Rock 'n' Roll 139 Items

Is rockabilly perhaps the first white form of rock 'n' roll? It clearly embraces the country component, along with the influence of rhythm & blues, resulting in an explosive mix that never fails to captivate. It's widely known that officially Elvis Presley fired the first shot, recording That's All Right, and Carl Perkins, with Gone, Gone, Gone, alongside Sonny Fisher, with Rockin' Daddy, became the genre's first composers. So its birth could be dated back to 1954, and it was in 1956 when it truly hit the big time on the charts, only to be forgotten in 1957, in favor of a much less savage way to rock. But rockabilly, with its natural rawness, remained there, in the underground, achieving some minor regional success and leaving thousands of wonderful examples of its existence that would later become prized collector's items. Interestingly, in 1956, Eisenhower's interstate highway plan was also born, a turning point in interstate road communications across the USA, which was a genuine revolution for mass population. Two big changes in the same year that we've taken advantage of, to pick up from the roadside of those rock 'n' roll highways a few examples of great 45s, recorded by small record labels that seemed relegated to oblivion. One shot per state, eight record labels, eight different artists, condensing two raw diamonds into the coolest way ever - 8 x 7" 45 rpm wax records box set plus 4 pages 7” booklet! Ready for that Interstate Rockabilly journey?

Purple Translucent "Alley Rose" vinyl. With insert.

Transparent Yellow vinyl. Sealed with hype sticker

Linda, you already know her, without really knowing her. Because in 2002, she piloted The beat goes on, DJ Bob Sinclar's house hit. because she directed Gospel pour 100 voix, an XXL choir that filled Bercy several times. It's a big difference, in keeping with the way she embraces music: a matter of emotions and feeling, not labels. A deep love that goes back to the childhood of this American native of North Carolina. When her father's amateur gospel group rehearsed at home, when the microphone was a hairbrush in front of a mirror reflecting a little girl imitating Aretha, Otis and Michael. As a young adult, winning a singing contest in a Pennsylvania club gave her confidence. Linda is gifted at embodying songs and drawing audiences along with her. Word of mouth opened doors for her. Under her spell, several bands recruited her in the seventies, until she set up her own band in 1980. And then she was hired by a musical that ran for several years in Atlantic City. A few years on the Caribbean island of Saint-Martin followed, before a guardian angel extricated her from a nightlife that was beginning to burn her wings. Off to Paris. In June 1991, Linda settled in for good. A godsend for France, its studios and touring artists. Nino Ferrer, Bernard Lavilliers, Gloria Gaynor, Percy Sledge, Ray Charles and many others called on Linda's expertise. As did Ben l'Oncle Soul in 2013 for Hallelujah!!! (J'ai tant besoin de toi), the lead single from his second album "À Coup de Rêves". Ben knew that this treasure of a voice deserved a new light. He introduced her to his great guitarist & accomplice Christophe Lardeau. The collaboration is immediately crystal-clear, naturally fruitful, and the compositions are deep and meaningful. For the first time, Linda has her own album. Drawing on the rich roots of Afro-American music and her own personal experience, "Spirit & Soul" encapsulates all the vitality of a hidden gem that we are at last truly discovering. With a repertoire like this, upcoming concerts promise to be particularly intense moments.

Born in early 1966 as a garage band playing heavy covers by the Rolling Stones, the Byrds, the Who, and the Animals, the Fringe conquered Toronto’s coolest hippie clubs in 1967 with their underground psych vibe. In 1968 they scored a national hit and blasted across Western Canada with their psychedelic light show and transcendent songs like “Token for My Mind,” “Plastic People,” and “Executive Dream,” culminating in a spotlight appearance on CBC TV’s Let’s Go! teen show and at a Love-In festival. Now for the first time on vinyl – all 11 of their 1967-68 trippy songs in glorious mono, including everything on their mega-rare promo EP. Sourced from the original analog tapes. 500 copies, in deluxe gatefold jacket. Includes 12-page booklet insert with interviews, lyrics, unseen photos, charts, clippings and more.

