Jasmine Black

With Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and even some R&B acts like Little Richard and Fats Domino gaining popularity it was obvious that Britain could no longer rely on ageing pop singers to service the rock and roll audience and the search for home grown talent began. This excellent 2CD set from Jasmine turns the spotlight onto some of the lesser known rock and roll acts that surfaced on our shores. Although Tommy Steele can't quite be labelled as unsung, he was the first teenage star to perform rock and roll and scored the first home grown hit with the original song "Rock With The Caveman". The journey rocks on with, Terry Dene's cracking "Baby She's Gone", Wee Willie Harris's "Riot in Cell Block No 9", Dickie Pride's "Slippin N Slidin" and Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac" which is a candidate for the UK's greatest rock and roll record.

His highly distinctive trumpet playing and his remarkable achievements as one of the chief architects of New Orleans R&B during the late '40s and early '50s as a producer (notably of Fats Domino) and his prolific song writing attracted a considerable amount of attention. However what is often neglected when discussing his career are his own recordings and this 2CD set from Jasmine attempts to collect together all of these recordings for Imperial records between 1950 and 1962.

During the latter half of the '80s a new breed of guitar-orientated bands began to emerge in the UK - armed with an overt pop song craft sensibility, and enamoured with a conflicting post-punk spirit and adoration of the '60s, many of these unlikely acts - all anoraks, Dr Martens and charity shop chic - would go on to become Top 40 regulars and set the tone for music beyond these shores, culminating in 'The Stone Roses', an album that defined a generation. 'Cut Me Deep' - named for a Jasmine Minks track which captured that spirit - presents a snapshot of that time and place, via essential independent labels such as Creation, Sarah Records and 4AD, and their major backed counterparts in Blanco Y Negro et al, alongside distribution via Rough Trade and other like-minded outlets. With an electric guitar in hand (no Stratocasters here please), and resplendent in clothes as immaculately and cheaply curated as their record collections, a new generation of British musicians kickstarted what would become the only credible challenge to the increasingly dominant synthesiser pop scene of the late 1980's.

At the start of his career, Cliff Richard was an out and out Rock & Roller, as these early recordings confirm, and indeed his first disc, 'Move It', is universally acknowledged as the UK's finest ever Rock & Roll record. This superb compilation features Cliff's first six singles, his first two LPs, his first two EPs, rarities recorded for the legendary TV show 'Oh Boy!' (which are also available on Jasmine CD (JASCD523) and a handful of sides by his renowned backing group, The Drifters/Shadows. Included are his first UK No 1s "Living Doll" and "Travelling Light", both of which were also million sellers. Full and in-depth sleeve notes across an 8 page booklet including recording dates make this a great collectors piece!