So when did Rock And Roll actually begin? There are more
than a few answers. Every couple of years someone comes up with a new discovery
that seems to prove that some one-hit wonder was actually the first example of
primal rock. It seems clear that it happened somewhere between the late 1940’s
and the mid-1950’s, and, fueled by the excitement of artists like Chuck Berry,
Little Richard and Elvis Presley, became recognizable as its own genre with a
growing worldwide following somewhere in the mid-50’s. The very wide-ranging
nature of that answer shows that there was no single song or artist who can
take full credit, but rather that there was a gradual shift in sound and
subject matter toward what we now understand as the ocean of Rock. The streams
that ran into that ocean came from all over the place (regionalism) and
represented a number of genres; Pop, R&B, Blues, Country, Jazz. Each of
these genres had a number of artists who sounded like they were on the verge of
breaking out and rocking! Slim Harpo (James Moore), was one such artist.
Skirting the line between R&B and Blues in the late 1950’s, he is an
excellent example of an artist breaking down the walls of expectation and
creating something new.
Influenced himself by the urban blues stylings of Jimmy
Reed, Harpo took the electric guitar and lead harmonica style into the
stratosphere with the addition of his laconic, pinched vocals, reverb drenched
guitar solos (usually courtesy of Guitar Gable, Rudolph Richard or Jimmy
Johnson), and unfailing turn of a clever phrase. This 2 CD set contains all his
singles (A&B sides). Every cut he recorded was worth hearing, but this set
really covers the meat of his best material. And oh man is the good stuff good!
I guess there’s an argument to be made that you could start and end with the
first single and its fabulous flip. “I’m A King Bee / I Got Love If You Want It.”
In these two songs, one can clearly hear what must have grabbed Lennon, Page,
Jagger and Richards by their ears. Both songs have an almost alien-sounding
vocal and guitar paired with a string of sophisticated yet suggestive amorous
overtures which have become part of popular lexicon ever since. Think about
that accomplishment alone - writing multiple songs that, 60 years later, are
part of modern consciousness. The recordings themselves are that classic
“stacked” sound of late 50’s recordings. The vocal, guitar and harmonica are
directly in your face, while keyboards, bass and drums churn below, striving
for attention. Occasionally an organ fill, slapping snare or tambourine rise to
the surface, but for the most part the backing is like the ocean lapping on the
shore. That lopsided sound is what gave so many of these early R&B singles
such an exciting and dramatic feel. Harpo’s voice was already an amazing
instrument, but when it is coming at you, claustrophobically on top of the mix,
like a torpedo in a bathtub, you have to pay attention.
Harpo continued to release strong and distinctive singles
for the next few years, which were all eclipsed by his 1960 hit single (even
though it was originally the B-side) “Rainin’ In My Heart.” A melancholy
masterpiece, it lives in a stylistic world of its own - floating somewhere
between a country ballad and an R&B torch song. It is soaked in echoey guitar,
a rolling rhythm section and Harpo’s world-weary vocal. A great song if there
ever was one.
Harpo left Excello for a brief period in 1965 but returned
later that year for another burst of fantastic late-career singles. “Baby Scratch
My Back,” “Shake Your Hips,” “Tip On In (parts 1 & 2)” and the irresistible
“Te-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu” are all classics of the style that Slim Harpo shared with
almost nobody else. The insistent rhythm of “Baby Scratch My Back” and “Shake
Your Hips” find Harpo now clearly making Rock And Roll, or rather defining what
that term would mean for The Rolling Stones and many others. It is insidious
and more than a little dangerous. It also has a cool, slinky tempo that defines
the restraint that Rock would start to develop as it matured. So, Slim Harpo
not only helped define the original sound of Rock, he predicted where it would
go in the future. Slim Harpo The Excello
Singles Anthology belongs in the collection of any serious student of
modern music and anyone who likes cuttin’ a rug.
-
Paul
Epstein
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