Fantastic "Las Vegas" recording from the king of rock'n'roll!This LP features a live performance recorded on 5th February 1973, during Elvis' engagement at the Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas. Includes the classic hits: Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, Suspicious Minds, Steamroller Blues and Fever

Clear With A Blue-Black Haze vinyl. Still in shrink, but opened, with hype sticker

The Vampisoul chicas are back. And for the third time. And, although collectors and connoisseurs have never stopped playing the songs by these Spanish female singers, here they are again, sounding as vibrant as they did half a century ago. Because these children of their times, the musical decades of the 60s and 70s covered by this compilation, boldly ventured into the limited spaces of freedom open to female artists back then. And they did so with attitude, in search of the right repertoire, proudly presenting new, daring personal projects often breaking away from the demure tone adopted by mainstream local female singers. And they were canny about it too. Realizing that the censors working back would just listen to the song that the record company flagged up as the listening target on the A side and not bother to flip the single over, they recorded many of their racier songs on the B side. That exciting dark side of singles, which have long tempted collectors. Lacking the freedom and visibility enjoyed today, these daring records by these female singers went as far as they could and a few managed to go beyond. The songs on this compilation tell everyday stories, narrating small socio-musical conquests revolving round the enduring theme of young love. Sass, sex, boy-girl rivalry, the defense of liberating women's fashion and, saying what women think loud and clear, all characterize these grooves. Performed in a variety of musical styles ranging from ye-yé, twist, disco, beat, popcorn, flamenco pop to Northern Soul, and, even more surprisingly, sung in an everyday, natural and self-assured tone that must have ruffled some feathers. As in previous volumes of "¡Chicas!", this third compilation includes female singers from outside Spain but whose career, their decision to sing in Spanish or their long tours and local stays, and occasionally permanent residence, meant their albums were created, recorded or produced here in Spain. It's a winning proposition for everyone. Take the band Los Bravos,...

For the first time on double vinyl - and 20 years after its first release on cd – here we have the compilation 'Garage Beat in Florence', basically a snapshot of Florence 1966 ‘beat phenomena’. All the tracks were recorded at 'Studio Due' for the NET label and originally enclosed with the magazine 'Nuova Enigmistica Tascabile'. Plus – as bonus tracks – a nice selection from the Ginco Records label, including previously unreleased acetate ! The double vinyl contains 28 tracks, pictures, memorabilia and also the history of 'Studio Due' and its innovative recording techniques, which became an integral part of NET's fame among collectors and lovers of Beat sounds. The activity of 'Studio Due' was unfortunately abruptly interrupted by the Florence flood of the 4th November of 1966. Riyl : Pebbles, Highs In The Mid Sixties, Nuggets.

THE ELVIS TAPES - EARLY INTERVIEWS WITH THE KING - ON STUNNING CLEAR VINYL!Clear vinyl reissue of this 1977 LP featuring a recording of a press conference given by Elvis prior to his performance at the Empire Stadium, Vancouver in 1957. Also includes an interview with CKOY Radio's Mac Lipson from April of that year.

ARCHIVAL LIVE RECORDINGS OF THE LOUISIANA HAYRIDE BY ELVIS PRESLEY - ON LIMITED EDITION GREEN VINYL!Louisiana Hayride was a radio show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana. During its heyday from 1948 to 1960 'Hayride' helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American country and western music. Then on October 16th of 1954, Elvis Presley made his debut. Presley's performance of his debut release, 'That's All Right', brought a weak response from the country-loving audience, but Presley was signed to a one-year contract for more appearances. Elvis worked the Hayride audience week by week until he finally won them over, but there was to be a catch... the demand for more of Presley's new kind of rockabilly music resulted in a sharp decline in the popularity of the Hayride, a strictly country music venue. Times were changing... These recordings capture the formative years of The King of Rock 'N' Roll and feature many of his soon-to-be classic numbers.

