GENE VINCENT: The Complete Singles

GENE VINCENT: EP "Be-Bop-A-Lula"

Original released on EP Capitol EAP 1-20198 M

(US, 1956)

GENE VINCENT: EP "Dance to the Bop"

Original released on EP Capitol EAP 1-20387
(US, 1957)

GENE VINCENT ROCKS!

Original released on LP Capitol T-970

(US, March 1958)

By the time of the December 1957 sessions that made up this, his third album, Gene Vincent's band had changed radically from its original lineup, with drummer Dickie Harrell the only original member (and even he wasn't long for the lineup). Johnny Meeks was the lead guitarist, and while he was a good player, he wasn't the kind of wildly inventive talent that Cliff Gallup had been; Meeks also had a cleaner sound, with none of the dark, almost dirty, blues-style licks that Gallup traded in. New rhythm guitarist Max Lipscomb (who later changed his professional name to Scotty McKay) doubled on piano, the first time that instrument was heard on a Gene Vincent record; Bobby Jones played bass, and former rhythm guitarist Paul Peek shifted to backing vocals alongside Tommy Facenda (collectively the two came to be known as the Clapper Boys). The changes resulted in a somewhat less frantic sound. The music was beautifully played and exciting, but a little bit tamer overall; the occasional wild shouts that punctuated the old band's playing were absent, and Vincent was indulging increasingly in softer pop and ballad material, which worked but also served to tone down the impact of the album. The music was still lively, but much more a creation of the studio than an offshoot of intense, raucous stage performances. (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)

BLUE JEAN BOP!

Original Released on LP Capitol 764 

(1956/08/23)

Gene Vincent's very first album, cut in June 1956, was a rushed affair — which is obvious from the haphazard song selection — but manages to be one of the most exciting LPs to come out of the early rock & roll era, rivaling Elvis Presley's first two albums, which date from the same period. Its virtues, which is to say, the virtues of Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps as high energy rock & rollers, transcend the lack of quality songs on the album — the title hit is joined by some rocked up standards ("Lazy River," "Peg O' My Heart," and "Ain't She Sweet," which the Beatles picked up in their early repertory by way of Vincent, and made their first vocal recording five years later), a country ballad ("Wedding Bells") or two, and some hastily written rave-ups ("Jumps, Giggles and Shouts," etc.), little of it high-grade rock & roll material in and of itself. As it turned out, Vincent and his band didn't need first-rate songs to produce great rock & roll — they rise to the occasion here, throwing the hard rocking numbers into the air like the musical equivalent of jitterbug dancing, or stretching out elegantly on the handful of ballads, and the result is one of the few truly virtuoso rock & roll albums of the era. What sets "Bluejean Bop!" apart from Elvis' albums, in particular, and most other white rock & roll of the period, is that it has the tight sound of an actual working band, where Elvis' (and most other white rock & rollers') albums, in particular, almost inevitably featured session players whose presence helped make for an idealized recording, but not a good representation of how they sounded on stage — which is what rock & roll was really about. Vincent and company, by contrast, were playing shows virtually every night during the period of these sessions. The sessions themselves were done in a hurry, without any help from studio musicians; and they were conducted with minimal input from producer Ken Nelson, who pretty much let the band do what came naturally. The result is a lean, tight sound, akin to a live recording — which this practically was — in terms of minimal retakes, lots of spontaneity, and no overdubbing (Bruce Eder in AllMusic)