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Product Description
CD Description
The instrumental has always been popular and thrived especially with the advent of the cylinder player and the Victrola. With the coming of jazz on record, that popularity soared as, for the first time, black people had dance music that they could relate too. The popularity of swing in the 1930s took instrumental music to another level again. Not only were white and black teenagers buying records as well as going out dancing, but the bands were being received with fanatic adulation at their stage shows. This huge enthusiasm was contagious and soon spread worldwide, especially to Britain, where local dance and jazz bands soon picked up on what the Americans were doing.
After World War II, many of the big swing bands had to cut down their personnel as costs were too high, but those smaller combos churned out a stream of instrumental records- really hitting the heights with the coming of rock ‘n’ roll. Aside from the jazzmen, the early days of rhythm & blues played a large part in popularising instrumental music, as will be heard when listening to this fascinating collection.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this set for Big Guitar by Owen Bradley and Flip Flop And Bop by Floyd Cramer. As well as trax by Chuck Berry I used to have on the old One Dozen Berries LP plus Deep Feeling. I would have rated this for five stars but for two reasons. First off, as an avid old rock 'n roll guy from 1950s Smith & Co. took their eyes off the ball when compiling this volume. (Unlike their initial one on rockabilly which is what it says on the can. Get this, good peple if you dig the genre.)Merle Travis and Les Paul do not rate with me under "good as it gets" in r 'n r instrumental or otherwise. Much nearer the mark would have been Twitchy/Flippin' by Rene Hall, The Place by Johnny Brantley All Stars,Planet Rock by Royal Teens, The Swag by Link Wray and Subway by The Champs. Some of the latter's B sides do appear such as the cracking Train To Nowhere that I always preferred to Tequila on the main side. One real gripe. Why on earth cut out the Comets' yell of "Yeah!" during the superb tom tom solo on Rudy's Rock when Rudy starts to come honking back in? Smith & Co are not the only culprits in this instant, Thank goodness I have a copy that does include that essential yell.
Nevertheless, this a great sounding anthology with Fats Domino, Haley, et al. I was really impressed by the sides featuring the Lawson Haggart Rockin' Band. THis ain't no big band-this is, I mean, IS really rockin'! Great sound too. Buy it if you dig real rock 'n roll.
Nevertheless, this a great sounding anthology with Fats Domino, Haley, et al. I was really impressed by the sides featuring the Lawson Haggart Rockin' Band. THis ain't no big band-this is, I mean, IS really rockin'! Great sound too. Buy it if you dig real rock 'n roll.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I've only previewed this but thought I'd put on file some observations:
- My initial thinking was that the compiler had done a good job in resisting the inclusion of too many obvious tracks which the hard bitten collector is bound to have, in fact on CD 2 you could say there are no obvious tracks other than the first couple - the Champs "Tequila" and Bill Justis' "Raunchy" - plus Bill Doggett's "Honky Tonk" somewhere near the end. That's not to say that some of the others aren't pretty good - Sil Austin's "Slow Walk" and the Noble Thin Man Watts (great name) track are personal faves.
