Back In the Day, 1996

Risque Blues

5-cassette/CD collection

(King Records)

'Race Music' held unique charms amidst more mannerly fare. Compiled in these volumes are energetic, vivid, and just plain dirty manifestations. 

Imagine a 'party record' with a down beat.

The belligerant swagger and beat-down rhythms that would later assume popularity as Rock'n'Roll percolated in the Honky Tonks and Rhythm and Blues joints that dotted the post-war countryside. True believers know that Rock'n'Roll encompasses celebratory attitudes and sensual frankness. 

Both are found, here. The mixing of formative elements was unrefined, but the ribald chest-thumping drove witnesses into delirium. Society itself was shaken.

Founded in 1947, Sid Nathan's Cincinatti King label produced a stream of jumpin' sides whose influence endures. Much of it can be understood to blend the African beat-centric tradition with the European melodic one. Added was a singularly American accent.

Key players had come up mastering their grooves on the juke joint chitlin' circuit. Years of late-night sessions had schooled them in the bawdy ways of rockin'. They knew what audiences dug; what charged their souls and hustled their shoes. 

That sweaty, hardscrabble road training instilled in these King recordings startling being. This is the good stuff. Lowdown and gritty, real-life styling that swings and jumps to its own satiation and articulates common culture. 

Sly calls to sexuality combined with enough Hosannas to inebriated bacchanalia to lead astray even the most saintly, provide a magnetically salacious theme upon which to base a specialized CD reissue series. 

And as exactly such happy ribaldry was documented in abundance at King, the label's retrospective "Risque Blues" collection offers much cause for wanton surrender.

Spectacular here in hip, leering rhythm and blues glory is a universal message with timeless relevance. An insistent demand for nocturnal interaction. A brazen assertion of virility. 

Bullmoose Jackson's "Big 10-Inch Record," The Swallows' "It Ain't the Meat, It's the Motion," and the braggadocio of Billy Ward and the Dominoes' "Sixty Minute Man" speak uninhibitedly of hot-bloodedness.

The instrumental line-ups were sparse, but that was appropriate. Strip-club saxes honked and blared their suggestiveness. Treble guitars splashed striking hues and urged animation. Rumbling bass key piano negotiations commanded at the center, steeling the whole with senses of definition and direction. 

Tempos included swinging finger-poppin' and slowly seductive grooves. Advancing further some songs' party atmospheres were infectious handclaps.

"I want a bow-legged woman!" swore Bullmoose Jackson in the song of that title. From Dorothy Ellis came "Drill Daddy Drill." Not to be neglected is Wynonie Harris' "Keep On Churnin' (Til the Butter Comes)." Little Esther intimated passion with the smoldering "Turn the Lamp Down Low."

As dynamic as these records were, it's crucial to underscore that none were slick or over-produced. Rough edges etched deeply their regular world character and credibility. 

Besides, flawless renderings weren't the ambition. And good songs are their own validation.

Originally issued on both cassette and CD formats. I've long owned the cassettes, but recently purchased the CDs; these are significaant recordings, and one never knows when vintage tracks will vanish from the easly accessible marketplace.

Recommended:

1) It Ain't the Meat: "It Ain't the Meat" (The Swallows), "Wasn't That Good" (Wynonie Harris),  "Ride, Daddy, Ride" (Orville "Fats" Noel)

2) Keep On Churnin': "Keep On Churnin'" (Wynonie Harris), "Rockin' At Midnight" (Roy Brown), "Silent George'' (Lucky Millander w/Myra Johnson)

3) Sixty Minute Man: "Sixty Minute Man" (Billy Ward and the Dominoes), "I Want a Bowlegged Woman" (Bullmoose Jackson), "Lovin' Machine" (Wynonie Harris)

4) My Ding-A-Ling: "I Like My Baby's Puddin'" (Wynonie Harris), "Sittin' On It All the Time" (Wynonie Harris), "Butcher Pete Pt. 1" (Roy Brown)

5) Big 10-Inch Record: "Big 10-Inch Record" (Bull Moose Jackson), "Work With Me, Annie" Hank Ballard), "Smooth, Slow, and Easy" (The Drivers)

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