Various Artists - Bad Penny Blues; Joe Meek, The Early Years (@320)

 

Various Artists - Bad Penny Blues; Joe Meek, The Early Years

 

Bad Penny Blues: Joe Meek, The Early Years Review by Steve Leggett.

 

Back before he became Britain's first successful independent record producer -- if not its quirkiest and most controversial -- Joe Meek engineered or produced countless sessions in the 1950s for established British labels, and this delightful two-disc, 62-track set chronicles that period. The variety here is quite astounding, with cuts that range from uptown blues and jazz (Shirley Bassey's "Burn My Candle") to reconstituted pop (Dennis Lotis' "Sugaree"), piano and horn romps (Humphrey Lyttelton's "Bad Penny Blues"), skiffle (Lonnie Donegan's "Cumberland Gap"), uptown folk (Peggy Seeger, Guy Carawan, and Isla Cameron's "Bring Me a Little Water Sylvie"), odd orchestral pop (Bill Shepherd's "Tequila"), and transplanted calypso (Lord Invader's "Teddy Boy Calypso"). It's a seldom-heard part of Meek's legacy, and since several of these tracks have never been released on CD before, it's also somewhat of a collectors item for serious fans of the colorful and enigmatic Meek.

 

Tracklist:

 

CD1:

 

1. Kenny Baker - Mean Dog Blues

2. Gary Miller - The Yellow Rose Of Texas

3. Betty Miller - Georgia's Got A Moon

4. Big Bill Broonzy When Do I Get To Be Called A Man?

5. Gary Miller - Robin Hood

6. Frankie Vaughan - My Boy Flat Top

7. Marion Ryan - Cry Me A River

8. Edmund Hockridge - Young And Foolish

9. Shirley Bassey - Burn My Candle Stormy Weather

10. Eric Winstone & His Orchestra - Rhythm'n'Blues

11. Dennis Lotis - Sugaree

12. Pauline Shepherd - Willie Can

13. Edmund Hockridge - No Other Love

14. Anne Shelton - Too Young To Go Steady

15. Dennis Lotis - No Other One

16. Humphrey Lyttelton & His Band - Bad Penny Blues

17. Pauline Shepherd - Treasure Of Love

18. Kenny Graham & His Satellites - Lullabye

19. Anne Shelton - Lay Down Your Arms

20. Edmund Hockridge - A Woman In Love

21. Frankie Vaughan - The Green Door

22. Gary Miller - Garden Of Eden

23. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O

24. Chris Barber's Jazz Band featuring Monty Sunshine - Petite Fleur

25. Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists - Rockin' In Rhythm

26. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Ella Speed - Live

27. Dickie Bishop with Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Precious Memories - Live

28. Eric Delaney Band - Rock'n'Roll King Cole

29. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Cumberland Gap

 

CD2:

 

1. Johnny Duncan & The Blue Grass Boys - Last Train To San Fernando

2. John Fraser - Bye Bye Love Why Don't They Understand?

3. Jimmy Miller & His Barbecues - Sizzling Hot

4. Johnny Duncan & The Blue Grass Boys - Blue, Blue Heartache

5. Peggy Seeger with Guy Carawan & Isla Cameron - Bring A Little Water, Sylvie

6. Teddy Johnson & Pearl Carr - Tomorrow, Tomorrow

7. Colin Hicks & His Cabin Boys - Wild Eyes And Tender Lips

8. Jackie Davies & His Quartet - Land Of Make Believe

9. Cleo Laine with Dave Lee - Indian Summer

10. Gary Miller - The Story Of My Life

11. Johnny Duncan & The Blue Grass Boys - If You Love Me Baby

12. Jimmy Miller & His Barbecues - Jelly Baby

13. Teddy Johnson & Pearl Carr - Sweet Elizabeth

14. Marion Ryan - Oh Oh, I'm Falling In Love Again

15. Ben Bowers with Bertie King's Royal Jamaicans - Not Me

16. Lita Roza - You're The Greatest

17. Bill Shepherd Orch - Tequila

18. Sonny Terry & Brownie Mcghee with Chris Barber's Jazz Band - Key To The Highway

19. Ottilie Patterson with Chris Barber's Jazz Band - Georgia Grind - Live

20. Mr Acker Bilk's Paramount Jazz Band - Travelling Blues

21. The Mighty Terror & His Calypsonians - T.V. Calypso

22. Rockin' Red Price - Weekend

23. Mike Preston - Why, Why, Why Whispering Grass

24. Cherry Wainer - Valencia

25. Lita Roza - I've Got My Eyes On You

26. Lord Invader & His Calypso Rhythm Boys - Teddy Boy Calypso

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