VA - Unlock The Lock: The Kent Records Story 1958-1962, Vol. 1

Size: 328 MB
Time: 129:07
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Blues, R&B
Art: Full

CD 1:
01. B.B. King - Why Do Everything Happen To Me (2:52)
02. Danny Boy - All Of Me (2:34)
03. The Barker Brothers - Hey Little Mama (2:10)
04. Etta James - Baby, Baby Every Night (2:24)
05. Don Cole - Sweet Lovin' Honey (1:48)
06. Flash Terry & His Orchestra - On My Way Back Home (2:42)
07. Lee Denson - Devil Doll (2:03)
08. Sonny Knight - Madness (2:44)
09. Van Robinson - Basis Of Rock 'n' Roll (2:30)
10. Chuck Tequila' Rio - Bye Bye Baby (2:01)
11. Artie Wilson - That's My Baby (2:15)
12. Floyd Dixon & His Orchestra - Dance The Thing (2:39)
13. B.B. King - Please Accept My Love (2:37)
14. Jesse James - Red Hot Rockin' Blues (2:20)
15. Betty & Dupree - If It Ain't One Thing (2:19)
16. Van Robinson - You You You (2:42)
17. Jesse James - South's Gonna Rise Again (1:54)
18. B.B. King - Worry Worry (2:58)
19. The Senders - The Ballad Of Stagger Lee (3:19)
20. Hadda Brooks - The Thrill Is Gone (4:46)
21. B.B. King - The Fool (2:39)
22. The Senders - Everybody Needs To Know (2:23)
23. Jesse Belvin - (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons (2:15)
24. B.B. King - Mean Ole Frisco (2:29)

CD 2:
01. B.B. King - Sweet Sixteen Parts 1 & 2 (6:13)
02. Jimmy Witherspoon - Your Cheating Heart (2:55)
03. Jimmy Nelson - Unlock The Lock (2:43)
04. B.B. King - Good Man Gone Bad (2:48)
05. Hadda Brooks - Tomorrow Night (2:48)
06. B.B. King - You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now (3:27)
07. Charlie Owens & The Sensational Ink Spots - Diane (3:36)
08. Tony Allen & The Wanderers - If Love Was Money (2:02)
09. B.B. King - Bad Case Of Love (2:23)
10. Billy Ray - Texas Queen (3:15)
11. Tony Allen & Group - Dreamin' (2:41)
12. Joe Houston - Doing The Twist (2:39)
13. Little Joe Hinton - Get In The Car (2:37)
14. Etta James - Crazy Feeling Aka Do Something Crazy (3:20)
15. Little Joe Hinton - The Whip Twist (2:33)
16. Pat Hunt - Goodnight My Love (2:28)
17. Teddy Reynolds - Do You Wanna Twist (2:06)
18. Billy Ray - Playboy (2:25)
19. The Classicals - Camel Caravan (2:32)
20. Hal Davis - Without You (2:03)
21. Bobby 'Blue' Bland & Ike Turner And His Orchestra - Love You Baby (2:25)
22. The Newports - The Wonder Of Love (2:09)
23. Bobby Sanders - Maybe I'm Wrong (2:25)
24. B.B. King - Mashing The Popeye (2:49)