The Royal Hangmen are exited to announce the release of our third full-lenght album "Paranoid Nightmares" on Foggy Notion Records. Swiss garage heroes The Royal Hangmen are back with their third album. Imagine fuzz-driven guitars, a grinding Vox organ, a stompin' backbeat and some high energy screaming vocals, mix that with some real dedicated sixties attitude and you dig what the The Royal Hangmen were all about. These swiss wildmen play vintage instruments with a sound reminiscent of The Sonics, 13th Floor Elevators and Small Faces but with a style and energy all of their own."Paranoid Nightmares" is an adventurous and eclectic trip through the glorious sixties. 12 tracks that lead you fromfuzz-driven Beat to Surf, from Folk-Jangle to R'n'B and Soul. Always authentic and raw, the band's sound is a lovely combination of shredding vocals, nasty guitars and organ sounds with strong melodies and hooks on top. For fans of The Sonics, The Pretty Things, The Fuzztones, The Chesterfield Kings.

Rock n Roll fans - please welcome Hairy Mountain - the second album from West Australia’s Datura4. Building upon the "‘guitars-to -infinity’" approach of Datura4’'s acclaimed debut LP ‘Demon Blues’, ‘Hairy Mountain’ is ten solid tracks celebrating an unbridled joy for rock’n’roll ,with a nod to the spiritual presence of their hairy Oz Rock forefathers. Hairy Mountain’ is the culmination of a lifetime of musical archaeology and the ongoing search for the never ending riff. It'’s the brainchild of Dom Mariani (frontman of Australian garage rockers The Stems and Power Posters DM3) and Greg Hitchcock (former You Am I and one-time New Christs’ guitarist), and their new full-tilt boogie, psych and prog combo Datura4. -–BLURT Throwback in the best possible way, the way you can go to some underground club in your nearest big city and see kick-ass rockers throwing it down like it was 1972. But unlike those amateurs, Datura4 is the real deal. In Mariani and Hitchcock, it has the pedigree. – -UNDER THE RADAR Elements of hard-lined blues remain evident, but are primarily smoothed out by a dominant, free-formed ’70s psych sparsity. Those sprawling soundscapes themselves threaten explosive outbreaks yet are reigned in further with a defining boogie, a heavy footstep of swagger that sets a more contemporary course. -Johnny Nail / ROLLING STONE AUSTRALIA

Svart Records proudly present Earthly Remains, a three 7" singles box set with new Coffinshakers tracks!

The ”Earthly Remains” box-set includes three songs from the latest ”Graves, Release Your Dead” album and three brand new tracks from the same sessions. These tracks shouldn’t be seen as left-overs though, they certainly deserve their place in any serious Coffinshakers collection and in a sense makes the album complete.

”March of The Coffinshakers” marks the procession of the dead featuring a lead guitar taken straight from the spaghetti-horror dimension with massive string arrangements to boot. ”Raising Hell” sees the band in garage mode, complete with a vicious fuzz! Finally the doomsday story of ”No Return” almost takes us to crooner territory, imagine that! The three 7”s are housed in brand new watercolor artwork by Jenny Bengtsson. Will you dare to take one step further into the strange realm of The Coffinshakers?

After crisscrossing the nation for the last half-decade looking for a home, Pokey LaFarge found himself in Mid-Coast Maine. Upon arriving, the Illinois-born singer/songwriter/actor pursued a major life change, working 12-hour days on a local farm—a turn of events that catalyzed an extraordinary burst of creativity and redefined his sense of purpose as an artist. Rhumba Country was initially shaped from material that emerged while LaFarge was deep in work on the farm. “I’d be pushing a plow or scattering seeds, and the songs would just come to me,” he recalls. “It was tremendously inspirational and made me realize that apart from singing, farming is perhaps the oldest human art form.” While farming, LaFarge began dreaming up a kaleidoscopic sound informed by his love of music from far-ranging eras and corners of the globe, including mambo, tropicália, rocksteady, and mid-century American rock-and-roll. “The songs that naturally come to me are upbeat and make you wanna dance or at least bop your head—they’re all very colorful,” says LaFarge. “I used to think of my music in dark blue, but now I see it in technicolor.” Co-produced along with Chris Seefried and Elliot Bergman and recorded in L.A., the resulting Rhumba Country is an invitation to come together to celebrate life and love.

Just in time for Halloween. Zombina and the Skeletones are returning from the dead to bring you their first full-length album in ten years ‘The Call of Zombina’.

