Ella Mae Morse & Freddie Slack – Rockin' Brew 1942-1954 (rec) 1969 (comp)****

I found this LP in the bargain bin of my local record store. I wasn’t familiar with either Ella Mae Morse or Freddie Slack, but I did recognize several titles. Songs like “The House of Blue Lights,” “Money Honey,” and “Down the Road a Piece” are now rock’n’roll standards—I have versions by artists like Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, and Flamin' Groovies in my collection. These recordings, however, predate all of those covers—and even predate rock and roll itself. Despite the 1960s aesthetic of the sleeve, most of the tracks were originally released on 78 RPM records in the 1940s and early ’50s. The earliest, “Cow Cow Boogie” (1942), features a 17-year-old Ella Mae Morse backed by the Freddie Slack Orchestra. Slack, a pianist who had previously played with Jimmy Dorsey, appears on many of the recordings here, though not all. Although they are not credited on the album cover, some of the later tracks actually feature Big Dave's Orchestra rather than Slack's. Throughout the records one encounters country influences (e.g. "Cow Cow Boogie"), pop ballads (e.g. "I Love You, Yes I Do"), big band instrumentals ("Strange Cargo") and straight blues (e.g. "Buzz Me"). At its core though, this is danceable jazz music driven by rolling boogie-woogie piano. You could call it jump blues or boogie-woogie, but it often comes strikingly close to what would soon be labeled rock and roll. Tracks like “House of Blue Lights” (a 1945 Freddie Slack original) and “Down the Road a Piece” feature playful spoken interludes in ’40s hipster slang. "Money Honey" by Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters topped the R&B charts in 1953;  Ella Mae picked it right up, way before Elvis and the rest did. Interestingly, she was among the first white singers to appear on the “race records” (a category later renamed "R&B") charts: since radio listeners are oblivious to musicians' skin color, her music often crossed over more successfully with black than white audiences. She retired from recording in 1957, just as rock and roll was taking off. Despite considerable success in her time—according to the liner notes, her biggest seller “Blacksmith Blues” (1951) sold a million copies—she is not widely remembered today. There have nevertheless been a few reissues of her early work; this particular LP was released in 1969 by Specialty Records in the UK, as Capitol Records retained the rights in the United States. On, apparently, "Stereo Enhanced Mono" but also "playable on monaural gramophones". By now, of course, these recordings are -in Europe, at least- copyright free, so there are also some recent cheap CD reissues of her music available.

**** for Mister Five By Five, Blacksmith Blues, Pig Foot Pete, The House Of Blue Lights, Money Honey, Down The Road A Piece, Get Off It And Go, Have Mercy Baby, Cow Cow Boogie, Buzz Me

*** for Rock Me All Night Long, 40 Cups Of Coffee, Strange Cargo, I Love You Yes I Do

The Green Pajamas "This Is Where We Disappear" 2001****

Coincidentally, a few weeks ago I wrote about The Green Pajamas in a post on a Paisley Underground anthology box set—and thanks to random selection, here they are again. That compilation featured their early cult favorite “Kim the Waitress”; this time, we get “The Waitress at the Old White Lion.” (Really, does Jeff Kelly have some kind of waitress fixation?) This track is a tender ballad, built on gently strummed acoustic guitar, piano, and soft female backing vocals. It recalls early Pink Floyd pieces like “If” and “Green Is the Colour.” That same ’60s-tinged acoustic vibe runs through “Softly, Elizabeth,” “Would You Even Say Hello,” and “Spinning Away,” while “French to Japanese” adds a dash of McCartney-style pop charm with its old-fashioned jazzy piano. The lyrics, as in the excellent “Moorland Ghost,” often draw on the Gothic supernatural fiction of Wilkie Collins and Edgar Allan Poe, while musically the album leans toward British acid folk. It nevertheless doesn’t stay in that pastoral mode for long. Much of it expands into fuller arrangements that nudge things toward ’90s alternative rock—not grunge, but something closer to fellow Seattleites The Walkabouts. Drums and fuzzed-out bass and electric guitar appear often, most notably on the upbeat title track and garage rocker “Matilda,” while “Something’s Gone Wrong” even flirts with funk, complete with soulful bass and horns. “Downslide” stands out as an outlier: with Laura Weller’s vocals and electric guitar at the forefront, it resembles the goth/shoegaze sound of The Cranes. Elsewhere, “Sweet 16” plays it relatively straight as a pop tune, “Sweet Moth/36 Envelopes” drifts into darker territory, and “The Wave (It’s Becoming Very Clear)” closes things out with a neat trick—revisiting the opening lyrics but swapping fuzz guitars for something grander and more orchestral. The CD booklet includes enchanting original artwork by Susanne Kelly (the singer’s wife), along with lyrics and medieval woodcut prints. All in all, this is one of the most accessible albums from the incredibly prolific Jeff Kelly. By blending Paisley Underground neo-psychedelia with his fascination for Elizabethan folk and Gothic literature, he has carved out a distinctive, idiosyncratic style—one that should appeal to fans of Peter Hammill, Robyn Hitchcock, or Paul Roland.

**** for This Is Where We Disappear, Softly Elizabeth, The Moorland Ghost, French To Japanese, Matilda, Something's Gone Wrong, Spinning Away, Sweet Moth / 36 Envelopes, Downslide, The Wave (It's Becoming Very Clear)

*** for Secret Circle, Would You Even Say Hello, The Waitress At The Old White Lion, Sweet 16, Wild Desire