The Bihari Brothers obtained the rights to Kent Records from Lee Silver in 1954 -- Silver never released more than two singles on the imprint -- but didn't turn it into their primary concern until 1958, when they shuttered RPM and Modern. The brothers turned to Kent as a way to shed their roster, but they kept their biggest stars, B.B. King, Etta James, and Jesse Belvin. Within a year or so, James and Belvin defected to other labels, leaving King the big man at Kent. Ace's 2015 Unlock the Lock: The Kent Records Story, Vol. 1 chronicles these early years, running from 1958 to 1962 in the form of a 48-track, double-disc set where 30 cuts make their CD debut (14 of these, mostly alternate takes of well-circulated material, see their first-ever release here). Ten of these cuts belong to King, and he's often the touchstone for the jumping blues and rhythm that make up the rest of the collection: it's robust, rocking R&B and blues that walk the crossover line. There are several attempts to ride the Twist bandwagon -- Joe Houston is "Doing the Twist," Little Joe Hinton attempts "The Whip Twist," Teddy Reynolds tries "Do You Wanna Twist," and King gets into the game with "Mashing the Popeye" -- and there are also hints of string-saturated pop (Pat Hunt's "Goodnight My Love"), plus a bit of wild rockabilly (the Barker Brothers' "Hey Little Mama" is an anomaly but Jesse James' rampaging "South's Gonna Rise Again" kicks, carving a niche between R&B and rock & roll). Generally, though, Unlock the Lock finds a comfortable place between uptown R&B and juke joint blues, proof that as the '50s became the '60s, R&B records started getting wilder and sillier as they tried to find their way onto the charts. ~Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Unlock The Lock MP3
Unlock The Lock FLAC

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Joe Houston & Otis Grand - The Return Of Honk! (2016 Remix)

Size: 136,1 MB
Time: 58:31
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2016
Styles: Sax Blues, Modern Electric Blues, Jump Blues
Art: Front

01. The Return Of Honk (2016 Remix) (6:12)
02. Camilla's Hop (2016 Remix) (4:08)
03. Mama Don't (2016 Remix) (8:24)
04. Fruit Boots (2016 Remix) (4:48)
05. Big Legged Woman (2016 Remix) (7:32)
06. They Killed Crazy Horse (2016 Remix) (3:35)
07. Castle Rock (2016 Remix) (7:16)
08. Why Oh Why (2016 Remix) (4:24)
09. Blues For T-Bone (2016 Remix) (8:08)
10. Down But Not Out (2016 Remix) (4:00)

Otis Grand had hoped to record with Joe Houston - arguably the first and the last of the bootin' saxmen - for years. Now his dream was realised.

After playing in his native Texas, Texas, Joe was recruited to the Chicago band of King Kolax. He stayed "For about three years; they played the hits of the day, they played the Blues too". After this, he played with Ray Charles and toured with Gatemouth Moore before returning to Texas. In 1952 he moved to California, then a mecca for storming sax-led R&B. There he earned such aliases as Mighty Joe Houston and 'The Wildman Of The Tenor Sax'.

Live work continued, but not recording. This CD was Joe's first in sixteen years. Joe sparked off his sidemen: "Otis is a wonderful person, I enjoyed working with him and ...some wonderful British people and one American on drums - he's a good drummer, really helped the record 100%."

Otis singled out another musician for praise: "Ray Gelato was brilliant".

For Ray Gelato, the session had a special significance; the first sax album he bought was by Joe Houston!

The Return Of Honk!

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Otis Grand - The Blues Sessions 1990-1994

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 1997
Styles: Blues
Time: 63:14
Size: 145,7 MB
Art: Full

Phillip Walker - guitar & vocals (tracks 1-3)
Joe Houston - tenor saxophone & vocals (tracks 4-6)
Guitar Shorty - guitar & vocals (tracks 7-8)
Jimmy T-99 Nelson - vocals (tracks 9-10)
Rosco Gordon - piano & vocals (tracks 11-13)

(4:12) 1. Beatrice, Beatrice
(3:45) 2. Young Devil
(3:03) 3. Insomnia
(3:34) 4. They Killed Crazy Horse
(4:27) 5. Why Oh Why
(8:11) 6. Blues for T-Bone
(5:22) 7. Down Through the Years
(5:17) 8. No Educated Woman
(4:36) 9. Chains of Love
(4:51) 10. Jimmy's Jump Medley
(3:42) 11. Cheese & Crackers
(6:46) 12. I'm the One
(5:21) 13. Sit Right Here

This album contains studio & live songs, recorded between 1990 and 1994 with Otis Grand as an accompanist for Philip Walker, Joe Houston, Guitar Shorty, Jimmy 'T-99' Nelson and Rosco Gordon (live). The sessions on which Otis Grand has participated have all been critically acclaimed. Otis is a perfectionist, constantly striving to improve, to move onward and upward, so he welcomed the chance to work again on some of the previously issued tracks.

