Hey Cat !

Hey Cat !

Monday 22 June 2015

Mode Records !


Tennessee Valley Boys 
Mode Records - 101 - 195?
Bitter Feelings / I'm Wondering Now .




This is a 78 record I found that is not listed anywhere ! Pretty rare and all attempts have me stumped on it's history and date !
This song 'Bitter Feelings' and 'I'm Wondering Now' were both released in 1953 on two different releases on 'Demo' Records ( a anagram of 'Mode' ? ) and were straight Country songs under the name 'Larry Lee (Phillipson) and the Westerneers' . This 78 (pic above) is a Bluegrass version with very sparse instrumentation (Mandolin and Banjo) so I would estimate an earlier recording (poss 1952)
Larry Phillipson later recorded the 'Bitter Feelings' side again in 1959 and was released on the 'Cinch' label and the song was faster and in a straight Rockabilly style. 

Sun Records !


Roy Orbison and Teen Kings 
Sun Records - # 242 - 1956
Ooby Dooby / Go Go Go




Classic Sun twin spin monster from Roy! & it does exactly what it says on the tin! it rocks, it moves and it shakes! all at the same time . The session at Sun took place on the 

27 March 1956 Sun Studio, 706 Union Ave., Memphis, TN – Roy Orbison (Roy Orbison [vcl], Johnny Wilson [gt], James Morrow [mandolin], Jack Kennelly [bass]. Billy Ellis [drums])

ROY FACT - "Ooby Dooby was a song I heard at North Texas State when I met two guys there, Wade & Dick. I took their song back and recorded it.
Then I called Sam Phillips at Sun, on the advice of Johnny Cash. I told Sam that Johnny had said I might be able to get on his label. Sam Phillips replied Johnny Cash doesn't run my record label and he hung up"

Roy's first release was a 45 rpm on Jewel records # 101 it was recorded March 4, 1956 in Norman Petty's studio, Clovis, New Mexico, the A Side was 'Tryin' To Get To You' B/w 'Ooby Dooby'. That record sparked Sam Phillip's interest and 'Ooby dooby' was quickly re-recorded later in March for SUN and released with 'Go Go Go' in May 1956 as Roy Orbison And Teen Kings !

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Carl Perkins 

Sun Records # 249 - 1956

Dixie Fried / I'm Sorry, I'm Not Sorry




Dixie Fried was not the sort of single you would have expected as a release after Carl's previous hit on Sun Records but Sam Phillips went for it all the same . The dark tale of late night boozing ,Honky Tonks, Razors and bar room brawls .....not really the stuff that Mum and Dad were gonna buy  for their kids back in 1956, but this is the stuff the collectors want now, this is Rockabilly with a dark twisted edge and boy oh boy does it move ....Rave on cats !

March 1956 Sun Studio, 706 Union Ave., Memphis, TN – Carl Perkins
024 U-211 DIXIE FRIED 249
025 U-210 I'M SORRY I'M NOT SORRY 249


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Warren Smith 

Sun Records # 250 - 1956

Ubangi Stomp / Black Jack David.

In August 1956, Smith went back to the Sun Records studio to record his second release, "Ubangi Stomp". This infectious rocker had an incorrect lyric including an African chief with the syntax of a movie Indian. For the B side, Smith recorded the classic ballad "Black Jack David". This song, which originated in early 18th-century Britain and survived in various forms in the mountains of the American south, may be the oldest song ever recorded by a rock and roll performer. Although a resounding artistic success, it did not sell as well as Smith's debut.


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Ernie Chaffin

Sun Record # 262 - 1957

Feelin' Low / Lonesome For My Baby.





Ernie Chaffin for me, can be summed up in just one word .......King !
For me he was the king of Country at Sun studios, a trail blazer, a man way before his time, a truly gifted song writer and vocalist. Sam Phillips obviously saw the same in the man and released a total of four singles ( not bad for a simple Country singer in 1956/57 ) while all around him Jerry Lee, Roy Obison and Carl Perkins were rocking it up for the kids, Ernie just kept doing what he did best, quality songs that were not only catchy but were different, oozed class and are today considered classics .......these are beautiful songs and I will say it one more time ........ERNIE CHAFFIN IS .........KING !
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Ernie Chaffin

Sun Record # 275 - Aug 1957

Laughin' And Jokin' / I'm Lonesome



Ernie Chaffin again pulls a monster record from the Sun studios! Laughin' And Jokin' with it's chuggin' beat and gold crafted melody smacks you square between the eyes with a tune so ahead of it's time it's scary! A full on country rockabilly record which has style and a  performance that must have turned Sam Philips head right around!  


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Earl Peterson (Michigan's Singing Cowboy) - Sun Records # 197 - 20th  Feb 1954

A Side - Boogie Blues
B Side - In The Dark 

A masterpiece of the first fiddle boogie country bop to be released by Sun (just three months before Elvis got his 1st release) Earl lays on some yodel and inflections in his voice that show maturity and you get some sublime guitar pickin' just for good measure! Whoever is on this session were top notch musicians that's for sure! Just a few months later Earl hopped over to Columbia records and re recorded and released 'Boogie Blues' for them! but it did not have that magic that he got in Memphis and Earl I'm sure carried on singing Country until his death in 1971!





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Rhythm Rockers ( Hardrock Gunter)

Sun Records # 248 - 1956

Jukebox Help Me Find My Bay / Fiddle 

Bop.



Full name Sidney Louis Gunter Jr. Born 1925 in Birmingham, Ala. Disc jockey and performer on WWVA (Wheeling, W.Va.) in 1953-54.


In 1953, Gunter took as job as a disc jockey at WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia. The next year, while in Birmingham, Gunter cut a new version of "Gonna Dance All Night", which was leased to Sun Records. Sam Phillips was looking for an artist who could bridge the gap between R&B and pop and he may have thought that he had found just that in Hardrock Gunter (before hitting the jackpot with Elvis Presley later that year), but the Sun version (201) sold just as poorly as the Bama version of four years earlier. A second release on Sun (248) was "Jukebox Help Me Find My Baby" in 1956, credited to the Rhythm Rockers. This had originally appeared on the small Cross Country label and ran over three minutes. Phillips edited down Gunter's single to a more commercial length (2:31), but sales of the record, which had been gathering momentum prior to Phillips' involvement, ground to a screeching halt. Gunter was very dissatisfied : "Sam Phillips edited the hit out of the record. Without the novelty parts, the record fell flat." Between the two Sun singles, Gunter had recorded for King in Cincinnati. In 1957, he started his own label, Emperor Records, together with WWVA colleague Buddy Durham. He recorded several singles and an LP ("Songs They Censored In the Hills", 1958) for Emperor, but chart success continued to elude him. In 1964 he took a break from the music business to build up a career in insurance.


Jack Earl And The Jimbos 

Sun Records # 240 - 1956

Slow Down / A Fool For Lovin' You


A bop classic ! a Rockabiily tune that needs no introduction to any fan, in short this is what Sun Records is all about, this is the Sun sound and Jack is the ring master as he conducts the Jimbos in a furoius  A side in "Slow Down" and then brings them down with a skippy ballad on the flip ........just a dream records !


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Johnny Cash And Tennessee Two.

Sun Records # 258.

There You Go / Train Of Love


You wanna hear classic Johnny Cash ? then look no further than Sun # 258 .....pure Cash, you get exactle what you need, heartbreak, love, chuggin rhythm and the voice of Johnny ......unmistakeable brilliance !