IF ROCK. & ROLL is your "life," you are indeed lucky .... for B & C Records continues to do it's own thing on this album - British-style rock and roll with lashings of beat. And if you think rock and roll bands are exciting entertainment - and if you actually support them at Local gigs then, chances are, you've already clamped peepers on most of the handpicked groups featured on this explosive package, which has enough BIFF! &PLAT! ZOWIE! To satisfy the most demanding fan. What? You don't like rock and roll music. Look, friend, if you don't dig this flashfire music, just drop the sleeve back where you found it and move over to the non-rock racks or something, will ya?

But I'm betting that you would like to be kidnapped off the streets by nasty faces in black suits and imprisoned in a recording studio with plenty of loudspeakers, and forced to listen to an army of rock and roll bands playing non-stop rock music. Well, that's what happened to me recently. (smile!) Did I have fun? You bet your Wild Angels LPs I did. The bands came from all over Britain - togged in long jackets with velvet collars and cuffs, drain-pipe trousers, chartreuse socks, and suede shoes with fat crepe soles. They strutted around Morgan Sound Studios and mixed with mod musicians - sporting long hair styles, flared jackets, pipestem trousers, and wet-look shoes - to do battle and create a recording that should ignite instant and widespread interest. It is, in my view, an unqualified success, a truly excellent offering of the top cream on the British rock and roll scene.

This LP grew out of the appearances in many parts of the country by such groups as Lee Tracy & The Tributes (Lee Tracy, vocals; Terry Austerberry, drums; Roger Brown, lead guitar; Roy Johnson, rhythm guitar; and Gary Stevens, bass guitar), Impalas, (Tony Claiden, lead guitar and vocals; Charlie Chaplin, rhythm guitar; Keith Reid, bass guitar; and Keith Mott, drums), and Shakin' Stevens & the Sunsets (Shakin' Stevens, vocals; Paul Dolan, tenor sax; Trevor "The Hawk" Hawkins, piano; George Chick, bass guitar; Carl Petersen, lead guitar; and Robert "Rockin' Louie'" Llewwllyn, drums). Rock 'n' roll fans everywhere seemed to have responded enthusiastically to these blue-jeaned Hopefuls, and the logical step was to being the best of these bands into your homes via a long-playing record. Five of these artists - Carol Grimes, Gene Vincent, Merrill Moore, Red Price, and the Wild Angels - are well known from previous B & C and other label recordings, and the new names have credentials that are equally Worthy.

If you can't go to America, bring America to you. That's the obvious theory in B & C recording Merrill Moore and Gene Vincent. Born in 1935, Gene Vincent was, with Bill Haley, Merrill Moore, and a few others, a leading figure in the birth of rock and roll. Gene Vincent, who has the Houseshakers (Les "Hot Pants" Warren, drums; John Earl, saxophone; Terry "Memphis" Clemson, lead guitar; Jimmy "The Duck" Wallis, bass guitar; and Graham Fenton, vocals) behind him, is Probably one of the most expressive of the original rock and roll singers still around today. He is one artist everyone has heard of. His Golden Era hits ("Be Bop A-Lula," "Say Mama," "Rocky Road Blues," all on Capitol Records) have ensured that. On September 26, 1923, Merrill Moore, (piano & vocal) was born in Algona, Iowa. He started playing the piano when he was just a child, and was about 17 when his famous boogie left-hand developed. Merrill recorded for U.S. Capitol Records between 1952 and 1958. He now resides in San Diego, California, and works extensively in Southern California. His one track - "Let The Good Times Roll" - was included in an earlier B & C LP release titled "Tree Top Tall" (CAS 1001).

Carol Grimes, certainly one of th.e finest female blues and rock singers in operation today, combines with a band, led by Red Price on tenor sax, to produce a driving number, sung in that special Carol Grimes way. Shakin' Stevens & the Sunsets are a talented group who deserve better than they get by way of recognition. "Spirit of Woodstock" was their excellent Parlophone single which was worthy of high sales figures, but surprisingly missed out. Dave Travis brought with him a group of gifted country-rock musicians, including Barry Carter, (lead guitar), Terry Nicholson, (bass guitar and piano), and drummer Nick Mobbs who is considered one of the best in the business. These guys have their own thing going and it's a groove, baby! Devotees of British rock will know well the strength of the then unchanged Wild Angels (Mal Gray, vocals; Bob O'Connor, drums; John Hawkins, lead guitar; Rod Cotter, bass guitar; and Bill Kingston, piano). Mal Gray's capacity to hurl all of his emotions into his singing most aptly describes .the magnetic force of the Wild Angels. The Memphis Index (Mick Robinson, piano & vocals; Raver' Lee, drums; Jumbo, lead guitar; Harvey Platt, (formerly with The Continentals) bass guitar) have played together for quite some time on the rock and roll circuit and have built up a big following that comes from numerous appearances before audiences who similarly have the feel for 1950s rock and roll music. I think "Battle Of The Bands" offers new testimony to a strong resurgence of interest in danceable music, which I attribute, partly at least to personal appearances, record sales, and concerts by the Wild Angels, who spearheaded the attack last year with two LPs, "Live At The Revolution," (BCM 101) and "Red Hot 'N' Rockin'" (BCM 102).

The Studio was littered with half-eaten sandwiches, empty beer glasses, and full ash-trays, when Gene Vincent & the Houseshakers and Shakin' Stevens & the Sunsets battled for the opening position. Carol Grimes & the Red Price Band and Dave Travis & Bad River punched it out for third and fourth places. Lee Tracy & the Tributes rocked into the strategic fifth place, and then followed another guitar to guitar fight involving Gene Vincent & the Houseshakers, Memphis Index, and the band from the Variety Club, Batley, Red Price & his Band (Red Price, (he's backed Frankie Vaughan, Shirley Bassey, Eartha Kitt, Louis Armstrong, and many others) tenor sax; Tony Cervi, organnpiano; Ken Newton, drums; Brian Payne, bass guitar; Graham Atha, lead guitar;) The second round brought Billy Williams and his exciting little band, the Rock & Roll Allstars, alias "The Worst Advertisement For Clean And Decent Living You Ever Saw," into the upstairs studio, and the Houseshakers into the ground floor studio. I watched producer/referee Donnie Marchand putting the groups through their paces. It was worth it, just to watch Rock & Roll Allstar Freddy Ling blow his hot, hoarse, leaping tenor sax, while veteran drummer Billy Williams shouted instructions to Harry "Hardrock" Middleton, (2nd tenor), Tony Vincent, (Vocals & lead guitar), and Brian "Rubber Legs" Francis, (bass guitar.) This hard-driving band play in a robust and rough manner.

So the next time you find yourself drinking beer in a cabaret, and watching a group of perspiring rock and roll musicians creating something of a storm among the rock struck patrons, you may well be observing one of the bands on the biscuit you're clutching in your hot little hand right now - it's a piece of uncomplicated, unpretentious rock 'n' roll shrapnel. So bop, man, bop!

Max Needham (Waxie Maxie)