FRESHMEN TAKE NOTE

A member of It's A Beautiful Day died a few days ago, I saw it in a news feed. I don't like It's a Beautiful Day, but it reminded me that they had a song called "Don and Dewey" that I always used to run into when I was looking for music by, yep, Don and Dewey. I'm not sure why they did a song about Don and Dewey (or at least titled as such), I just know it got in my way when searching for something more crucial. So, fuck It's A Beautiful Day, here's some Don and Dewey.

Don and Dewey were a criminally overlooked early rock 'n' roll duo. You locals here know I'm crazy about them. I have to thank for that a slightly older couple, semi-friends who played a Don and Dewey record at a house party when I was roughly twenty three years old. The next day I bought the compilation seen above. Tower Records actually had it. The record has been in constant rotation here for decades. For those of you not familiar with them, consider it a second tier essential, meaning that once you digest the big name early rockers (Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, et al) they should inhabit your playlist. Know them you creeps.

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Listen:
Don and Dewey - Justine mp3 at Rocky 52
Don and Dewey - Jungle Hop mp3 at Rocky 52
Don and Dewey - Farmer John mp3 at Rock Town Hall
Don and Dewey - Miss Sue mp3 at Rocky 52
Don and Dewey - Just a Little Lovin' mp3 at Rocky 52
Don and Dewey - Jelly Bean mp3 at Internet Archive Burned from a 78

EIGHTEEN SONGS? WHY BOTHER?

I was checking out the NME site just to see what's going on over on that side of the pond. Wouldn't you just know it, what I landed on was an article about an American record label. It was about Specialty Records, the label that most people recognize as the early home of Little Richard. But, man, they had so much more. Sam Cooke (before his breakout) and Lloyd Price you may know about. But, holy shit, they had Don and Dewey, Guitar Slim, Percy Mayfield, Art Neville and tons of others. The reason for the article is a new compilation, Rip It Up: The Best of Specialty Records. Alas, the compilation has only eighteen songs. What the fuck. That's like being on a desert island and receiving an airdrop of food consisting of one M&M. Here's some assorted stuff from Specialty Records that I was able to round up. There's a link to the article at NME and a Specialty discography that you fiends should peruse.

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Listen:
Don & Dewey - Farmer John mp3 at Rock Town Hall
Larry Williams - Slow Down mp3 at Mercury Paradise
Larry Williams - Short Fat Annie mp3 at The New LoFi
Art Neville - Arabian Love Call mp3 at Office Naps
The Holidays - Aw-Aw Baby mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Little Richard - Slippin' and Slidin' mp3 at Stolen Records
Little Richard - The Girl Can't Help It mp3 at Happy Parts
Visit:
The Story of Specialty Records, the Most Influential Label of All Time: “Songs never die” at NME
Specialty Records discography at Global Dog Productions From 1948 to 1985

KNOW THIS DUDE

Larry Williams. If you don't know that name, you should. He was an early rocker, filling the void for Specialty Records when Little Richard went back his religious thing in 1957. His star rose and dimmed within the space of a few years, but it was long enough for him to be heard by the Beatles, who covered three of his songs ("Slow Down", Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Bad Boy") and the Stones ("She Said Yeah"). He did record later, but it was those early records that have been covered a million times. "Boney Moronie", for instance, was covered by Johnny Burnette, the Standells, Dick Dale and Bill Haley just to name a few. "Short Fat Fannie" was covered by Ronnie Self, Billy Preston and Little Richard. You get the idea. This is a guy you should be hep to.

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Listen:
Larry Williams - Bad Boy mp3 at Internet Archive
Larry Williams - She Said Yeah mp3 at Internet Archive
Larry Williams - Thirty one other songs at Internet Archive Note: In the right column, under "Download options" click on "VBR MP3 Files"

THE DRILLING IT INTO THICK SKULLS DEPT.

How badass is Larry Williams? If you've heard of him, you likely know. (He's been here before, several times.) If you haven't heard of him, I'll bite my tongue. His songs have been covered by the Beatles, the Stones, the Who and Led Zeppelin. And Little Richard. And a thousand others, but you get the idea. If that doesn't make you want to check him out, then adding that his seminal recordings were on Specialty probably won't mean a thing, or that he did some damn good semi-Northern soul sides with Johnny Guitar Watson in the second half of the sixties. No, you'll just keep walking around like that.

The always peckin' Boogaloo Time just did a Larry Williams post with eight songs, including three the Beatles covered. There's a few others down there too because it's a link dump kinda night.

