We’re taking a shortcut on our Rockabilly ramble – there is a reason why we have just five records for you this week but it is a bit of a long story and not interesting. The Phaetons, however, are interesting, as are phaetons so we’ll investigate how Rock ‘n’ Roll, motoring fashion and Greek mythology overlap…
Johnny T Talley – (I’ve Changed My) Wild Mind / Lonesome Train – Mercury
Johnny T began his musical career in the early 50s and moved into writing and management in the late 50s before disappearing. He was a country artist and probably would call his recordings country but with wonderful country vocal and boppin’ guitar backing both sides of this one are pure Rockabilly. Wild Mind is taken at mid-tempo and the flip side is a slower-paced bop. On both sides, Johnny exudes loneliness as he tells how he left his girl, regretted it and after failing to get her back he had to take a sad train out of town. The word classic gets thrown around a lot but this one really deserves that tag. Both sides of this 45 were included on the 1975 UK Phillips album Mercury Rockabilly and so has been one of the great known tracks for practically all the time the Rockabilly scene has been around. With most of the great Mercury Rockabilly there is a Starday connection but there does not seem to be one here.
(I’ve Changed My) Wild Mind
Lonesome Train
Lloyd Mccollough – Gonna Love My Baby / ‘Cause I Love You – Republic
Oh dear, we have to use the word classic again. These tracks were not heard at the beginning of the Rockabilly movement unless you were one of the most in-the-know collectors, but as soon as they were reissued they blew away everyone who heard them. Two 1956 Tennessee sides that the words ‘primitive’ and ‘raw’ could have been coined for. Lloyd was not a Country boy straying into Rockabilly by chance, and he went on to record great Rock ‘n’ Roll under the name Lloyd Arnold and was later the frontman for the band the Long Hairs. There is a ton of info about Lloyd online so if you are interested you can find and read the interviews and see the cool pictures of him in action.
Gonna Love My Baby
‘Cause I Love You
Tommy Scott – Cat Music / Dig Me Little Mama – 4-Star 45
Tommy was a Country boy who moved into Rockabilly but not by accident. When he recorded these two sides in 1955 he had already been a professional musician for over 20 years, working on the medicine show trail at the head of the Tommy Scott Road Show. The fact he recorded the self-penned title Rockin’ and Rollin’ in 1951, shows how aware he was of the musical changes around. When he recorded these sides the new music was taking the Country world by storm and whilst some wished it away Tommy embraced it. The style that would later be dubbed Rockabilly did not really have a name at the time but one of the terms used for it was Cat Music. Tommy’s discs were recorded before Elvis hit the big time and retain some of the more Western styles that would later be lost as they became more and more Rock ‘n’ Roll. With a rollickin’ Country rhythm and teenage hep cat themes, this is a fabulous early Rockabilly two-sider.
Cat Music
Dig Me Little Mama
Harold Shulters – Rock And Roll Mister Moon / Baby Fan The Flame – Goldenrod
Harold Shulters (aka Harold Shutters) and later Don Ellis released seven 45s between 1956 and 1961 and there is not a duff one amongst them. This is the first of the run and is a primitive Rock ‘n’ Roll monster – two sides of kids doing their rough best and creating a wonderful noise. For us, we think Baby Fan The Flame edges it but both sides are brilliant. Although you remember what we said about Rockabilly not being dubbed as such on the above? Well, the Billboard issue of 22nd December 1956 said this about this 45; ‘Rockabilly side. The singer has good quality but disk has not been recorded well. (The flip?) Same type of material. Same comment.’
Rock And Roll Mister Moon
Baby Fan The Flame
The Phaetons – I Love My Baby / As You Know – Vin 45
We haven’t described anything as a storming rocker yet this week so that honour goes to this 1959 blaster. Another early scene favourite as it was reissued by Ace records in 1979. It fakes you out with a light opening then tears up the rule book as every instrument seems to take lead along with the singer. And instead of being a mess, it is fabulous. The flip does not grab us. This 45 also got a review in Billboard, 15th July 1959; ‘Singer takes off on a moving rocker that he belts out to good effect. Fine side with dual market appeal. (and the flip) Soulful sounds by the unbilled lead on the pounding rockaballad is given strong backing by the combo.’ We are surprised at the ‘soulful’ description and ‘rockaballad’, we really thought that term was recently coined. You will have guessed we have no info on the band and, to tell the truth, until embarrassingly recently we called the band The Phantoms. Apparently, phaeton is some kind of car…
I Love My Baby
FUN FACT: What are phaetons?
A phaeton (also phaéton) was a form of sporty open carriage popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Drawn by one or two horses, a phaeton typically featured a minimal very lightly sprung body atop four extravagantly large wheels. With open seating, it was both fast and dangerous, giving rise to its name, drawn from the mythical Phaëthon, son of Helios, who nearly set the Earth on fire while attempting to drive the chariot of the Sun. With the advent of the automobile, the term was adopted to refer to open touring cars referred to as phaeton-bodied.
So phaetons were ‘fast and dangerous’, we can see why a Rock ‘n’ Roll band would like that association. And as for Phaëthon almost setting the world on fire, well we know a few hot rodders whose welding is similarly risky…
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