The Band Under Your BedTM returned to the studio (or in this case a creepy old church in Liverpool) to make their first album in ten years, with Stephen Cole from the avant garde “post-music” act a.P.At.T producing. ‘The Call Of Zombina’ is Hammer Horror melodrama as art-therapy, the pank roots of goth-rock meets the strings and harpsichords of baroque.

‘The Call Of Zombina’ seeks to mirror the clamic portmantean horror of ‘The House That Dripped Blood’ or ‘Asylum’, with each track telling its own self-contained story. Musically it’s death rock/ baroque, Joe Meek and James Bernard meets The Damned uptown. Lyrically, the schlocky Americanistas of old have been eschewed in favour of the no less pulpy vernacu lar of Pan Classics paperbacks... and of course the whole thing was recorded in an old spooky church, to captare some of that creaky atmosphere and gigantic reverb.

Holy Beat! - A collection of 60's Italian Christian beat from the vaults of Ariel Records. Nine tracks from three amazing Italian bands, Angel and the Brains, I Barritas & The Bumpers. Originally released as La Messa dei Giovanni in 1966 and recorded live the same year, this record has been the stuff of legend for deep cut Pop connoisseurs and 60's Beat archeologists, a beautiful and mesmerizing gem that goes way beyond the Christian novelty. Presenting here three amazing Italian bands (Angel and the Brains, I Barritas & The Bumpers), this is not just a Christian pop record, this is a collection of beautifully crafted Italian 60's Beat that will blow the mind of anyone remotely interested in 60's music, a must!

"It's the most personal album I've ever written, and it is very daunting to put such a raw, exposed, vulnerable part of yourself out there," remarks Tami Neilson of her new album Don't Be Afraid. Don't Be Afraid was nearly left unfinished. With two songs completed and six weeks left to write Tami Neilson unexpectedly lost her father, the patriarch of The Neilson Family band who Tami had toured across Canada with as a young girl opening for the likes of Johnny Cash. It was with her mother and brother's encouragement that she finished the record as a way of honouring her dad. "I actually inadvertently wrote the title track (without realizing it would be for the album) the week Dad died. 'Don't Be Afraid' was the last song Dad wrote, while in the hospital. He had written the melody, lyrics and everything, but he was on oxygen and could barely breathe to speak. He told me that it was driving him crazy that he had this new song stuck in his head, but had no way of offloading it. It's an awful feeling, I know, so I said I would bring him in his guitar so he could play it and I'd record it on my phone. He did a verse, so I got the melody, but then his levels dropped dramatically (that's the hidden track on the album, Dad's Demo'), but we didn't get the chorus, or the melody for the chorus." Don't Be Afraid finds the soul taking precedence over the country as Tami found herself listening to a lot of gospel around the time of her father's death and finding a kinship with the legendary singer Mavis Staples: "I've always been a massive Staples fan. I had ordered the new Pops album, it was released days before Dad died, and I ordered it in Canada so I could take it into the hospital for him to listen to. It arrived the day after he died, and of course I sobbed about that, but I will always be so grateful for that album helping me get through that grieving process." Recorded in Ben Edwards' New Zealand Sitting Room studio, the songs were again recorded live, the musicians all in the room playing together. The album features Delaney Davidson and all the boys that were on Dynamite! including harmonies from Marlon Williams on the soon-to-be classic 'Lonely'. The album features a Tina Turner throwback, 'Holy Moses', the swinging country of 'Only Tears', a bluesy swagger in `So Far Away' and the southern soul of 'Burn My Body'. The album is bookended by the title track, including the haunting hidden demo track sung by Tami's father. "There are a lot of reasons I chose Don't Be Afraid as the title, and one of them is that, musically, as an artist it's a departure for me. There are definite moments where I have had to go, 'Don't be afraid of this, this is who you are,- Neilson says. "This album is the guts of me. I guess 'departure' is the wrong word because it's all the same palette and same family, but whereas Dynamite! was a lot of light, bright colours, Don't Be Afraid is deeper, richer colours - still in that same family but a different level." Tami moved to New Zealand from Canada 8 years ago and has become one of the country's biggest acts. Tami is the most highly awarded artist of any genre in New Zealand, having just picked up NZ's highest songwriting honour, the APRA Silver Scroll, for 'Walk (Back To Your Arms)' off 2014's Dynamite!, which also won her (yet another) Best Country Album Tui in May this year. Don't Be Afraid marks Tami as a new soul staple. It's a raw, deep and hopeful album that finds Tami singing out her grief. "Last year was an insane year, I had the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows all in one year," she recalls. "And I guess that is what the album is, it reflects that constant cycle of life."

