Get Involved blog

John Fred - Making Love To You

Don’t know much about John Fred and his Playboy Band other than they recorded a track that I absolutely hate called Judy in Disguise (With Glasses) in 1967 after Fred misheard the lyrics of The Beatles’ Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. Actually, that’s not strictly true, I know a track called Lenne by John Fred from 1964 which is ace…

ANYway, the reason I bought this particular record (Paula 225) is actually because of the other side - which features Fred’s cover of Fortune Teller. Recently I’d heard a DJ play a real mod version of Fortune Teller so I bought this thinking maybe it might be that version. As it goes, it isn’t - but it is good. However, when I flipped the record, I nearly flipped my lid: Fred’s version of Etta James’ I Just Want To Make Love To You is cookin’! It sounds a bit like The Rolling Stones’ cover of Chuck Berry’s You Can’t Catch Me – and as far as I’m concerned, that ain’t no bad thing at all.

The Johnny Otis Show - Hey Baby Don’t You Know

I bought this 1959 record (Capitol 4326) for the track Mumblin’ Mosie which appears on the flip to this, the Hey Baby Don’t You Know side. While Mumblin’ Mosie adopts the Bo Diddley style rhythm that Otis made good use of for tracks such as Willie And The Hand Jive and his stonking Crazy Country Hop, Hey Baby Don’t You Know is totally different in style and leans towards a much more Gospel-meets-R’n'B sound than a Rock’n'Roll one. Yes, this track’s got organ, plenty of tambourine and some fantastic backing singing action – the “oh yeah”s even continue throughout the saxophone break… Oh yeah, this is proper Get Involved fare!

I picked up this LP of saxophone legend King Curtis recordings in JBs for £4 just before Christmas and have been enjoying it so much I thought I’d share the whole thing. The compilation was released in 1988 by Norfolk-based Red Lightnin label - a label which Bill in JBs rates highly but he said to me that “nobody bought the records ‘coz the covers were crap”. Well yes, this album cover is a strong case-in-point but fortunately I had the good sense to check out the selection of tunes on this collection despite it. And I’m really glad I did because this selection - recorded between 1958 to 1967 - is, frankly, stonking. There’s mellow blues, rock’n'roll, doo wop, jumping sax honkers, early soul and funky instrumentals here.

The selection includes tracks that Curtis played on as a session musician in the late 50s and early 60s, including Tony Middleton’s Count Your Blessings (a personal favourite) from 1958, Derek Martin’s Don’t Put Me Down Like This (the flip of his classic Daddy Rollin’ Stone single on Crackerjack from 1963), and the balearic sunrise groove of Hello Sunshine, recorded with Ronnie Miller in the summer of 1967. Like Bill said, the album artwork isn’t particularly inspiring, but hats off to Red Lightnin for a splendid comp.

Ripped from vinyl at 320kps. Download it here

Side One
1. Home Cookin’
2. Soul Groove Part I
3. Soul Groove Part II
4. Pickin’ Chicken
5. Clementine
6. Blowin’ Off Steam

Side 2
1. Didn’t He Play!
2. Blue Nocturne
3. Hello Sunshine
4. Count Your Blessings
5. Write Me A Love Letter
6. Jealous Fool
7. Don’t Put Me Down Like This

Jimmy Daley & The Ding-A-Lings – Bongo Rock

I’m a bit of a fan of bongos. And this record was a chance buy - I bought it to see if it was a version of the Bongo Rock I know and love by Preston Epps. It’s not. But it’s flippin’ brilliant all the same so I thought I’d share it…

At first glance, it appears that this 1957 record is by Jimmy Daley. On closer inspection of the label (to the right in small print) it states that the vocals are by Kip Tyler. Turns out Jimmy Daley is a fictional character - the protagonist in Rock Pretty Baby - a film which previewed in New York in late 1956 and which critics panned for trying to cash in on the rock’n'roll frenzy that was sweeping the US at the time. But never mind the critics, the kids loved it!

Actor John Saxon, who played Jimmy Daley, the leader of fictional rock’n'roll band The Ding-A-Lings, in the film, couldn’t handle his vocal duties and so the producers hired in various other singers to handle the task. So what you see in the movie is John Saxon miming to pre-recorded tracks. To cash in on the success of the Jimmy Daley character created by the film, Decca Records sought a good rock’n'roll vocalist to attach to the name. So whilst Kip Tyler and his voice didn’t actually appear in either Rock Pretty Baby or the accompanying soundtrack, he had his first released recordings under the name of Jimmy Daley on two follow up singles from Decca - of which this record (Decca 9-30532) is the second. And what an absolute beauty it is! Tyler wrote Bongo Rock and I think it’s him actually playing the Bongos on the record too. Check the break!

The above info was gleaned from various sources but mostly from from this piece on Kip Tyler