Making Bacon

Hank Jacobs - Bacon Fat

While it's not the same greasy Bacon Fat as the one posted previously, Hank Jacobs still provides us with an rollicking hand-clappy piano lead instrumental goody to stave off the hunger.

The Chicken Was Never Like This

Big Daddy And His Boys - Bacon Fat

I first heard today's selection while waiting for Tom Waits at Paris's beautiful Le Grand Rex theatre last year. It was honking out of an assortment of old speaker horns hung up at the rear of stage. I was close to the front, in a big comfy seat, about to experience one of my most eagerly anticipated shows ever when I recognised the song but not the version. It seemed to have more emphasis on the "wop... wop..." than Andre Williams' original, but was just as greasy. I made a mental note to track it down as my concentration once again dissolved in the splendor of the situation. It took a bit of online sleuthing but like a Chien de Saint-Hubert, I got my mark.

Big Daddy was Bob Kornegay, a one time a member of The Du Droppers who also recorded a great track called Your Line Was Busy under the name Big Bob. I don't have that one yet but rest assured, my nose is to the ground. Incidentally, the performance was incredible, even exceededing expectations. Well worth the wait!

Beat Generation

The Champs - Beatnik

When radio DJs received The Champs first single, they flipped it over and the b-side, Tequila, became the biggest crossover hit of the instrumental surf rock genre as well as being a pioneering force in the area of Chicano rock. For a few years, The Champs continued to make some excellent records, often trying to facsimilate the success of Tequila. From 1958, here's their short but sweet homage to the beats.

Outshines The Sun Above

Big Maybelle - That's A Pretty Good Love

Here's another absolute humdinger of a tune. From 1956, it's the upbeat flip side to one of Big Maybelle's most moving hits, Candy. Featuring the Kelly Owens Orchestra, That's A Pretty Good Love is as sassy as they come and I think it's going to knock you right out.

Let's Go Surfing

The Gamblers - Moon Dawg!
The Gamblers - LSD-25

Today we have two early surf classics which I couldn't describe better than Billboard magazine did on 23 May 1960, under the title Moderate Sales Potential: Moon Dawg - pounding piano spotlighted on frantic r&r ditty; LSD-25 - effective guitar solo work on pounding r&r instrumental.

The Gamblers were a Los Angeles studio band consisting of session musicians, many of whom went on to bigger and better things. Moon Dawg is reasonably well known as it's been covered a bunch of times, but the b-side, LSD-25, brings this record its notoriety. You see it's the first musical reference to that particular substance, which became a major artistic inspiration and influence. But don't expect to get even an inkling of psychedelic rock in this tune, as apparently the title was just something the guitarist read in a magazine and thought sounded cool.

The Pied Piper Sings His Song

Billy Williams - The Pied Piper

This is one of those tunes that, upon first listen, I just knew I had to have. Given the subject matter it's appropriately infectious, especially the vocal purring. Such a fun song. It was written by either Eddie Cochran or Lee Denson, who released it late in 1956 on the Vik label. Billy Williams' version came out soon after on Coral. Now believe me, I don't intentionally try and relate everything back to Elvis, it just seems to happen, but it's Denson who taught him to play guitar when he was just a boy growing up in Memphis, Tennessee. Now you wouldn't have wanted me to keep that all to myself, would you? So enjoy this great version of The Pied Piper and if anyone has the Lee Denson rockabilly original, I'd love to hear it.

Bee-Millennium Tension

Elvis Presley - I Got Stung

Bees are the best – buzzing around, pollinating crops, making honey, stinging things – what more could you want from an insect? I'm contemplating turning this blog into one that specialises in bee songs. I wonder how them bees are going with that CCD thing. Right now the whole issue seems to be overshadowed by a somewhat larger problem to do with carbon and the climate. Can someone who has been around for a while tell me, has the western world always been on the very brink of disaster? I can only remember the end of the cold war when we were just a button push away from nuclear annihilation. I don’t recall a massive end-is-nigh vibe in the early 1990s, unless you paid credence to alien conspiracy theories. But later on came Y2K, threatening to mess with everyone's computers and drop planes from the sky. Pre-millennium tensions were realised early in the next decade when some planes did "drop" from the sky – I think we’re still on at least an amber alert because of that. Recently, there's been pig flu, which I definitely thought would make medical face masks The Sartorialist’s trending look this winter. And before the cold war there were real wars, big ones – so I think I’ve answered the question myself. Anyway, at least we have Elvis. Here he is singing, metaphorically, about a time a bee stung him.

A Evil Bumble Bee

Lavern Baker - Bumble Bee

This is my new favourite find, the complete embodiment of what I'm looking for in a 45rpm record. Kooky beat, backing vocals, upbeat tune, tough bluesy lyrics, about bumble bees; it really ticks all the boxes. I'm not overly familiar with Lavern Baker but I did notice that this track's arranged by Jesse Stone, someone I was recently introduced to through an incredible version of Crawfish. Turns out he wrote Shake, Rattle and Roll amongst many other achievements. But I'll try not to get sidetracked because all this post needs to be concerned with is Lavern Baker's absolutely incredible 1960 release about a bumble bee, an evil bumble bee.