| features in: Album Chart of 1955 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1950s |
Big sound, great production on Bill’s first album for Decca, although the material beyond the mega-hits is a bit patchy (I’m looking at you “A. B. C. Boogie” and “Happy Baby”). The album compiles fully the group’s first 4 singles for Decca, and opens with their major Top 10 Pop Hit “Shake, Rattle and Roll”. Bill’s gang had raided the R n B charts for inspiration in the springtime of ’54 and found Joe Turner’s single to be ripe for the plucking. Johnny Grande (piano), Billy Williamson (steel guitar), Marshall Lytle (bass), Joey Ambrose (saxophone) and Danny Cedrone (guitar) were the guys who helped Bill to make the magic happen. Tragically, just ten days after recording this, Cedrone died of a broken neck after falling down a staircase in June, 1954. The guitarist’s solo on “Rock Around the Clock”, the other main highlight on this set, was a thing of legend-making proportion, although the guitarist himself died unaware of the impact that his work would have. When it was first issued in the spring of 1954 as a B-side to “Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town)” it was considered a commercial disappointment. It was not until 1955, when “Rock Around the Clock” was used under the opening credits of the film “Blackboard Jungle”, that the song truly took off, becoming the first ever Rock n Roll song to make #1 in the mainstream pop charts, a feat it repeated on charts around the world. The song stayed at this place for eight weeks. It also hit number three on the R&B charts – a clear acceptance of the group’s credibility out-with the pop field. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1955. Go Danny Go! You too, Bill ; - )
The Jukebox Rebel
24–Sep–2015
| Tracklist |
| A1 | [02:30]  Bill Haley and his Comets - Shake, Rattle And Roll (Jesse Stone) Rock n Roll / Rockabilly |
| A2 | [02:29]  Bill Haley and his Comets - A. B. C. Boogie (Al Russel, Max Spickol) Rock n Roll / Rockabilly |
| A3 | [02:11]  Bill Haley and his Comets - (We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock (James Myers, Max Freedman) Rock n Roll / Rockabilly |
| A4 | [02:53]  Bill Haley and his Comets - Thirteen Women (And Only One Man In Town) (Dickie Thompson) Rock n Roll / Rockabilly |
| B1 | [02:31]  Bill Haley and his Comets - Dim, Dim The Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere) (Beverly Ross, Julius Dixon) Rock n Roll / Rockabilly |
| B2 | [02:36]  Bill Haley and his Comets - Happy Baby (Frank Pingatore) Rock n Roll / Rockabilly |
| B3 | [02:15]  Bill Haley and his Comets - Birth Of The Boogie (Bill Haley, Billy Williamson, Johnny Grande) Rock n Roll / Rockabilly |
| B4 | [02:38]  Bill Haley and his Comets - Mambo Rock (Bix Reichner, Jimmy Ayre, Mildred Phillips ) Rock n Roll / Rockabilly |
