Wild n Out

This is the bomb! It goes off with spectacular flair. From back at a time when it was the sax (not the guitar) that was the primary instrument in rock’n’roll, the various artists on This Is The Night: Lessons In Wild Saxophonology (Koko Mojo) run the gamut from Rosco Gordon’s “Tummer Tee,” Jimmy Tolliver’s “Hoochie Kootchie Koo” and Kansas City Jimmy’s “Cheating Woman” to Screaming Joe Neal’s “She’s My Baby,” Johnny Wright’s “Look At That Chick” and Otis Riley’s “Little Miss Bibbitty Bobbitty Boom” (highlights all). But wait, there’s more. From “Hot Tamales” by Noble Watts, “Way Out” by The Vibrators and “I’m Gonna Whale On You” by the politically incorrect Little Arthur Mathews to “Huchia Cuthia Lovin’ Man” by King Alex & The Untouchables,” these unbelievably great jump-blues and rockin’ rhythm rides will have you heaving and twitching. Scouring the depths of ‘50s and ‘60s sides (with some ‘40s thrown in too), it never fails to amaze how many poppin’ pulsating slabs of wax were made by little-known artists from long-ago and far-away. Well, here they are!

The core of the album is seven songs she wrote in the late 1980s and early ‘90s —“One Way Out,” “As Cool As You Try,” “I’m No Angel Myself,” “For the Last Time,” “Save Myself,” “That Would Be Me” and. “Wild Wild Wild.” Rounding out the set are two other previously unreleased songs, “You Have No Idea” and “Life Goes On,” recorded at an intimate and boisterous 2002 concert at the Roxy in West Hollywood. These songs bristle with energy and emotion, a rock ’n’ roll edge and personal depth as sharp as anything in her canon.

The year was 1947: World War II was over and there was music in the air, with Frank Sinatra making teenagers swoon. On other airways, primarily black radio stations, another, earthier music was being played which would become the foundation for what is now called rock & roll. Back then it was called the blues and rhythm & blues, and its voices had names like Wynonie Harris, Willie Dixon, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Among its musicians were Big Bill Broonzy, Hosea Sapp, and Thunder Smith. This CD is part of a series that chronicles the history of this music that was to have such an impact on rock & roll. This volume collects some of the great hits of 1947, when many baby boomers were born, who would go on to become the major supporters of the idiom…