More rockabilly CDs...

”Chuck Berry… Rockabilly??? That depends on which standards you apply.

If Elvis, Scotty and Bill’s white version of the Blues is Rockabilly then Chuck’s black version of Country & Western might also qualify as Rockabilly.

Some very important ingredients are present: slapping bass, hot guitar licks and the driving beat. "Too Much Monkey Business" even has the echo-laden rockabilly production.

The box has 3 CD’s and a thin book with additional information. All the big hits are present and have their natural place in any music collection.

However, there are some very nice lesser know songs, which have great drive and energy and are usually ignored: ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ (dig that bass!!!! Courtesy of Blues legend Willy Dixon), ‘Down Bound Train’, ‘Reelin’ And Rockin’, ‘Beautiful Delilah’, ‘Betty Jean’ and the very funny ‘Dear Dad’ are some of them.

The only drawback I found, is the way the songs where rushed in the 50’s, resulting in some ragged sounding recordings. The busy recording schedule at Chess (Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf etc.) made sure that there wasn’t too much time to get it right. Actually, Chuck Berry says so himself in the interview in the booklet that comes with the box set: He wished there had been more studio time to iron out the rough spots and mistakes.”

"Buddy Holly was one of the performers of the fifties who had a real love for rockabilly, and didn't just start playing it because it was catching on.

Buddy actually saw Elvis perform early on and was strongly influenced by his music, which - at the time - was rockabilly to the bone.

The first CD features 'Changing All Those Changes', one of my all time favourite rockabilly recordings from any performer. If you like rockabilly and haven't heard that song, you're in for a treat.

Unfortunately 'Rock Around With Ollie Vee' is the version with Sonny Curtis (Who wrote the song) on lead guitar and not the brilliant version with Grady Martin on lead and a great sax player (Possibly Boots Randolph). Reportedly, even Curtis prefers the other version. That aside, this is a great collection of Buddy Holly songs.

Besides rockabilly, this CD box set features what can be labelled as The Crickets own brand of Rock'n'Roll. The Crickets sounded like no other rhythm section. With their energetic, loose feel and original ideas, they were a perfect showcase for Buddy's enormous talent.

This CD box set has the best of Buddy Holly's work. Not all of it, but most of it."

”Carl ’Blue Suede Shoes’ Perkins. The king of rockabilly. More than anyone, Carl defined the genre. He invented it on his own parallel to Elvis, Scotty and Bill at Sun in Memphis.

Carl had the all important sound of the slapping bass in his head before he heard anyone else using it. That’s why he had the 'slap bass' in his band. Because he had the idea himself.

Carl Perkins was quite different than other rockabilly performers because of his band. It featured his two brothers Jay on rhythm guitar and Clayton on stand up ‘slap’ bass. Later they were joined by W.S.Holland on drums.

The Perkins Brothers Band had been playing for years to rough crowds in the honky tonks around Tennessee before they came to Sun. That made them a hard act to follow when they started touring with other Sun artists.

After Elvis two nights in a row had to go out to a crowd screaming for Carl Perkins, he left the tour package and never again performed with Carl. I guess that says something about Carl Perkins and his band.

This CD is a good representation of what that band sounded like when they were the hottest thing around. Back in the early days of rock.”

”This is one of the CD’s that are essential to the average Elvis fan as well as the Rockabilly fan. Although the CD was first sold in 1987 and is now deleted, it’s easy to get second hand.

The same recordings can be found on other CD’s, like the box set ‘The Complete Fifties Masters’ from BMG. However, I found that on the box set the sound is terrible, probably due to the so-called remastering done to it.

The lack of ‘fire’ on ‘The Complete Fifties Masters’ is the most obvious; it sounds like the band took the 'Pat Boone approach' to the songs! I compared several tracks and you’d almost think that it wasn’t the same recording in every case. I was so surprised by this, that I played it to a couple of my friends, who both felt the same as I did. Not good, BMG!

No shortage of ‘fire’ on ‘The Sun Sessions CD’ luckily.

You either like the way Elvis did the ballads or you don’t, but if you read Scotty Moore’s book ‘That’s Alright, Elvis’ those songs have their place amongst jewels like ‘Mystery Train’ and ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’.

The outtakes offer us a little peek into the creative process. One can’t help but wonder where the music of Elvis, Scotty and Bill would have gone, if Sam Philips had been able (and wanted) to hang on to the contract.”