1954 - Rock with Bill Haley and the Comets

WHAT NYMITH SAYS

The postcard version of rock and roll history begins in 1954 with 'Rock Around the Clock.' What this forgets is that Bill Haley was making rock and roll dance singles for a couple of years prior to that. These singles were collected and released as the first ever rock LP (according to wikipedia), creatively titled Rock with Bill Haley and the Comets ('Rock Around the Clock' didn't get collected until the following year). These songs have vast historical importance but their entertainment value is mild. Everyone with a more than casual interest in rock music should check this stuff out to experience the "childhood" of the genre but do not expect to be overwhelmed.

First of all: absolutely nobody listens to this stuff for Bill Haley, I am convinced. The Comets are the main draw, particularly the succession of speedy lead guitar players (Danny Cedrone and Art Ryerson). Haley himself was as square as they come. He'd begun in the country-western genre and basically just sped it up as he went, genially entertaining the kids and giving them something fun to dance to. A couple of key ingredients that would soon launch the "teenage" years of rock and roll were missing from Haley's schtick:

1: He was not remotely cool. Not just in the Elvis/Gene Vincent way. Name anybody. Two of the songs on this album bear the ominous titles 'Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush' and 'Pat a Cake.' Yes, when he ran out of ideas, Haley was perfectly willing to rock the nursery rhymes. There is no defence that can justify it unless he actually "wrote" them (the lyrics are altered to include dance and romance, so help us) for his niece's fourth birthday party.

2: There are ABSOLUTELY NO BALLADS on this record. None. Haley was not trying to cast himself in the heartthrob mode (an absolute staple of 50s rock, leading even the most deeply unsuited singers to give it a whirl - remember 'Together We'll Always Be?' 'No More Lovin?' Didn't think so). In this way, Haley was remarkably smart. He knew his own limits. The Comets' formula is sped-up country-swing and the further he strays from "we're gonna rock this joint tonight!" the more he loses his bearings, both on the nursery rhymes and on the messed-up experiment 'Fractured,' where he tries to "fracture" the melody (novel idea, but it's better to wait for Robert Fripp) and comes up with a song you can't dance to - and if you can't dance to Bill Haley, the song has to be a fail. However, of the 12 tracks on Rock with... only those three and 'Dance with a Dolly,' which regretfully recycles the 'Mulberry Bush' melody, gum up the works.

That leaves 8 tracks of fluffy-white, super-square dance ditties. While they're almost all the same song they are genuinely fun and amusing. You basically count the greatness of each song by what they offer that the last one didn't. 'Rock This Joint' is the prototype, of Bill Haley, the Comets and rockabilly in general. 'Crazy Man Crazy' has the exciting "go! go! go! everybody!" chant. 'Farewell, So Long, Goodbye' has some sassy saxophone and a decent "get lost" lyric - even if Haley's way too affable a chap to really sell it. 'Real Rock Drive' has a funny line about "kicking up splinters in the floor" (followed by an invitation to take off your shoes and join in - I think I'll pass). 'Live it Up' accurately points out that there's "no room for the blues at all" in rock as Haley sees it. And 'Rockin' Chair on the Moon' shows that rock's space obsession got going way early. More seriously, it also offers a successful digression from the formula - the pace is a little slower, the mood a little dreamier, the guitar a little Hawaiian. It works pretty good.

So in the beginning rock and roll was a novelty. You can't look at this collection of singles and predict it had any sort of future. Thankfully, in 1955 a new single was released by Chess Records as they latched on to the rock and roll fad and demanded one of their resident artists to write a hot rod song. 'Maybellene' hit the airwaves and a viable future for this new energetic style emerged. Speaking personally, I'd trade this entire record for that one song in a heartbeat and that pretty much seals the Comets' fate as a historical curio. Cute for an afternoon, but nothing you need to revisit.

WHAT TICHARU SAYS

9 tenths of the appeal must have been visual because any time I've ever heard a song, the song, the only Bill Haley song "Rock Around The Clock" which comprises this entire record only with different words, I've always been at pains to either turn it off or get out of ear shot as quickly as possible. Forcing myself to have a more open mind and actually listen to these influential records in roughly chronological order for the Cold Coffee Library, I've discovered something I actually like about Bill Haley and the Comets, namely The Comets. As a band they were OK, really, I mean that sincerely.