From 1958, a very interesting--and surprisingly good!--LP by guitarist Bob Bain, who had worked with Bob Crosby, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, and Nelson Riddle. Naturally, he took easily to rock'n'roll, being a professional on a par with Al Caiola and George Barnes. Which is to say, he had approximately 500 times the "chops" of Scotty Moore (no offense intended). And, even with the Jack Halloran Singers in the background, most of these tracks rock nicely. Or nicely rock--whatever. When I saw "with the Jack Halloran Singers" on the back cover, my first thought was, "This will be a campfest." It isn't, however--save maybe for Strollin' Home, a take on Antonin Dvořák's Goin' Home. That's getting just a little too silly.
And an interesting feature of/from this period of popular music--Namely, dances taking precedence over song titles--hence, the album name, Rockin' Rollin' and Strollin'. And with each selection tethered to a current dance step. This might provide some insight into the 1960-1962 twist craze, in which that particular dance was hyped as a new era in popular music. Never mind that the twist is nothing more than old-fashioned eight-to-the-bar boogie-woogie. With a backbeat. Some of these would easily qualify.
Some of the tracks, including (not surprisingly) The Stroll, are offered up in a slow tempo, but there are plenty of brisk numbers, too. And, many years ago, I met someone whose two chief categories of music were slow and fast. It depended upon his mood. Anyway, four numbers written and/or co-written by Bain, including Keen Teen, written in collaboration with Bain's old friend Freddie Slack.
And the jacket is pretty cool, though few of the young models look all that excited. And... a surprise at my "Shellac City" YouTube channel, which is getting so few views, I'm not sure why I bother. A new subscriber, and one with nice words for one of my restorations: The famous audio engineer Steve Hoffman. Nothing like a compliment from one of the best. And a couple days back, I blog-posted three shellac rips which pleased me a lot, all made on my VinylStudio program alone (my old MAGIX program, alas, is finished). No response, so I deleted the entry. Well, Steve Hoffman likes my work, anyway.
Oh, and the The Rock N' Roll March, as listed on the cover, shows up on the label as The Rock 'N Roll March. Just what in the heck is so hard about 'n' as the contraction for "and"? ("What are you doing?" "I'm n'rollin'!") N'rollin' to The Big Doowah.
DOWNLOAD: Bob Bain--Rockin' Rollin' and Strollin'.zip (Capitol T965; 1958)
The Stroll
Night Train Guitar
Keen Teen
At the Hop
The Rock N' Roll March
The Great Pretender
Raunchy
Yeah Yeah
The Rock and Roll Waltz
The Big Doowah
The Dipsy Doodle
Strollin' Home
(With the Jack Halloran Singers)
Lee