The Blues Sessions 1990-1994
The Blues Sessions 1990-1994 artwork

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Various - Dootone Rock 'n' Rhythm & Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:29
Size: 163.7 MB
Styles: R&B/Soul/Blues
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[2:28] 1. Roy Milton - Baby I'm Gone
[2:46] 2. Roy Milton - Cry Some Baby
[2:44] 3. Roy Milton - Fools Are Getting Scarcer
[2:55] 4. Roy Milton - I Can't Go On
[2:06] 5. Roy Milton - You Got Me Reeling And Rocking
[2:37] 6. Roy Milton - Nothing Left
[2:19] 7. Mickey Champion & The Roy Milton Orchestra - Bam-A-Lam
[2:29] 8. Mickey Champion & The Roy Milton Orchestra - I'm A Woman
[2:56] 9. Roy Milton - I Never Would Have Made It
[2:49] 10. Roy Milton - I Want To Go Home
[2:29] 11. Lorenzo Holden - Groovy Boogie
[3:10] 12. Lorenzo Holden - Just Blues
[2:39] 13. Helen Humes - Woojamacooja
[2:38] 14. Helen Humes - All I Ask Is Your Love
[2:12] 15. Helen Humes - Real Fine Daddy
[2:51] 16. Helen Humes - I'll Surrender Anytime
[2:23] 17. Chuck Higgins & His Band - The Itch
[2:30] 18. Chuck Higgins - Looking For My Baby
[2:18] 19. Chuck Higgins - Wet Back Hop
[2:24] 20. Chuck Higgins - Tonky Honk
[2:51] 21. Chuck Higgins - Don't You Know I Love You Baby
[2:05] 22. Chuck Higgins - Hey Dig
[2:05] 23. Chuck Higgins - Here I'm Is
[2:26] 24. Chuck Higgins & His Band - Gamblin' Woman
[2:13] 25. Chuck Higgins - Eye Ballin'
[2:58] 26. Claude Mclin - So Fine
[2:18] 27. Claude Mclin - You're Lookin' Good
[2:36] 28. Joe Houston - Shindig

Think about the Dootone label. Chances are, you'll initially think about the great group records that 'label prexy' - as the trade mags used to say - Dootsie Williams cut and issued (or sometimes didn't issue) in the label's decade-plus of active life. Not too surprising really, especially when you review a roster that, during its life span, included the Penguins, Medallions, Calvanes, Cuff Links and Meadowlarks, and recordings that include such doo wop perennials as Heaven And Paradise, Hey Senorita, Buick '59 and Earth Angel... But to regard these magnificent groups, and their equally magnificent recordings, as the be-all and end-all of Dootone is to do the rest of the label's output a terrible disservice. Dootsie Williams also recorded lots of classy West Coast blues, raucous honkers, cool South Central cocktail grooves and a copious quantity of riotous R&B rockers. And all this without taking into account a vast trench of "Party Records" by the late African-American comic Redd Foxx - which, as the saying goes, is another story...

