Crash or STFU

My new mix for the month is up, so get at it!

Crash or STFU by djmikecrash

Bo Diddley - "We're Gonna Get Married" - Checker,1966

Today's one of my favorites - Bo Diddley.  I'm pretty sure everything this man touched turned to gold, I've really enjoyed all of the records of his I've come upon.  This one's a real stomper of a tune, where Bo reminds all you guitar players out there that rhythm guitar ain't no second fiddle! This song was released towards the end of Bo Diddley's career at Chess, but he shows no signs of slowing down on this wild cut. You may remember this song from my last mix, which featured only songs from the Chess / Checker catalog. Check it out here.

Sporting his trademark guitar

I don't have anything to say about Bo Diddley that hasn't been said a hundred times already. Check the web for details, I thought I'd just share this clip of his most famous (only?) acting cameo from a personal fave, "Trading Places".

And of course, the clip!

2x The Crash Love!

Next week I got ya covered.  Thursday at Huckleberry Bar in Williamsburg and Friday at Motor City in Manhattan. You can't lose!

The Frogmen - "Underwater" - Candix, 1961

I happened upon this cool little instro while on a dig a few weeks ago and thought I'd share.
Not too much info out there on The Frogmen, but I did find this page from the April 17, 1961 issue of Billboard magazine touting the song as a breakout record in Seattle and LA.

Candix was a label based out of LA.  Founded in 1960, the only decent size hit on the label was The Beach Boys first single "Surfin'". From Wikipedia: "Candix staffers Joe Saraceno and Russ Regan are attributed with renaming The Pendletones as The Beach Boys, in an attempt to make them more marketable." Certainly today's record was another tune in the surf vein. Unfortunately, the label was just a flash in the pan, bankrupt by 1962.

As I was not able to find a picture of the Frogmen, I've selected this artist's rendering of them recording thier big hit.

The Hullaballoos - "Party Doll" - Roulette, 1964

I thought today's post would illustrate pretty nicely the evolution of Rock from the 50's to the 60's.  This tune was originally by Buddy Knox, and we covered it on this blog back in  August of '10 here, but I've got the clip here for comparison:



The original version was released in '57. Now when The Hullaballoos come around in '64, they take the original and turn the volume and tempo up to 11. Now we're rocking to a beat those crazy 60's cats can really groove to!



The Wikipedia hive-mind tells us The Hullaballos were considered "british invasion" and hailed from Hull, England (hence the name). This explains why they were able to take American music, expand on it, and sell it back to us so effortlessly.

Ah, what British smiles you have!

We covered Roulette in the original Buddy Knox post, check that for details on the label.

Big Maybelle - "Ring Dang Dilly" - Savoy, 1956(?)

Big Maybelle, or Mabel Louise Smith as her momma called her, put out a ton of great R&B, Blues and Gospel. She is probably best known for her '56 hit "Candy" but she has a long catalog of releases, mostly on Savoy. Mabel's big hits were in the 50s, starting with "Gabbin' Blues" in '52. Unfortunately drug and health issues took center stage in the 60s (although she did release a hit cover of "96 Tears" in '67). She passed away in '72 from complications due to diabetes.  This single was Mabel at the top of her game, and it rocks pretty hard if you ask me.

Savoy Records was founded in 1942 by Herman Lubinsky. Based out of Newark, NJ, the label focused mostly on Jazz, Blues, and RnB. Lubinsky died in 1974 and I believe the releases stopped then. All Music guide describes him as "famous for being a rather profane cheapskate who had a low opinion of many of the musicians that he recorded". Savoy Records was purchased by Arista in 1975.