This side is the second cut off of Southside Johnny’s first album. There’s lot of other stuff in the Asbury Jukes’ sound, but the direct line comes from here.
And landed here.
Fats Domino, Ain’t That a Shame
Domino isn’t the immediate precursor of Van Morrison’s sound, even if Van’s song is a tribute. But this clip is choice just because of the sax break and it’s pounding piano and the way the white audience is fenced off from the stage, but clearly doesn’t need to be. Clap hands.
And isn’t that Harpo Marx standing with Mannix watching? The clip is from the movie Shake Rattle and Roll, and Harpo isn’t credited.
Van Morrison, Domino
Graham Parker and the Rumor, Heat Treatment
Graham Parker and the Rumor are mining the same vein as Southside Johnny, but Wikipedia has a different take.
| Rock, new wave, pub rock, soul, rhythm and blues |
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Talk to Me
I’m mystified by what genre this tune, and almost all of Johnny Lyon’s sides are. It’s some strand of soul, but different.
Wikipedia says:
I don’t know. In this one I hear more Mink Deville, but while Springsteen always manages to sound like the early 60s, this comes out of that idea, but is different. I really like this song
Germs, Round and Round
The Germs are not universally loved, but they are indisputably worth talking about. And they covered Chuck Berry, well.
I love this.
Cream, Too Much Monkey Business
I gather this is an early recording of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker doing some covers in a club. The first is Chuck Berry’s Too Much Monkey Business, which is fantastic. That’s why I’m here, though I loved Cream back in the day. But we didn’t have this then.
Then there is the rest, which is pretty damn sweet.
Chuck Berry Covers
Many of the great Chuck Berry covers were by the Rolling Stones, and a few were by the Beatles and John Lennon. But there were other covers of note. Here is a website that lists them all.
Here are a few I recommend.
LINK: 15 Essential Chuck Berry Songs
This embellished list by Alan Light is well worth going through. They’re the greatest hits, for the most part, but many of the notes were new to me.
As was this song, which Light notes he wrote while in jail, without a map.
Chuck Berry Is On Top
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28740659
Dick Clark introduces an appearance by Berry promoting this album and stumbles over the title, with the audience tittering at the double entendre. Really?
It is 1959, and, as Clark mentions, this is an album that has on it Carol, Maybelline, Johnny B. Goode, Roll Over Beethoven, Little Queenie and many more.
Those were the days of album oriented rock. Not.
It’s an incredible trove, not a greatest hits album, that the Rolling Stones particularly mined for their early (and later) setlists.
Berry, of course, looks right at home playing along to this other cut, Back in the USA, that is also on Chuck Berry is on Top, with the totally white and polite audience clapping along.