1049. Mojo Special 7. Ska Bonanza: The Studio One Years (1961-65)

Track Listing

Disc: 1

1. Nimble Foot Ska - Alphonso, Roland & The Skatalites
2. Spread Satin - Alphonso, Roland & The Studio One Orchestra
3. Arte Bella - Cole, Stranger & Ken Boothe
4. Streets Of Gold - Skatalites
5. A De Pon Dem - Marley Anderson, Rita & The Wailers
6. Black Sunday - Skatalites
7. Don't Want Your Loving - Campbell, Cornell
8. Old Fowl Ska - Alphonso, Roland
9. Enna Bella (aka Lena Belle) - Harris, Eric 'Monty'
10. Jezebel - Gray, Owen & Millie Small/Clue J Blues Blasters
11. Always On A Sunday - Anderson, Frank & Tommy McHook/The Skatalites
12. Sugar Bag - Perry, Lee
13. Settle Down - Sterling, Lester & Johnnie Moore/Tommy McHook
14. Turn Me On - Ossie & The Upsetters
15. When The Well Runs Dry - Bunny & Skitter
16. Wheel And Turn - Anderson, Frank & Tommy McCook
17. Oceans 11 - Lloyd, Cecil & Roland Alphonso
18. Over The River - Jiving Juniors
19. My Heaven - Ellis, Alton & Eddie Parkins/Aubrey Adams Dewdroppers
20. Set Back (aka Just Cool) - Alphonso, Roland & Carroll McLaughlin
21. Du Du Wap - Josephs, Chuck & Dobby Dobson/Aubrey Adams
22. Don Cosmic - Drummond, Don & The City Slickers

Disc: 2

1. Man In The Street - Drummond, Don
2. Simmer Down - Marley, Bob & The Wailers
3. Shining Light - Toots & The Maytals
4. Push Wood - Opel, Jackie
5. Wonder No More - Andy & Joey
6. Bongo Tango - Alphonso, Roland
7. Sucu Sucu - Alphonso, Roland
8. 20.75 - Alphonso, Roland
9. Stop Making Love - Gaylads
10. How Many Times (Do You Remember) - Marley, Bob & The Wailers
11. Heaven And Earth - Drummond, Don & Roland Alphonso
12. Sit Down Servant - Opel, Jackie
13. Go Jimmy Go - Marley, Bob & The Wailers
14. Stew Peas And Cornflakes - Adams, Aubrey & Rico Rodriguez
15. Answer Me My Darling - Harriott, Derrick
16. River Jordan - Eccles, Clancy & Hersang/The City Slickers
17. Salt Lane Shuffle - Clue J & His Blues Blasters
18. Jeannie Girl - Charmers
19. Lonely Moments - Perkins, Lascelles & Clue J & His Blues Blasters

Review

Yet another great collection of Ska tracks. In fact this ska list has been surprising me quite a bit in the wide ranging quality of the whole thing. IT is clearly party music and it does its job really well.

This being said it is not as spectacular a collection as the two previous ones, maybe I'm getting a bit jaded but the instrumental Ska Collection and the Duke Reid collection were frankly more impressive in the overall quality and sheer "stick-in-your-earness".

So, although I don't feel the need to add this album to my collection it has to be said that it is another amazing collection of tracks and should not be missed by anyone with more than a passing interest for Ska.

Track Highlights

1. Simmer Down
2. Spread Satin
3. Nimble Foot Ska
4. River Jordan

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

When the R&B craze ended in the United States, Dodd and his rivals were forced to begin recording their own Jamaican music in order to meet the local demand for new music. Initially these recordings were exclusively for a particular sound system but the records quickly developed into an industry in their own right. In 1959 he founded a record company called World Disc. 1962 he produced the Jazz record "I cover the water front" on the Port-O-Jam label, two of the recorded musician, namely Roland Alphonso and Don Drummond should become along Dood founding members of the Skatalites three years later. In 1963 he opened Studio One on Brentford Road, Kingston. It was the first black-owned recording studio in Jamaica (see 1963 in music). He held regular Sunday evening auditions in search of new talent, and it was here that Dodd first found Bob Marley, singing as a part of The Wailing Wailers. He gave the group a five-year exclusive contract, paying them £20 for each song they recorded; for a time, Marley slept in a back room of the studio. The Marley-penned song "Simmer Down", a Dodd production, went to number one in Jamaica in February 1964.