Copy closer to NM

You may recognise this fine fellow as the bass player for such acts as Spoon, Lee Fields' Expressions, Reigning Sound and The Jay Vons. Or perhaps you've heard the man himself wailing away on several well-received 45's released on Wick Records and compiled on the digital EP 'Hey Lovers'.

With 'Do You Still Think of Me?', his debut album for Wick Records, Trokan takes the listener through the full spectrum of 60s influenced music: the moody teen-beat bop of 'Save a Place', the garage dwelling angst of 'Nowhere to Be Found', to the sweet soul sound of the title track. But throughout the records, it's the unique sound of Benny's raspy, vulnerable lead vocal that carries us across this truly stunning collection of modern pop. 'Do You Still Think of Me?' is a breath of fresh air from a well-seasoned veteran. Unquestionably worth the wait.

You may recognise this fine fellow as the bass player for such acts as Spoon, Lee Fields' Expressions, Reigning Sound and The Jay Vons. Or perhaps you've heard the man himself wailing away on several well-received 45's released on Wick Records and compiled on the digital EP 'Hey Lovers'.

With 'Do You Still Think of Me?', his debut album for Wick Records, Trokan takes the listener through the full spectrum of 60s influenced music: the moody teen-beat bop of 'Save a Place', the garage dwelling angst of 'Nowhere to Be Found', to the sweet soul sound of the title track. But throughout the records, it's the unique sound of Benny's raspy, vulnerable lead vocal that carries us across this truly stunning collection of modern pop. 'Do You Still Think of Me?' is a breath of fresh air from a well-seasoned veteran. Unquestionably worth the wait.

“‘Please Stay’, by The Cryin’ Shames, was the last song by producer Joe Meek to enter the UK Top 40, peaking at No. 26. Released on 18 February 1966, the song should have reached the top, but its progress was held back by the fact that the Decca record label had not pressed enough copies to meet demand. The collaboration should have been long and successful for both of them, but the Cryin’ Shames story is cursed with bad luck and, sadly, within a year of the success of ‘Please Stay’ the band broke up and Joe Meek died. This compilation brings together a first part of the material collected by Cherry Red on the double CD ‘The Tea Chest Tapes’ . The group began as The Bumblies, formed in Liverpool in 1963 by bassist George Robinson and singer Joey Kneen who had previously been in a band called The Calderstones, that included Tom Evans, who later went on to form the group Badfinger. The Bumblies’ name was taken from a television series of the same name featuring Michael Bentine. The rest of the line-up included Charlie Crane (vocals, harmonica), John Bennett (guitar), Phil Roberts (keyboards) and Charlie Gallagher (drums). Charlie Crane would be known in addition as ‘Carl’ or ‘Paul’ to avoid confusion with the other Charlie in the group. Joe Meek didn’t like the band’s choice of name so they changed it to The Cryin’ Shames. Ritchie Routledge replaced Bennett (guitar) after the recording of their debut single ‘Please Stay’. Derek Cleary (bass/guitar) replaced Robinson in time to play on their second single ‘Nobody Waved Goodbye’. After the original Cryin’ Shames fell apart, Routledge and Crane formed a group known as Paul And Ritchie And The Crying Shames with new members Brian Norris (bass), Mike Espie (guitar), Pete Byrne (organ) and Paul Commerford (drums). They released one single, ‘September In The Rain’. The group (as The Bumblies) auditioned for Joe Meek in late October or early November 1965 - the exact date cannot be ascertained because Meek’s tapes contain very little information, and only one or two of the more than seven hundred tapes actually bear a recording date...” (liner notes extracted from the Cherry Red’s booklet made by Mr. Craig Newton)