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Listen:
Larry Williams - She Said Yeah mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Larry Williams - Short Fat Annie mp3 at The New LoFi
Larry Williams - Eight songs at Boogaloo Time
With Johnny Guitar Watson:
The Larry Williams Show (with Johnny Watson) - Two mp3s and LP at Groove Addict
Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Larry Williams - The Best of the Okeh Years - Four mp3s and an LP at Groove Addict
Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Larry Williams - Two For the Price of One - One mp3 and an LP at Groove Addict
Pin up:
High resolution version of above photo at Ace Records

TWO MINUTES OF BLISS

I listened to a lot of random stuff tonight. You do it too. One songs lead to another and there goes and hour. Towards the end of it, I ended up listening to Don and Dewey's "Justine". I had to stop there, because even though it's been posted many times before, and some of you may know it well, if I can turn one person onto it tonight who hasn't heard it, my job is done. The song is absolutely essential. I could go off about why it is essential at great length, were it not for my end of the day laziness. I'll cut to the chase. It's one of my favorite rock 'n' roll songs of all time. Scratch that, favorite songs of any genre of all time. Hell. If you really want to know, "Justine" is one of my favorite things of all time, living or dead, audible or physical. It is a reason to get up in the morning. It makes you feel alive. Yes it does.

The other three songs down there are every bit as mighty. And as a consolation to guitarists, I direct your attention to the guitar in the image at the top, a double cutaway Telecaster. Who knew? I sure didn't.

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Listen:
Don and Dewey - Justine mp3 at Beware of the Blog Specialty 631 A-side
Don and Dewey - Bim Bam mp3 at Diddy Wah  Specialty 631 B-side
Don and Dewey - Farmer John mp3 at Rock Town Hall Specialty 659 A-side
Don and Dewey - Jungle Hop mp3 at The Adios Lounge Specialty 599 A-side

THE SELECTOR FROM BEYOND

Every year I pause on January 13, for two reasons. One is that it is my late brother's birthday. He was the best rock 'n' roll friend I've ever had. Which brings up reason number two for pausing. It was on the day he was born that "Good Golly Miss Molly" by Little Richard was released, something he'd point out to you if he was still around. Guess what? In this dump that I call home, he is still around, and I'll be damned if he hasn't deemed it Little Richard Night. Fu-huck yeah.

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Listen:

Little Richard - Good Golly Miss Molly mp3 at Internet Archive The A side

Little Richard - Hey Hey Hey Hey mp3 at Internet Archive The B Side

Little Richard - The Girl Can't Help It mp3 at Happy Parts
Little Richard - Keep A Knockin' mp3 at Beware of the Blog

Little Richard - Jenny Jenny mp3 at Internet Archive
Little Richard - Rip It Up (Rehearsal and Take 14) mp3 at Electric Adolescence

Little Richard - I Got It mp3 at Teenage Kicks USA (?) Different version of "She's Got It"

LEVEL TWO PREREQUISITE

Here we go, another evening eater, Thank you Diddy Wah. Your post with Don and Dewey's "Justine" b/w "Bim Bam" sent me all over the place. Old links, new links, discographies and YouTube. The fruits of my meandering are below. There's something for everybody. If you're not familiar with the duo, for God's sake, get your head on straight. Listen to the songs. This is it. You should probably bone up over at The Hound Blog, there's an excellent profile. Hunt down that LP above, it's got to have been reissued. For those already familiar with them who have that LP or another compilation, you ought to check out YouTube for some pre- and post-Specialty sides. They'll have you tearing your skull inside out. Like hearing "Justine" for the first time. (You may want to take this with you.)

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Listen:
Don and Dewey - Justine mp3 at Beware of the Blog Specialty 631 A-side
Don and Dewey - Bim Bam mp3 at Diddy Wah  Specialty 631 B-side
Don and Dewey - Farmer John mp3 at Rock Town Hall Specialty 659 A-side
Don and Dewey - Jungle Hop mp3 at The Adios Lounge Specialty 599 A-side
Don and Dewey - A Little Love mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban Specialty 599 B-side
Don and Dewey - Kill Me (streaming) at YouTube Specialty SPS 2131 (LP only)
Don and Dewey - I'm Leaving It All Up To You (streaming) at YouTube Specialty 610 A-side
Don and Dewey - Stretchin' Out (streaming) at YouTube Rush 1002
Little Richard (with Don and Dewey)- Bama Lama Loo mp3 at Jeub (?) Specialty 699
Visit:
Don & Dewey - Excellent bio at The Hound Blog Unfortunately the mp3 links are dead.
Don & Dewey at Wikipedia
Don and Dewey Discography at Wang Dang Dula