- Following up that point, the well known tracks on CD 1 are all good `uns - three Duane Eddy's, Link Wray's "Rumble", some Chuck Berry instro's like "Deep Feeling", and some of the Champs' follow-up tracks and flips
- I should point out the subtitle "The Original Rock'n'Roll Recordings 1950 - 1960" in case an unwary buyer hasn't noticed it. This means that a lot of group based instros like those by the Fireballs, the Ventures and all those surf bands just don't get included. (though there is, of course, a volume 2 which advances the timeframe covered)
- CD 1 seems to be largely guitar based while CD 2 has a lot more honking saxes - this may be a deliberate "themed" separation which is explained in the compiler's notes - I understand that these come from Dave Travis so I'm sure they'll be up to his usual standard
- A good proportion of the music contained herein is rock'n'roll or that form of jump blues cum R&B which preceded it - may seem an odd statement but that isn't always the case with such sets
- Of the relatively few non rock tracks, several are attractive in their own right e.g. two tracks each of exquisite guitar picking from Chet Atkins and Merle Travis, a nice cut from Les Paul - the man who so inspired Jeff Beck - plus some country boogie cum swing from Merrill Moore
- Quite a few tracks, particularly on CD 1, are from artists who are better known as vocalists e.g. Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, Fats Domino, Sonny Burgess, Buddy Knox, Bill Haley, and all of these are of interest
- I was intrigued by Nino Tempo's instrumental take of Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel" in "Heartburn Motel"
- My personal favourite out of the whole lot is Al Casey's "Ramrod"
In summary though I have to say that to an extent I do slightly share the feelings of another reviewer who thought that the title "Great Rock'n'Roll Instrumentals - Just about as good as it gets" was slightly misleading. There's no Johnny and the Hurricanes, nor are Santo and Johnny present. And perhaps the timeframe aspect should have been made more blatant in the titling - if you`re buying from Amazon or another internet supplier the wording of the subtitle is only semi-readable. However on the plus side the inclusion of some fifties material which doesn't usually make it onto anyone's release schedule does present a rare opportunity to pick up this stuff and some of it isn`t bad at all.
It nearly made five stars in my thinking and with a couple of pints or a decent bottle of wine plus the opportunity to turn the volume up might even convince me that the top rating could be justified!
- My initial thinking was that the compiler had done a good job in resisting the inclusion of too many obvious tracks which the hard bitten collector is bound to have, in fact on CD 2 you could say there are no obvious tracks other than the first couple - the Champs "Tequila" and Bill Justis' "Raunchy" - plus Bill Doggett's "Honky Tonk" somewhere near the end. That's not to say that some of the others aren't pretty good - Sil Austin's "Slow Walk" and the Noble Thin Man Watts (great name) track are personal faves.
- Following up that point, the well known tracks on CD 1 are all good `uns - three Duane Eddy's, Link Wray's "Rumble", some Chuck Berry instro's like "Deep Feeling", and some of the Champs' follow-up tracks and flips
- I should point out the subtitle "The Original Rock'n'Roll Recordings 1950 - 1960" in case an unwary buyer hasn't noticed it. This means that a lot of group based instros like those by the Fireballs, the Ventures and all those surf bands just don't get included. (though there is, of course, a volume 2 which advances the timeframe covered)
- CD 1 seems to be largely guitar based while CD 2 has a lot more honking saxes - this may be a deliberate "themed" separation which is explained in the compiler's notes - I understand that these come from Dave Travis so I'm sure they'll be up to his usual standard
- A good proportion of the music contained herein is rock'n'roll or that form of jump blues cum R&B which preceded it - may seem an odd statement but that isn't always the case with such sets
- Of the relatively few non rock tracks, several are attractive in their own right e.g. two tracks each of exquisite guitar picking from Chet Atkins and Merle Travis, a nice cut from Les Paul - the man who so inspired Jeff Beck - plus some country boogie cum swing from Merrill Moore
- Quite a few tracks, particularly on CD 1, are from artists who are better known as vocalists e.g. Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, Fats Domino, Sonny Burgess, Buddy Knox, Bill Haley, and all of these are of interest
- I was intrigued by Nino Tempo's instrumental take of Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel" in "Heartburn Motel"
- My personal favourite out of the whole lot is Al Casey's "Ramrod"
In summary though I have to say that to an extent I do slightly share the feelings of another reviewer who thought that the title "Great Rock'n'Roll Instrumentals - Just about as good as it gets" was slightly misleading. There's no Johnny and the Hurricanes, nor are Santo and Johnny present. And perhaps the timeframe aspect should have been made more blatant in the titling - if you`re buying from Amazon or another internet supplier the wording of the subtitle is only semi-readable. However on the plus side the inclusion of some fifties material which doesn't usually make it onto anyone's release schedule does present a rare opportunity to pick up this stuff and some of it isn`t bad at all.
It nearly made five stars in my thinking and with a couple of pints or a decent bottle of wine plus the opportunity to turn the volume up might even convince me that the top rating could be justified!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The title really says it all ! Just About As Good As It Gets shows another side to great music, often not too obvious when heard together with lyrics.
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