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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Bobby Charles always enjoyed a much better reputation than he enjoyed record sales. His reputation was based on New Orleans rock 'n roll, and from 1956 he recorded with superb musicians like Lee Allen on sax and Earl Palmer on drums. His famous See You Later Alligator is a glorious laid back recording, and you can see why Bill Haley quickly recorded it. Bobby Charles Chess recordings, well featured here are all wonderful, and if you haven't heard them, then give your self a treat.
Also included on the album are Bobbys Imperial recordings from 1958/1959. These are on CD for the first time, they were rare anyway on vinyl, and attracted high prices in the collectors market. So, no problem then....or is there? The straight answer is that the recordings are aimed at the pop market, and have none of the feel of the Chess recordings. No criticism of Bobby Charles, he works hard, but Imperial should have known better and done better. After all, they had that other New Orleans resident, Fats Domino, on the label for quite a while. A bit of a let down then, but at least the titles are available for you to listen to, and decide yourself.
For anyone wanting one CD of Bobby, and wanting to hear all his Chess recordings, look no further than the excellent Bear Family album, issued about 6 months ago, and reviewed in flawless detail on the Amazon page. I would recommend that album with its quality production and booklet.
This CD I welcome because it puts Bobby Charles back on the market, and he was a brilliant performer, one of the very best. If you want his Imperial sides, then buy this album, you will get 21 Chess sides as a bonus, and its a cracking price as well.
Bobby Charles died in January this year. He is sadly missed.
Also included on the album are Bobbys Imperial recordings from 1958/1959. These are on CD for the first time, they were rare anyway on vinyl, and attracted high prices in the collectors market. So, no problem then....or is there? The straight answer is that the recordings are aimed at the pop market, and have none of the feel of the Chess recordings. No criticism of Bobby Charles, he works hard, but Imperial should have known better and done better. After all, they had that other New Orleans resident, Fats Domino, on the label for quite a while. A bit of a let down then, but at least the titles are available for you to listen to, and decide yourself.
For anyone wanting one CD of Bobby, and wanting to hear all his Chess recordings, look no further than the excellent Bear Family album, issued about 6 months ago, and reviewed in flawless detail on the Amazon page. I would recommend that album with its quality production and booklet.
This CD I welcome because it puts Bobby Charles back on the market, and he was a brilliant performer, one of the very best. If you want his Imperial sides, then buy this album, you will get 21 Chess sides as a bonus, and its a cracking price as well.
Bobby Charles died in January this year. He is sadly missed.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This bargain package contains almost everything of note that Bobby Charles recorded in the `50's. I say almost, because it doesn't contain all the outtakes from the Chess period - and these were all quality outtakes including two swamp pop classics in Bob's version of "Fool to Care" plus "Your Picture" which contained that marvellous slow riff which prefigured Little Richard's excellent "Send me some loving" (and which was also covered by Johnnie Allen) - to get everything he did for Chess you need the Bear Family album entitled "See you later Alligator". However what this set does have is Bobby's complete (and very rare) Imperial output, comprising both sides of his six singles recorded for the label.
In some respects Bobby peaked too early. Both sides of his first Chess single "See you later Alligator / On Bended Knee" backed by Bobby's own band, the Cardinals sounding like New Orleans veterans, have major claims to fame. The A side is the better known song but only via the Bill Haley cover. The latter garnered most of the sales but is easily inferior to Bobby's supremely jumping original. The flip side is totally different. Mournful, gloomy, but with something about it. This may well have been the first swamp pop side, many years before anyone had heard these words. Bobby's background of listening to cajun, Hank Williams and Fats Domino undoubtedly helped to create this hybrid form which was almost the antidote (or direct opposite) to too much cajun knees up.
The other Chess tracks which take up approximately two thirds of this set, are mainly up-tempo rockers, with the occasional swampie, some recorded in Cosimo's studios in New Orleans with much of the standard Fats Domino band in attendance, while others were from the Chess studios in Chicago but with a sound that still approximated to the NO style. Most of the songs were written by Charles (with his proper name Guidry in the credits), and show a somewhat sharper wit and intelligence more in tune with teens and twenties than much of the typical NO output.
The main difference between the Chess and Imperial sides is the addition of a girly chorus on much of the latter. The producer and often co-writer on the Imperial tracks was Dave Bartholemew, so there's still a strong element of the Crescent City about these tracks. There was also more than a hint of Fats Domino and one of the songs sounds very much like a Domino number with changed words. But it's still good stuff. Bobby hadn't forgotten his swamp sounds either - both "These Eyes" and "I just want you" feature the triplet piano and slowly riffing saxes.
For many of us, the 50's recordings of Bobby Charles were little more than a great legend until the release first of the Bear Family set followed by this one, only a few months later - there does seem to be an element of London buses about it. Still we should be thankful about having them and also thankful that more of Bobby's legacy is memory is now that much more tangible.
In some respects Bobby peaked too early. Both sides of his first Chess single "See you later Alligator / On Bended Knee" backed by Bobby's own band, the Cardinals sounding like New Orleans veterans, have major claims to fame. The A side is the better known song but only via the Bill Haley cover. The latter garnered most of the sales but is easily inferior to Bobby's supremely jumping original. The flip side is totally different. Mournful, gloomy, but with something about it. This may well have been the first swamp pop side, many years before anyone had heard these words. Bobby's background of listening to cajun, Hank Williams and Fats Domino undoubtedly helped to create this hybrid form which was almost the antidote (or direct opposite) to too much cajun knees up.
The other Chess tracks which take up approximately two thirds of this set, are mainly up-tempo rockers, with the occasional swampie, some recorded in Cosimo's studios in New Orleans with much of the standard Fats Domino band in attendance, while others were from the Chess studios in Chicago but with a sound that still approximated to the NO style. Most of the songs were written by Charles (with his proper name Guidry in the credits), and show a somewhat sharper wit and intelligence more in tune with teens and twenties than much of the typical NO output.
The main difference between the Chess and Imperial sides is the addition of a girly chorus on much of the latter. The producer and often co-writer on the Imperial tracks was Dave Bartholemew, so there's still a strong element of the Crescent City about these tracks. There was also more than a hint of Fats Domino and one of the songs sounds very much like a Domino number with changed words. But it's still good stuff. Bobby hadn't forgotten his swamp sounds either - both "These Eyes" and "I just want you" feature the triplet piano and slowly riffing saxes.
For many of us, the 50's recordings of Bobby Charles were little more than a great legend until the release first of the Bear Family set followed by this one, only a few months later - there does seem to be an element of London buses about it. Still we should be thankful about having them and also thankful that more of Bobby's legacy is memory is now that much more tangible.
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A collectors item. Only track I knew is "See you later alligator" covered by Bill Haley. A pity some recordings are not best quality even for the 1950's.After A While Crocodile... The 50s Anthology
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