SPECIALTY #482

Okay, one more Specialty side, Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones' "The Things I Used To Do", notable because Ray Charles played piano on the session. And because it's Guitar Slim. And because it's on Specialty. And I'm on that kick. So, check it off your list, and dig around the hosting blog, Don't Stay Up Too Late, while you're at it. The host knows his shit, the writing is great, and there's an a lot of stuff there. Note: the download is relatively slow, but worth the wait.

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Listen:
Guitar Slim - The Things I Used To Do mp3 at Don't Stay Up Too Late Specialty 482
Non-Specialty:
Guitar Slim - My Time is Expensive mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Visit:
Specialty Records - Other posts here
Specialty Records discography
Guitar Slim at Wikipedia

SPECIALTY #656

Here's another addition to the poor man's Specialty box set. Buried in old posts at Office Naps, I ran into Art Neville's "Arabian Love Call", Specialty Records #656. You'll want to note that number. One by one, if it takes a thousand years, we are going to find every last one of these suckers. When I find something on Specialty, I'll tell you. It won't happen in one night, or in one year. What part of thousand years did you not get? There's a lot to track down, or in reality, just run across, so go to the bathroom now. Here's your checklist.

If we're going to build this ersatz box set, we're going to need liner notes, so check the hosting blogs and read the text. See if there's anything relevant. In this case there is, it's excellent as a matter of fact. A nice start. Plus, you don't want to be someone who walks around not knowing anything about Specialty Records do you?

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Listen:
Art Neville - Arabian Love Call mp3 at Office Naps Specialty 656
Visit:
Specialty Records - Other posts here
Specialty Records discography

FIENDS ARE LEGION

That label did it again. Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban posted a Specialty Records 45 in their "Vocal Group 45 of the Week" series, "Aw Aw Baby" by the Holidays. It just wet my appetite. You know what came next. In my tortoise paced effort to hear everything that Specialty Records ever released, I took it as a cue to do a random search for something else to go with it, and I'm glad I did. I ran into Tony Harris's "Chicken, Baby, Chicken", which was released on Ebb but recorded at Cosimo Studio, where a shitload of Specialty sides were recorded. It does sound like textbook Specialty, which is to say rockin' stompin' good in the way that early rock 'n' roll was when it wasn't rockabilly. The other side of the coin, if you will. And it's got Earl Palmer on drums and Lee Allen on sax, so, yeah, if you know those two names, you're not reading this, you're already clicking.

I had to look for some sort of bio on Harris (pictured above), and the fact that Harris's entire solo discography consists of five 45s meant there wasn't much out there. But, let's hear it for the fiends, I found a lengthy two part bio by Opal Nations, a name as unfamiliar to me as Tony Harris. Nations, as it turns out, did a short stint with Alexis Korner in the mid-sixties, and judging by his web site, in the elite of fiends. A long, long bio of Harris, when there's practically nothing else online; that's a ticket to the top tier. Really, the bio was written in 1996, so you can guess what his researching was like. Hat's off to Opal Nations, and all the other fiends. They're the ones that have really kept things greased all along, before the internet and since. 

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Listen:
The Holidays - Aw-Aw Baby mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Tony Harris - Chicken, Baby, Chicken mp3 at Go Retro
Visit: 
The Story of Tony Harris, Part One at Opal Nations pdf
The Story of Tony Harris, Part Two at Opal Nations pdf
Opal Nations Home Page Don't let looks fool you.

GIVE ME INTENSE PERCY

It's happened again, and I see no end to these occurrences. Another unexpected rabbit hole, this time involving the dapper looking dude above, Percy Mayfield. He had a few hits in '50-'52, and somewhere around that time he got in an accident. He messed up his face and stopped performing regularly, but still went into the studio and wrote songs. A bunch were recorded by other artists, notably Ray Charles ("Hit the Road Jack", among others). He recorded for Specialty, Chess and Imperial. Yeah.

What got my attention tonight was that yellow, black and white label we all love, Specialty Records. Scrolling down the page at Dad's 45s, it stuck out like a beacon, or maybe a Bat-Signal. "Click now Batman." I'm glad I did. Now I'm headed down that rabbit hole, which is fine by me. One after another, the more the merrier. Like I said, there is no end to these occurrences. That's the cool thing.

