Spins: Carl Perkins • Dance Album of Carl Perkins LP reissue
Carl Perkins
Dance Album of Carl Perkins LP reissue
(Intervention)
All one has to do is utter the words “one for the money,” and practically any fan of pop music history can fill in the rest. This collection of genre-defining rockabilly and formative rock ‘n’ roll classics was first released in 1958 and is now available as a vinyl LP for the first time in at least 40 years.
Carl Perkins earned and deserved his own status as a headlining attraction, but it didn’t hurt that his songs raced up the charts and appeared on albums by the most prominent artists of their day – or any day. Dance Album of Carl Perkins leads with rockabilly standard “Blue Suede Shoes,” which was first released in early 1956 as a single for Memphis-based Sun Records. After waiting for Perkins’ own version to gradually cool from its #2 position in the charts, Elvis Presley’s version arrived as the lead track on his self-titled debut album for RCA. Versions of this set’s tracks, including Rex Griffin’s “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby,” piano rocker “Matchbox,” and “Blue Suede Shoes” B-side boogie “Honey Don’t,” were all released by the Beatles during the Beatlemania frenzy of 1964. “Honey Don’t” was the first of Perkins’ songs to be recorded by the Beatles with a lead vocal by Ringo Starr, appearing on 1964’s Beatles for Sale. “Matchbox” soon followed, recorded by the Fab Four with Perkins in attendance at the session. Both songs continue to appear in set lists by Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. The closing track, “Boppin’ the Blues,” has been covered across the decades by artists including Ricky Nelson and Brian Setzer. Johnny Cash and Chris Isaak have performed other Perkins originals in this set.
It’s a testament to Perkins’ towering influence that his own versions are fully recognizable in the Presley, Beatles, and other artists’ versions that followed. Furthermore, it’s notable that album and session tracks of every song on the Dance Album of Carl Perkins, but The Platters’ starlit crooner “Only You” were recorded by the Beatles.
During the jangling honky-tonk shuffler “Movie Magg,” Perkins’s farmboy character pleads with his sweetheart to leave her home for a date at the movie theater so he can avoid a protective father with a “double-barrel behind the door.” “Sure to Fall” is amorous country-pop a la Hank Williams. “Well, that must be my gal, yours don’t look like that,” sings Perkins slyly at the top of the reverb-laden “Gone, Gone, Gone.” The song’s fusion of Nashville country, heartland folk, blues, urban R&B, and pop was as fresh as Perkins’ imagination upon its original release. Jerry Lee Lewis provides the barrelhouse piano to Perkins’ sped-up vocal on “Your True Love” and the aforementioned “Matchbox.” Perkins’ younger brother, Clayton, plays thumping slap bass on Piano Red’s “Right String but the Wrong Yo-Yo,” while Carl himself delivers the influential style of piping-hot lead guitar that colors the bulk of these songs. Older brother Jay Perkins is heard on acoustic guitar and background vocals throughout the songs, including “Tennessee,” an ode to the Perkins’ home state and country music hub. The song also includes a call-out for the state’s role in the development of the atomic bomb. Presumably, at the time of release, a nation of radio-obsessed kids was proud knowing that the weapon had signaled the end of World War II and was years away from the grip of Cold War paranoia.
The new pressing of the Dance Album of Carl Perkins was meticulously assembled from original 7″ single monophonic tapes and arrives on heavyweight vinyl cut at 45RPM for superior sonic fidelity. The restored cover artwork is faithful to the original, down to the inclusion of Johnny Cash’s co-write “All Mama’s Children” – a B-side to “Boppin’ the Blues” that was never included on the album. Sun Records archivist Colin Escott provides liner notes that put the cultural importance of these songs in perspective. This set retains its joyful swagger and sensation-creating spark, 70 years following the release of “Blue Suede Shoes.” (interventionrecords.com)
9 of 10
– Jeff Elbel
