Long Gone Daddies: Original '50s Rockabilly & Rock 'n' Roll From The Modern Label
The Bihari Brothers (Joe, Saul and Jules) who founded the Modern group of labels, were arguably the smartest of the young businessmen who got into the independent record business in the late 40s, if only because they never got their motives confused or allowed pride or sentiment to cloud their judgment, the simple mono recording processes of the day being a means to an end, not a conduit for creating great art. If one of their new labels failed to deliver, it was immediately wound down or, if a new line in music was proving unprofitable or difficult to sell (as was the case with the Biharis' brief flirtation with 'hillbilly'), it was simply abandoned in favor of the tried and tested - usually rhythm and blues. And this is the area of music where they really came into their own, rapidly creating one of the great inventories of post-war blues and R&B; recordings.The rock 'n' roll explosion of 1956 brought the company its first pop hits as R&B; records such asStranded In The Jungleby the Cadets,Eddie My Loveby the Teen Queens andGirl In My Dreamsby the Cliques crossed over into the pop field. Despite these successes and the prospect of further hits as rock 'n' roll swept the nation, the Biharis took the view that the expenditure and effort involved in marketing rock 'n' roll wasn't justified by the return in an increasingly competitive market. Therefore, in December 1957, they decided to wind down RPM and Modern and focus on their profitable Crown budget album line which was manufactured in-house at the Modern plant on North Robertson.However, in March 1958 the Biharis launched a new singles label, Kent (randomly named after the cigarette brand), essentially as a vehicle for B B King whose popularity among black record buyers virtually guaranteed substantial sales with every release. Scattered among the early Kent releases were several rock 'n' roll discs by Danny Flores, Lee Denson aka Jesse James, Don Cole and the Barker Brothers, the best of which form part of this set along with rockabilly sides recorded for RPM by Pat Cupp and storming black rockers by Big Duke, Van Robinson, Clarence Garlow and others.The legendary Lee Hazlewood began his long and varied career producing rockabilly records for small labels in the mid-50s. In 1957 he persuaded the Biharis that there were dozens of would-be Elvises out in the sticks waiting to be discovered and delivered the goods in the form of two successive singles by Phoenix-born rocker Don Cole. Around the same time he recordedHey Little Mamaby the Barker Brothers (a mean-a**ed version of the Everlys) for Kent. Two unissued sides from the same session are heard here for the first time. Soon after making these recordings, Hazlewood hit a winning streak with twangmeister Duane Eddy and ended his association with the Biharis.In yet another bid to mine the rockabilly lodestone, Modern purchased Sammy Masters'Pink Cadillacc/wSome Like It Hotfrom a fellow independent, 4 Star Records of Pasadena. Modern brought in a session drummer to overdub a pronounced snare drum beat onto the original masters prior to releasing them as by 'Johnny Todd'. True to our ethic, we have chosen to re-issue the original (undubbed) 4 Star versions, directly from the master tapes, for the first time since 1956.The vast majority of tracks onLong Gone Daddieshave never appeared on CD before and some such as Van Robinson's infectious pounder,Basis Of Rock 'n' Roll- an out-take from the obscure vocalist's only session for RPM in 1957 - have only recently come to light. In essence,Long Gone Daddiesrepresents virtually the sum total of the Biharis' short-lived flirtation with rock 'n' roll and rockabilly and, as such, it's an essential acquisition.