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Listen:
Percy Mayfield - Loose Lips mp3 (via DiveShare) at Dad's 45s Once you get to DivShare, click on the green "Download" button (not the larger one that says "Download Now"), and scratch your head for fifteen seconds while the timer counts down. When the button reappears, you're good to go. 

Percy Mayfield - Hit the Road Jack (streaming) at YouTube
Percy Mayfield - Please Send Me Someone to Love mp3 at Jazz Online

Visit:

Percy Mayfield at Wikipedia

TOTALLY VISCERAL

You know how it is (or was). If you scour thrift stores, garage sales, 99 cent bins, and record swaps long enough, you develop an obsession with certain labels. Particularly labels with a high keeper quotient. You get a glimpse of a yellow gold label with rays emanating from the center? "Sun!" Snapping finger on a yellow background?, "Stax!", light blue with a stack of records? "Early Stax!" Blue with silver? "Chess!" And so on. Obviously, it's not nearly as fruitful these days, digging through picked over stacks, with everybody and their mothers selling them on the secondary market. No one keeps anything, The prices are driven up to the point that no average Joe can afford a decent collection. It's that flipper disease, just like house flippers. Who cares if it kills the little guy's chance to buy a home (or a record), it's everyman for themselves.

Anyway, back to these 45 labels. Despite the fact that I rarely see the physical vintage product, outside of the few that I have, I still have that same reaction. One of the biggees for me is seeing the unmistakeable yellow, black and white logo with the classic hand lettered "Specialty" across the top. That's one of the handful of labels that's never let me down. So when I saw it splashed across On The Record's recent post, it had me going on a Specialty binge.

Here's some top shelf Specialty sides. You may also want to check out the all-Specialty mix from Diddy Wah, (streaming or download). To the cooler than ice twelve year old Norwegian kid who just presented their Power Point take on Moondog to the English class today (read the first comment below this post), you are cooler than ice, as I said. Being so, you may one day wish to read this lengthy piece on Specialty Records. By all means, stay away from that death metal stuff.

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Listen:
Don & Dewey - Justine mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Don & Dewey - Farmer John mp3 at Rock Town Hall
Larry Williams - Slow Down mp3 at Mercury Paradise
Larry Williams - She Said Yeah mp3 at Beware of the Blog 
Larry Williams - Dizzy Miss Lizzie mp3 at Joe Troiano's Blog 
Little Richard - Keep A Knockin' mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Little Richard - Rip It Up (Rehearsal Take 14) mp3 at Electric Adolescence
Lloyd Price - Lawdy Miss Clawdy mp3 at Jordan Hatch
Ben Hughes - Sack mp3 (via DivShare) at On the Record
The mix:

Specialty Records Radio Show Special at Diddy Wah Streaming and download. About SoundCloud: If the embedded streaming widget has a visible downward pointing arrow on the right side of the bar (in this case it does) downloading is enabled. Click on the arrow.

Read:
Art Rupe's Specialty Records at History of Rock
Specialty Records at Wikipedia

HELL YEAH, I CAN LEMONADE

The story goes something like this: In the late fifties, after a string of hits on Specialty Records, Little Richard finds God, and decides to lay low. The label hurriedly switches gears, deciding to concentrate their push on Lloyd Price, who was already on their label. Wait, but what's this? Price tells them thanks but no thanks, he's leaving to start his own label. As a conciliation, he recommends his driver and former pimp, Larry Williams. Williams was brought into the studio and made the most of the opportunity. His songs are covered about five or six years later by the Beatles and the Stones. That's a pretty good career trajectory.

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Listen:
Larry Williams - Dizzy Miss Lizzie mp3 at Joe Troiano's Blog 1958
Larry Williams - Slow Down mp3 at Mercury Paradise 1958
Larry Williams - She Said Yeah mp3 at Beware of the Blog 1959
Larry Williams - Short Fat Annie mp3 at The New LoFi 1957

BONE UP PUNK

Now, this is what I'm talkin' about. Diddy Wah, the UK DJ and host of the Diddy Wah blog, has put together a killer radio show featuring only Specialty Records releases, presented in chronological order. Every few songs he pipes in with a few factoids, which makes for a quick overview of the label and some of the artists that recorded for it. Quick, in that the hour duration just wets your appetite. This is a real good one you guys, and it's available streaming, or as a download. I raided old link drawer for some other Specialty singles as a teaser.

