Did you know that Bill Haley’s Rock Around The Clock started life as a rough’n’ready R&B shouter by saxman Hal Singer? Or that Canned Heat’s late 60s millionseller, Going Up Country, was, ahem, ‘adapted’ from a 1928 recording by Henry Thomas called Bull Doze Blues? Or how about Little Richard’s signature tune, Tutti Frutti, taking its lead from a similarly-titled song by bebop legend Slim Gaillard?
Compiling 20 curious recordings of numbers which ultimately found wider fame in the hands of others, this album is a dream come true for serious musical archivists and pub bores alike, an enthralling journey back in time to the roots of some of the best-known tracks in pop history. Some may be obvious and familiar, like Nat Cole’s Route 66, or the originals of Presley hits Hound Dog (Big Mama Thornton), A Fool Such As I (Hank Snow) and Blue Moon Of Kentucky (Bill Monroe). Others are endlessly intriguing. Long before Dylan revisited the road, Jack Kelly sang Highway No 61 Blues back in 1933, and Mr Zimmerman also plundered the likes of The Bently Boys’ Down On Penny’s Farm.
A simple but brilliant concept, presented with detailed and informative liner notes. Can we have Volume Two soon, please?
