merged and they recorded it again, now for the Citation label in Detroit. Their hit version - as said was for Savoy - was renamend as Bad Boy. By then Clarence Palmer had developed an unusual scatting type of singing that had become his trademark. Here is Bad Boy.
14 - Jive Bombers feat. Clarence Palmer - Bad Boy
15 - Jive Bombers - Just Around The Corner
And another one from Clarence "Bad Boy" Palmer and the Jive Bombers, just around the corner. It was the flip of Is this the end from 1958 on Savoy.
Next up Larry Birdsong with his 1961 hit Aunt Mattie - on the Home of the Blues label from Memphis. Larry was one of a family of 11 children from Pulaski, TN, and all of them were good singers though they never established a family band. The common story is that Larry, who had gotten in trouble, was taken from the reform school by Ted Jarrett, the Nashville R&B promotor, who had to plead at court to release him from probation to record and tour. He brought him to Erniie Young of Excello Records. But Larry's brother Jimmy says it was some sheriff who'd heard him sing who did that.
Here is Larry Birdsong.
16 - Larry Birdsong - Aunt Mattie
17 - Plaids - He Stole Flo
The Plaids with He stole Flo, a rare and never re-released song from 1959 on the Era label. Next up from 1957 the vocal group the Tempo-Tones with Ride Along. Another pretty rare song that features both Mickey Baker and King Curtis. Here is Ride Along on the Acme label.
18 - Tempo Tones - Ride Along
19 - Baby Washington & The Hearts - You Or Me Has Got To Go
That was Justine "Baby" Washington and the Hearts with You Or Me Has Got To Go. As a sixteen-year old girl she became the lead vocalist of the Hearts for a year before pursuing a successful solo career as a soul singer. In early recordings she also used the name of Jeanette, which has led to confusion with a later, funk singer with that name.
We're going out with Big Jay McNeely with Little Sonny Warner on lead with There Is Something On Your Mind.
20 - Big Jay McNeely feat. Little Sonny Warner - There Is Something On Your Mind
Big Jay McNeeley was that with Little Sonny Warner on lead, and their big hit There is something on your mind. Now from previous episodes of the Legens of the Rocking Dutchman you heard Big Jay Macneely as the frantic saxophone player but he also produced other artists. Here, he does quite a modest saxophone work.
With that we come to the end of another episode of the legends of the rocking dutchman. I hope you enjoyed it, and if so, or if you have any comment to make, please do not hesitate to send an e-mail to rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. I'm also on the web, just do a google search on the legends of the rocking dutchman and it will pop up first. For now, byebye and have an great day. No, have a rocking day. See you next time on the legends of the rocking dutchman!