Stalwart Ace aficionados have been hoping for this set for a long time. I'm happy to tell 'em that the wait was worth it. Dootone R&B is yet another valuable addition to Ace's ongoing documentation and preservation of California-created Rhythm And Blues. Hey Dig this Groovy Boogie from Dootsie's tape booty. It's So Fine, You'd Surrender Anytime. Quit Eye Ballin' and start Shindiggin'... ~ Tony Rounce

Dootone Rock 'n' Rhythm & Blues mc
Dootone Rock 'n' Rhythm & Blues zippy

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Joe Houston - The Blues & Nothin' Else

Size: 157,4 MB
Time: 67:50
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1996
Styles: Modern Electric Blues
Art: Full

01. I Wanna Party (5:32)
02. Juice Head Baby (6:25)
03. When Your Left Eye Jump (4:44)
04. How Many More Years (6:30)
05. You've Found Somebody New (7:22)
06. Flip Flop And Fly (5:32)
07. The Red Rooster (7:22)
08. Barefootin' (4:41)
09. Sad And Blue (5:49)
10. Honey And Hush (5:25)
11. Full Of Misery (8:25)

Of all the honkers who worked the table tops out on the West Coast, one of the very best was "Big" Joe Houston. Able to jump from big band to small combo blues and R&B with consummate ease, Houston was one of the first to test the waters of the newly emerging style that would become known as rock & roll. Cutting one brilliant single after another for a variety of labels -- and seeing his early work among the first to be anthologized on a myriad of budget label albums -- Houston was the California version of the tenor men who honked and walked the bars in the Big Apple, often outdoing his New York contemporaries with sides of fervent blasting that could not be denied. Fortunately for us, that fervent blasting is alive and well and beating right alongside Houston's big heart on this, his first new album in a good number of years. The most notable fact is that Houston is singing on everything, relegating his tenor work to no more than a couple of choruses on each tune, framing it in proper perspective as another soloist in the very rockin' band that backs him here. The really good news is that Houston's voice is every bit as rough-hewn as his sax playing, making you wonder why it took this long to get it properly documented on record. The final track lets you know that the man still has it and really isn't rationing anything; the set closer, "Full of Misery," is eight-minutes-and-twenty-five seconds of Houston making a rarely heard appearance on alto sax, playing the blues all by his lonesome, and making it sound oh so sweet. ~Review by Cub Koda

The Blues & Nothin' Else

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Joe Houston & Otis Grand - The Return Of Honk!

Size: 125,6 MB
Time: 54:05
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1994
Styles: Sax Blues, Modern Electric Blues, Jump Blues
Art: Full

01. The Return Of Honk (5:09)
02. Camilla's Hop (4:10)
03. Mama Don't (5:24)
04. Fruit Boots (4:49)
05. Big Legged Woman (7:33)
06. They Killed Crazy Horse (3:34)
07. Castle Rock (7:17)
08. Why Oh Why (4:27)
09. Blues For T-Bone (7:39)
10. Down But Not Out (4:00)

Joe Houston, a honking R&B saxman of wallpaper-peeling potency, recorded for virtually every major independent R&B label in Los Angeles during the 1950s. When the jump blues tradition faded, he segued right into rock & roll, even cutting budget Twist and surf albums for Crown that didn't sound very different from what he was doing a decade before. Houston played around Houston, Texas with the bands of Amos Milburn and Joe Turner during the late '40s. It was Turner who got the young saxist his first deal with Freedom Records in 1949. Houston found his way to the West Coast in 1952 and commenced recording for labels big and small: Modern, RPM, Lucky, Imperial, Dootone, Recorded in Hollywood, Cash, and Money (as well as the considerably better-financed Mercury, where he scored his only national R&B hit, "Worry, Worry, Worry," in 1952). Houston's formula was simple and savagely direct -- he'd honk and wail as hard as he could, from any conceivable position: on his knees, lying on his back, walking the bar, etc. His output for the Bihari brothers' Crown label (where he was billed as "Wild Man of the Tenor Sax") is positively exhilarating: "All Nite Long," "Blow Joe Blow," and "Joe's Gone" are herculean examples of single-minded sax blasting. Joe Houston remained active musically into the 2000s, emphasizing his blues vocal talent more than previously, until suffering a stroke in 2005. He re-emerged and began playing again for a period of time thereafter, but then retreated from the public and to the company of family and friends. ~Biography by Bill Dahl

The Return Of Honk!

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