A surprising absence until now of an appreciation of the rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll legends that were the Burnette brothers – Johnny and Dorsey – on the Atomicat label. Arriving in style via colourful and stylised artwork and housed in a threefold digipak complete with liner notes from the pen of Dee Jay Mark Armstrong, the “Song Book” in question here is not so much about what the Burnette brothers achieved when powering away as the Rock ‘N’ Roll Trio more that this collection of songs concerns their song writing skills and those numbers bequeathed to others. Whether contributing songs to other artists as a song writing duo or operating alone or with an additional writer, Johnny and Dorsey notched up an incredible number of songs with many included here. Naturally beginning with a joint Johnny & Dorsey Burnette composition ‘Kiss Me Sweet’, the rest is left to Johnny Garner to provide some fine rock ‘n’ roll. Equally convincing and another joint effort from the Burnette’s is Myron Lee’s take on ‘School’s Out’ where his vocal impresses greatly, in addition to a compelling rockin’ guitar break. The inclusion of Ricky (Rick) Nelson appearing on three occasions via the tail end of the 50’s duo ‘Don’t Leave Me’ and ‘One Of These Mornings’, to 60s era ‘Gypsy Woman’ sees Dorsey Burnette along with Joe Osborn responsible for song writing duties, with Dorsey going alone for ‘One Of These Mornings’, and in the first instance a Johnny Burnette solo effort. In fact, perusing down the track list for this current album is testament to the song writing skills of Johnny & Dorsey because many established artists of the periods in focus included Bob Luman, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Frankie Lymon and Roy Brown all of whom applied their talents to recognised quality when they saw it. Leaving the finale to a momentary flurry of the Burnette brothers in action really was the right decision considering the glut of compilation albums available featuring their own music. Truly an album for all supporters of the greatest duo (trio) from the era of rockabilly and early rock ‘n’ roll simply for assuming a different angle to present their sublime song writing skills.

The timing seems to be right for an appreciation of country music artist Buck Owens. Boasting thirty tracks to get its message across just how good Buck Owens was, ‘The Many Sides Of Buck Owens – Right After The Dance’ shows how versatile he could be as well. Examples of his song writing prowess can be associated with a brief flurry with rockabilly, serving as a session musician, providing songs for other performers, and not forgetting being a part of the now famous Bakersfield Sound. Beginning with eighteen tracks solely associated with Buck Owens, and the rest of this album being divided into a compilation of artists who’ve either been influenced and/or associated with Buck Owens or performing one of his own songs. It makes for an interesting listen, especially first song from Buck Owen’s alter ego Corky Jones and rockabilly ‘Hot Dog’ displaying much energy, only to be surpassed by more considered rockin’ slice of ‘Sweet Thing’. Turning a corner, the country sides of Buck Owens show themselves, beginning in superb fashion with ‘Excuse Me’ where you can hear genuine sadness in Buck’s vocal especially during its chorus. A powerful instrument without doubt was the vocals of Buck Owens as it steered many of his songs and almost akin to spoken words poetry (‘Under Your Spell Again’). The latter half is filled with the likes of Tommy Collins (‘Whatcha Gonna Do Now’), Tommy Sands (‘Hey, Miss Fannie’), Bakersfield resident Bill Woods and rockabilly ‘Bop’ as well as Corky Jones making another appearance with utterly raw ‘Rhythm And Booze’. A fine collection with a difference to celebrate the music of Buck Owens is “The Many Sides of…” with plenty of interesting twists and turns that will see the listener coming back for more.

The first volume in this new addition to the Atomicat label proved a resounding success with a variety of instrumental tracks from rhythm and blues, rock ‘n’ roll and surf rock. Volume 2 of ‘Whip Masters Instrumentals’ looks set to follow in its footsteps, but with even greater wildness given some of its description: “There is nothing sweet and innocent within this album, it’s packed with attitude for bad boys and girls!”. To live up to such a message, ‘Whip Masters Instrumentals Volume 2’ has plenty of opportunity to do so given its track list containing an impressive total of thirty songs. Demonstrating such wildness in sound is the opening salvo ‘Tomahawk’ by Teddy and The Rough Riders, and then followed by the consistently reliable ‘Tornados with ‘Scalping Party’, which is not for the fainthearted given its hollering screams adding to the tension found in its guitars and suggestive of early punk rock. Variety is certainly the spice here as there are variations between each instrumental with examples as Latino-influenced The Royaltones’ ‘Tacos’, to blending of hot rod and surf music instrumental from wild in name and sound Johnny Zorro and ‘Road Hog’ (Listen out for that red-hot saxophone by the way!).  With The Champs in highly creative mode during ‘Panic Button’ where the musical notes genuinely give the impression of trying to explain its identity without the use of words, and the second album in the ‘Whip Masters Instrumentals’ series more than matches its debut when it comes to thrills and spills and seriously great music.

