Great 60's Chicago Blues!
For nearly 20 years beginning in 1959, Chicago businessman Narvel Eatmon (aka Cadillac Baby) presided over his Bea & Baby record label, by far the most enduring of his many investments, which included a nightclub, a record store, an appliance repair service, and a confectionary. Wolf Records released a 3 Cd, 64 song set from the Bea & Baby catalog. The lineup is very impressive, and reflects the original label's profile pretty well. It includes guitarists Hound Dog Taylor, Homesick James Williamson, L.G. McKinley, Robert Jr. Lockwood, and Earl Zebedee Hooker; pianists Eddie Boyd and Sunnyland Slim; blues harpists James Cotton, Carey Bell, and Little Mack Simmons; singing drummer Willie Williams; and vocalists Bobby Saxton and Andrew McMahon. (Bluesbeat)
Chicago has seen its share of resourceful entrepreneurs and colorful characters, and one who left his mark on its musical landscape was producer and nightclub owner Narvel Eatmon, professionally known as Cadillac Baby. Chiefly remembered today as the man behind Bea & Baby Records, he signed many of Chicago's top bluesmen and assembled an impressive catalog that has been reissued piecemeal since his death in 1991. Eatmon was born in Cayuga, MS on July 3, 1914, and followed the same route northward as several of the musicians he would later record. His gradual success as businessman and impresario was built upon a number of simultaneously maintained storefront operations which included an appliance repair service, a well-stocked record store, and a candy shop heated by a wood burning stove.
The crowning glories of Eatmon's little empire were Cadillac Baby's Showbar at 47th and Dearborn and the Bea & Baby record company which he founded with his wife Bea in 1959. This label, and its subsidiaries, Keyhole and Miss, steadily racked up an impressive array of titles by ROOSEVELT SYKES, JAMES COTTON, SUNNYLAND SLIM, HOMESICK JAMES, EDDIE BOYD, HOUND DOG TAYLOR, EARL HOOKER, ROBERT JR. LOCKWOOD, LITTLE MAC SIMMONS, L.G. MCKINLEY, Willie Williams, JOHNNY LITTLEJOHN, DETROIT JUNIOR, HAMMIE NIXON, Porter Kilbert, Oett "Sax" Mallard, TALL PAUL HANKINS, SLEEPY JOHN ESTES, Arlean Brown, MENARD ROGERS, WILLIE HUDSON, ANDREW MCMAHON, and pop-oriented vocal harmony groups like the Chances, the Daylighters, and Faith Taylor & the Sweet Teens. In 1960, Bea & Baby released their most successful hit: BOBBY SAXTON's "Trying to Make a Living."
Tragedy struck near the end of the '70s when a fire obliterated the record store and headquarters of the label, destroying LPs and 45s, tapes, photos, and documentation. With the help of Michael Frank, whom he'd known since 1974, Eatmon managed to continue promoting music, and during the '80s they co-produced a recording project for rapper 3D. Cadillac Baby passed away in 1991. After portions of the Bea & Baby catalog resurfaced haphazardly on a number of carelessly contrived compilations, Michael Robert Frank set out to compile and reissue Eatmon's complete legacy of great recorded music in a more orderly and comprehensive manner on his own Earwig label. Unfortunately, confusion arose in 2008 when Cadillac Records, a major motion picture dramatizing the story of Chess Records, was released to great acclaim. The irony here is almost palpable, as Vee Jay and Chess were two of Bea & Baby's biggest competitors. (Allmusic)
trax:
1. Story Telling - Cadillac Baby 2. Ruthie Baby - Willie Williams 3. Wine Headed Woman - Willie Williams 4. Sky Is Crying - Little Mack Simmons 5. Hoochie Coochie Man - Little Mack Simmons 6. Key To The Highway - Little Mack Simmons 7. Inflation Blues - Little Mack Simmons 8. Commin' Home - Eddie Boyd 9. Reap What You So - Eddie Boyd 10. What In The World - John Littlejohn 11. Can't Be Still - John Littlejohn 12. Worried About My Baby - Sunnyland Slim 13. Drinking And Clowning - Sunnyland Slim 14. Calvins - Singin' Sam 15. My Story - Singin' Sam 16. Coming Home Baby - Menard Rogers 17. Just A Little Smile - Menard Rogers 18. Hudson's Jump - Willie Hudson 19. It's You I'm Going To Miss - Willie Hudson 20. Red Lips - Tall Paul Hankins
...served by Gyro1966...
Los Straightjackets is an indie band known for their Mexican wrestling masks and their love affair with retro-surf sounds. While earlier records are playful forays into the genre, The Velvet Touch of... (their third full-length release) is the result of endless touring and the confidence that comes with it. This time out, while still reverential of the past (their music honors the greats like Dick Dale and the Ventures), they wildly color the mix, with rewarding results. From the grinding swagger of "Rockola" to the blitzkrieg of buzzing guitars in "Hornet's Nest," Velvet Touch should appeal to rock fans of all persuasions. A hint of world music drifts through tracks like "Tabouli," with its sensuous Middle-Eastern feel, and the brassy, Tex-Mex flavored "Tijuana Boots." The band brazenly turns Louis Prima's "Sing, Sing, Sing," into a swinging surfabilly number, and the Telstar-treatment of "My Heart Will Go On" (yes, from Titanic) is a showstopper, played with a keen awareness of Hollywood melodrama. (The best part is that they seem completely sincere.) This is an outstanding rock record, perfect for a dose of fun anytime. --Lorry Fleming
