MOJO WORKHIG! THE UK R&B EXPLOSION!
THE VARDBIRDS MANFRED MANN CENO WASHINGTON BLUES INCORPORATED & MORE
“MANIC ACCELERANDO,” IS WHAT THE YARDBIRDS’ FIRST manager, Giorgio Gomelsky, called it; the rave-up, the way his protean band would bend rhythm’n’blues into radical new shapes. As The Yardbirds blazed a trail across London – from Eel Pie Island to the Crawdaddy Club, from Studio 51 to the Marquee – their sound got wilder and more untethered from its roots.
They were not, of course, alone. MOJO Working!: The UK R&B Explosion! captures a crucial mid-’60s moment, as a generation of blues scholars, dashing young Mods and garage rock tyros let rip.
It’s the sound of the British beat boom becoming louder, feistier, crazier, manifesting a proto-punk spirit before psychedelia sent bands off on a very different freak-out. Future legends are here in putative form – not least Eric Clapton, setting Chuck Berry’s Too Much Monkey Business on fire. But these 15 tracks also contain scene godfathers like Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner, alongside bands whose careers were much shorter, if no less incendiary. “We really whipped up the audience,” remembers Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty – and now you can bring that frenzy back home.
1 TIE BETTERDAYS DON’T WANT THAT
The West Country’s punchy answer to the Stones, The Betterdays’ own website notes how they were “banned for playing ‘unusual’ music from Plymouth’s ballrooms”. The quintet – originally known as the Saints Beat Combo – chose not to relocate to London, but did release this one superb single in 1965, before re-forming in the 1990s. A garage rock nugget, ripe for rediscovery.
Written by Pitcher. Publisher – Copyright Control 1965 The Betterdays ISRC Code – GBBLY2200686 Licensed courtesy of Cherry Red Records Ltd.
2 MANFRED MANN BRING IT TO JEROME
The sometime Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers were already pop stars by the time their debut album, The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann, landed in 1964. No hit singles like 5-4-3-2-1 featured on it, though, with the emphasis on tougher, groovier covers – like this pulsating take on a 1955 Bo Diddley B-side.
Written by Jerome Green and published by Arc Music Corp/Tristan Music Ltd 1964 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by East Central One Limited. ISRC: GBAYE6400633. www. eastcentralone.com
3 SCREAMING LORD SUTCH fi THE SAVAGES
A standby of British R&B repertoires, this 1965 version of Train Kept A-Rollin’ comes from rock’n’roll eccentric Lord Sutch, taking a break from horror-fare such as Jack The Ripper – and from his attempts at a political career leading the Official Monster