Listen:
Specialty Records Radio Show Special at Diddy Wah Streaming and download
Individual songs:
Don & Dewey - Justine mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Larry Williams - Slow Down mp3 at Mercury Paradise
Little Richard - Long Tall Sally mp3 at One Sweet Song

THE PACKAGE

I would certainly hope that the man pictured above is well represented in your record collection. I have no clue how in tune to this sort of essential stuff some of you may be. Let's just say this, if you like rock 'n' roll, you have Little Richard to thank. End of story. There were other early rockers, but he was the one who pushed the envelope when it mattered. He made lightweight crooners irrelevant, and kept Elvis on his toes. Radio DJ, bandleader and singer Johnny Otis once said "Little Richard is twice as valid artistically and important historically as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones put together." It would be hard to argue with that, particularly in a historical sense. He was the catalyst that hardened the foundation of rock 'n' roll.



All of the stuff below was on Specialty Records. Stick to that label and you'll have the damn Book of Genesis. There's an excellent box set, The Complete Specialty Sessions (or something like that) that would take a good long time to digest, although it may be out of print (it's pricey, even used). It includes alternate takes, a few of which are posted below. Just hearing the studio chatter from a classic Specialty session is worth hearing. Yeah, you know it is.

A tip of the hat here, in the general direction of DJ and blogger Diddy Wah, a top notch true believer, who's post of an early Specialty 45 started tonight's buffet. I've said it before, bookmark his site. Visit it regularly. Believe.

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Listen:
Little Richard - Rip It Up mp3 at Diddy Wah
Little Richard - Rip It Up (Rehearsal Take 14) mp3 at Electric Adolescence
Little Richard - Long Tall Sally mp3 at One Sweet Song
Little Richard - Slippin' and Slidin' mp3 at Stolen Records
Little Richard - Keep A Knockin' mp3 at The New LoFi
Little Richard - Ready Teddy mp3 at Diddy Wah
Little Richard - The Girl Can't Help It mp3 at Happy Parts
Little Richard - I Got It mp3 at Teenage Kicks
Little Richard - Heebie Jeebies (undubbed) mp3 at Teenage Kicks
Little Richard - Poor Boy Paul mp3 at Teenage Kicks
Video:
Little Richard - Long Tall Sally at YouTube
Little Richard - Ready Teddy (from The Girl Can't Help It) at YouTube
Little Richard - Tutti Frutti video at YouTube
Little Richard - Lucille/Good Golly Miss Molly (live, 1966) video at YouTube
Visit:Little Richard at Wikipedia

THESE GUYS RULE

Yesterday I mentioned that a violin solo on one of the Quantic & Alice Russell cuts made me want to hear Don & Dewey, who don't sound like them at all.  It was just the violin.  I know I've raved about Don & Dewey before.  It's just really befuddling, why more people aren't absolutely apeshit about these guys.  This is second or third tier rock 'n' roll fiendom,  It should be top tier.  You should all know Don and Dewey.  So today, as I've done several times before, I went hunting for something in an effort to get you sapsuckers to actually hear something by them other than the few cuts I've posted before, awesome as they are.  I was looking in particular for "Farmer John," a semi-hit for the Premiers when they covered it, and "Pink Champagne," which features Don Harris' fine violin playing.  (I know what you're thinking.  Worry not.  It's not what you think.  The violin fits.)  I actually found a six song rip of side two of a Don & Dewey compilation that includes both of those songs.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that it's a tinny sounding rip.  Just pretend you're listening to a Don & Dewey block on Johnny Otis's radio show, on a tinny AM radio.  (Johnny Otis actually played them.  I've heard tapes.  So cool is he.)  I threw three previously posted songs down there too, in regular fidelity (substantially better), so you can add it up.  A very detailed bio is available at the Hound Blog, which, as you would expect of this Hound character, is top notch; some good reading.  If you like the cuts below, there's a readily available 25 cut compilation that has just about everything they recorded as Don & Dewey proper.

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Listen:
Don & Dewey - Jungle Hop mp3 at The Adios Lounge
Don & Dewey - Justine mp3 at Beware of the Blog
Don & Dewey - A Little Love mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban
Don & Dewey - Six songs in a single mp3 at Boot Sale Sounds Tinny rips of: Pink Champagne, Little Sally Walker, Farmer John, Jungle Hop, Kill Me, The Letter
Visit:
Don & Dewey at The Hound Blog