Making the right decision to resurrect the rhythm and blues series on Koko Mojo sees another album in quick succession after previous ‘Do It Up Right’. This time around the album features a collection of “novelty” songs from the Golden Age of American Music. In addition to the black musicians featured here, the creator responsible for this compilation i.e., the Mojo Man made the decision to include white artist Stan Freberg and his version of doo wop smash ‘Sh-Boom’. The reason for the inclusion is not only for his admiration of this particular version, but also the fact that African Americans were also buying records by white artists such as Freberg. With the music being the main focus, the list of tracks features plenty of names that will be unknown to a few music collectors. That’s the beauty with such albums and especially with ‘Beware The Sleepwalking Woman’ where you have wild rocker Esquerita and ‘Esquerita and The Voola’, Bo Diddley (‘Say Man’), and Huey “Piano” Smith and His Clowns (‘Beatnik Blues’) one moment and then fewer household names the next with Big Bob Kornegay (‘The Man In The Phone Booth’) and Yochanan (‘Hot Skillet Mama’). A genuine mixture of interesting oddities where paranoia seems to be lurking via formerly mentioned Big Bob Kornegay and song ‘The Man In The Phone Booth’, to intriguing moniker Pig Meat Markham and ‘Your Wires Have Been Tapped’. But it’s also the manner in which some of these songs are presented with compelling spoken word of ‘Stranded In The Jungle’ by The Jayhawks, similarly but far slicker Dr. Horse ‘Jack, That Cat Was Clean’ and fantastic storytelling by Boogaloo and His Gallant Crew with ‘Cops and Robbers’. In fact, the whole album smacks of originality from clever cutting and pasting of tracks of the era during ‘The Old Sparrow’ from Dave and Bob to genuine oddity ‘Hot Skillet Mama’ from earlier mentioned Yochanan who makes Screamin’ Jay Hawkins sound relatively normal. A fantastic album with a treasure trove of songs that will require some serious crate digging to find these gems.

Next in line of an exceptionally fine series is ‘Rock And Roll Vixens #5’. Showcasing all female talent from the 50s and early 60s, with the occasional inclusion of a surprise guest from more recent times yet sounding in line with said earlier periods, the album collection, ‘Rock And Roll Vixens’, has been an educational insight regarding blues and rhythm and blues Afro-American female musicians. Reaching #5 of this album series shows its popularity with those listening but also the wealth of talent that was present during these particular periods in music. Beginning with Dee Dee Warwick and ‘You’re No Good’ is full of vocal harmonies that drive its chugging rhythm. Similarly, the powerful tonsils of Fontella Bass keep the momentum going via excellent ‘My Good Loving’. There is more of a refined feel to the music during Hadda Brooks ‘Jump Back Honey’ with its stylish guitar licks, then leading up to sultry atmosphere of ‘Sugar Daddy’ from Priscilla Bowman. Further great highlights include the rhythm and blues of ‘Disgusted’ with Mabel Scott in determined mood. More bustling rhythm and blues follows with The Teen Queens’ ‘Rock Everybody’, The Hearts’ ‘Talk About Him, Girlie’ and Yvonne Fair & James Brown Band and song ‘I Found You’ making #5 in this series of albums just as essential as its predecessors and something that should not be missed. An important part of music’s history and the significant part African American women played in terms of blues and rhythm and blues with plenty of magical talent on display that is Rock And Roll Vixens.

Coming from the house of Rhythm Bomb Records is the debut record from the trio known as Little Hat. Despite this being a fresh line-up, Little Hat’s members including Machiel Meijers (vocals/harp), Blues Hall of Fame inductee (Netherlands) Willem Van Dullemen (guitar), and Paolo de Stigter (drums) possess enough musical nous between them to suggest the band has been active for a considerable number of years. Presenting their first album under the heading ‘Wine, Whiskey & Wimmen’ and containing a total of fourteen tracks of established and lesser-known blues songs, Little Hat get to work immediately via rockin’ blues opener ‘Clema’. It’s the rawness of Machiel Meijers’ vocal, sounding as if braised chiefly in blues music, but singed ever so slightly with the attitude of punk that immediately attracts attention and tugs at the senses, pulling you into this world of a well-worn rockin’ blues. It makes for a fantastic beginning, and one that only rises in temperature, and clearly demonstrated by the wild, swirling rock ‘n’ roll blues of ‘Cutie Named Judy’, which is considerably more accomplished than the ramshackle, yet still mightily compelling original from Jerry McCain & His Upstarts. The choice of covers reveals impeccable taste as Little Hat know a good song when they hear one and know how to move through the gears to provide variety. Maintaining the listener’s interest therefore are such examples as ‘Big John’, which performs to a strollin’, moody tempo illustrated by its use of harmonica and guitar, and then later much reflection given by way of ‘Ora Nelle Blues’ and superb guitar work. Continuing the joyous vein is the rollicking rhythm and humorous take that is ‘Gimme Me Back My Wig’, which is an audacious record given its original release date and one Little Hat give much respect to. There’s no finer place to discover a full house of raucous blues music with plenty of variation between these wilder cuts than from a modern band that sounds distinctly authentic during ‘Wine, Whiskey & Wimmen’.