Psychozoic Hymnal 8 - 50's Not
Fats Domino
You could take his word for it, “What they call rock ’n’ roll now is rhythm and blues. I’ve been playing it for 15 years in New Orleans”. Except they won’t, and Fats was right only about himself. There was a snare (mostly) and a bouncing bass. On top of that a soup of Fat’s piano, various horns, harmonicas, organs, singers whatever. Fat’s lazy voice sang through. They could all keep that mild backbeat with its slow first hit, which maybe could only have come from the South. Stands with Louis Jordan as full‐formed and comfortable, but the roll is not explored. Gave up maybe the greatest string of hit singles ever, for which he will be always remembered but never canonised.
Ray Charles
He could play keyboards good, and other instruments he took to. He could swing Jazz, but not compose it. His voice was smoke and anything else so you heard what he had to say. The bands were stage and you better believe there’s not a bar wasted. The artistry was engagement in all kinds of encounters such as Modern Sounds in Country and Western. The genius was his way or the high road. I’m telling you this because some call this ‘rock’. Of socio‐economic seismics, yes. A nexus of possibility, some miraculous takes of cultural weight, sure. But who in the world can call this rock? You’ll be telling me Steps are rock because they sang neither motet nor Mass.
Carl Perkins
He and his brother had a drummer back in ’53—they were there with the Presley group. On his guitar he developed blues styles along with the country picking. Listen to recordings you hear his moves on guitar—bending notes in a blues style, muted picking, chromatic steps, off‐beats and more—he’d gathered a sack of rock‐tricks. Label owner Sam Phillips figured Carl Perkins could turn the listeners of country to rock… that and car crashes kept him from a working group, then he hooked with Nashville. You can argue the sound was in the air, he worked with who was about, but he never shaped, perhaps never needed to, what was natural to him. The cute songwriting, which he was excellent at, has made his common reputation unrepresentatively lightweight.
Lonnie Donnegan
Lonnie Donnegan was part of the now archived but fondly remembered British Jazz movement, but went Louis Jordan, collating and composing songs as, y’know, entertainment. Which didn’t need to, but took a guitar and home‐made jazz (‘skiffle’) approach. He had a light, high voice which could sing good as the already‐old country styles he was dedicated to, and which he could twist into novelty. And a natural connection with the British roots of folk/country styles— ‘Cumberland Gap’. The result was home‐made, as‐good‐as‐anyone with unusual arrangements and frequent lunacy. As for the lunacy, from this distance you couldn’t split ‘Frankie and Johnny’ from some kind of punk. Not rock in performance, but stands, like the Johnny Cash group, as a personal take on tradition. Imagine hearing this on the radio—blues kowtowing aside, there’s simply no doubt this is where English rock started, and maybe a key reason why it is legend.
The Shadows
I’m not versed round these times, but in the late fifties I believe most American places had a small jazz or guitar band. Not so in England, likely a few clubs in the cities with some trad jazz or skiffle. From this emerged a small ‘Rock and Roll’ band, the Shadows, formed with a singer Harry Webb (later ‘Cliff Richard’). True to later Brit development The Shadows were polite, with clockwork rock and next to no roll. In fact, they often seemed to progress on the rithm, with the guitar a talky front. They foreshadowed another development also, as they sold their ability not only to back Harry Webb, but through film soundtracks and appearances, stage pantomimes, TV residences, song‐writing spin‐offs and more. They were very expert. Often credited with innovation in terms of mixing acoustic/electric guitars, use of pitch arms, amplifier reverb (with pitch effects) and alternate guitars. They stand as having a rithm setup with interesting figures fronted by bold lead playing—which would try any tune that fit—within a comfortable group format.