Simmer Down:

1048 - Mojo 33. Koerner, Ray and Glover - Blues, Rags and Hollers (1963)

Track Listing

1. Linin' Track
2. Ramblin' Blues
3. It's All Right
4. Hangman
5. Ted Mack Rag
6. Down To Louisiana
7. Creepy John
8. Bugger Burns
9. Sun's Wail
10. Dust My Broom
11. One Kind Favor
12. Go Down Ol' Hannah
13. Good Time Charlie
14. Banjo Thing
15. Stop That Thing
16. Too Bad
17. Snaker's Here
18. Low Down Rounder
19. Jimmy Bell
20. Mumblin' Word

Review

So three white boys get together to sing and play the blues... this could go tragically wrong, but fortunately for all of us it doesn't. It goes very well indeed and this ends up being a great album.

Koerner, Ray and Glover are truly excited about what their playing and that comes out particularly in the fast speed of their singing and playing, the blues is faster and much rockier than what it had been before, if not in musical terms then at least in attitude.

With the innovations the album bring it doesn't stop from being a pretty respectable Blues album with both covers and originals on offer which do a pretty good work of the music. Here we see the major influence Harry Smith's anthology and the colleciton of Robert Johnson tracks released in '61 would be.

Track Highlights

1. Dust My Broom
2. Linin' The Track
3. Ramblin' Blues
4. It's All Right

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Despite recording, performing and being billed as a trio, the three play together only on the opening track, "Linin' Track". The other tracks are either solo performances by Koerner or Ray and two duets by Ray and Glover and one by Koerner and Glover.

Blues, Rags and Hollers was recorded in Milwaukee during a one-day session.

Documentary on Koerner, Ray and Glover:

1047 - Mojo 32. Sam Cooke - Night Beat (1963)

Track Listing

1. Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
2. Lost And Lookin'
3. Mean Old World
4. Please Don't Drive Me Away
5. I Lost Everything
6. Get Yourself Another Fool
7. Little Red Rooster
8. Laughin' And Clowin'
9. Trouble Blues
10. You Gotta Move
11. Fool's Paradise
12. Shake Rattle And Roll

Review

A great album by Sam Cooke, eschewing overly sleek arrangements his amazing voice really shines through here. It is not as boisterous as the live recording at the Harlem Square Club, and it is a much quieter album, but it is indeed beautiful.

Sam Cooke must have had one of the best voices in the history of music and as such he has been pretty badly treated by his arrangers and by the image that they tried to sell of him.

It is in albums like this or the above mentioned live album that we really see what is underpinning his great voice. Here we have him in all his emotional glory without ever being drowned by anything other than his great voice.

Track Highlights

1. Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
2. Get Yourself Another Fool
3. Mean Old World
4. Shake Rattle And Roll

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album is often considered one of Cooke's best, and also one of the best soul music albums of the period. Billy Preston, the organ player of the album, was just 16 years old at the time of recording. The album was recorded in just 3 nights.

Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen:

Mojo 31. James Brown - Live at the Apollo (1963)

See Review

Mojo 30. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (1963)

See Review

1046 - Mojo 29. Ray Charles and Betty Carter - Ray Charles and Betty Carter (1961)

Track Listing

1. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
2. You and I
3. Intro: Goodbye/We'll Be Together Again
4. People Will Say We're in Love
5. Cocktails for Two
6. Side by Side
7. Baby, It's Cold Outside
8. Together
9. For All We Know
10. Takes Two to Tango
11. Alone Together
12. Just You, Just Me

Review

Another album of standards this time with Ray Charles and Betty Carter. Not much new is brought into play here, the best thing here is really Betty Carter's voice which shines through the whole thing.

That being said all of the versions are pretty nice, and while Ray Charles doesn't really do much with his piano he has got a really nice young voice here and it is something interesting for those more used to listening to him later in his career.

So that is pretty much what I have to say about his perfectly nice but not amazing album. Enjoyed it, didn't blow me away. So let me take the free space to wish everybody a great Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, Winter Solstice, Yule or vacation.

Track Highlights

1. Baby, It's Cold Outside
2. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
3. Just You, Just Me
4. Cocktails for Two

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The pair's recording of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" on the album topped the R&B charts. A 1988 CD/LP re-issue included three bonus tracks and the 1998 Rhino Records re-issue combined, on a single CD, the original Ray Charles and Betty Carter with the complete Dedicated to You.

Morons do Baby It's Cold Outside: