Summer ’76 -Stifling heat, no water, the pound plummeting downwards, a pay freeze. All is doom. Then suddenly, the big announcement - a national Rock ‘n Roll show on Radio One! The prospect of all the happy good-time music floating across the ether was too good to be true. But true it was, and September 25th at 5:30pm was to be the time for all those thousands of great Rock & Roll records in the Beep vaults to jump out of their dusty prisons and leap on to our turntables to show us all how much the broadcasting business has missed all these years. But "It’s Rock ‘n Roll" wasn’t just an oldies show - how could it be? Rock ‘n Roll is being written and played today and thirteen of Britain’s finest Rock ‘n Roll groups did us proud by showing off their wares on "It’s Rock ‘n Roll". Even Stu Colman and Geoff Barker, the programme’s presenters, whose knowledge of Rock ‘n Roll is hard to surpass, were proud to associate themselves with such fine sessions. They were so good that this recording just had to be, and seven of these bands appear here.
Shakin’ Stevens starts us off, as he did on the series, with our signature tune and then follows through with an original number which says it all so neatly - "I Told You So". His other contribution is the rarely-heard Hank Ballard original, "Sexy Ways".
Freddie "Fingers" Lee has been playing Rock ‘n Roll for as long as he can remember. Pianists don’t come much more exciting -listen to his crazy version of Big Al Downing and Bobby Poe’s "Down On The Farm". No fancy technical tricks -he really did play it as fast as that! Curley Williams’ "My Bucket’s Got A Whole In It" is one of his best-known stage numbers. This version really shows how tight has band can be.
"It’s Rock ‘n Roll" tried to reflect all the different sides of the music and pure rockabilly fans are well catered for with a well-knit group called "Matchbox". Don Woody wrote their first number "Make Like Rock ‘n Roll" back in ’56, and a year later the Echo Valley Boys released "Washing Machine Boogie" in the U.S. Matchbox’s attention to detail on both these numbers is very evident.
When our series started, ‘Darts’ had one just one gig. Not that the members of the band - all 9 of them - were new to the scene. This unusual line-up - four vocalists and five piece rhythm section only got together last summer, when their two original groups disbanded. Few outfits would attempt ‘Darts’ repertoire, but their versions of the Cadets’ "Love Bandit" (written by Johnny "Guitar" Watson) and the El Dorado’s hit from ’55 "At My Front Door" have all the magic of those early days of Rock ‘n Roll when R & B hadn’t quite disappeared round the corner.
I wonder what Arthur Crudup would have thought if he’d heard Chas & Dave and Friends play his "That’s Alright Mama"? Chas Hodges’ powerful piano adds a new dimension to the number that Crudup wrote and recorded way back in 1948. It’s nice to hear Jerry Lee Lewis’s "Big Blonde Baby" and time - but listen to the tasty solos on this version! Try and keep your feet still during ‘Flying Saucers’ "Keep On Coming" written by their Lead Vocalist Sandy Ford. One of the business’s hardest-working bands; their version of "The South Is Gonna Rise Again" Originally recorded by Jesse James in 1958, is virtually the Teds’ anthem wherever they play. Once a Rock ‘N Roller - Always a Rock ‘N Roller. When we heard that The Pirates - Mick Green, Johnny Spence and Frank Farley had got together again for a blow , a session for "It’s Rock ‘n Roll" was a must. What a session it was! After seeing Frank and Johnny play together I am now a firm believer in telepathy. Add Mick Green - one of the finest guitarists Britain has ever produced and the result is the easy magic you hear on "Milk Cow Blues" and "Sweet Love On My Mind".
Radio One’s Main concern is, simply to please the listeners. We all hope that this recording continues to do that for you.