Larry Williams & Johnny Guitar Watson - Boss Lovin': 1965-69 (White Trash Soul R&B Series No.7)

The transformation phase.

In the second half of the 50s, Larry Williams battled Little Richard for the title of King of Rock'n'Roll at Specialty Records and almost got it. In the early 60s and after a brief stroll at Chess Records, where he was still recording some fine singles, he became embroiled in a drug affair for which he received a three-year sentence reward. Things looked bad for the old guard until those guys from Liverpool checked them out and Lennon called Larry his favorite rock'n'roller.

Larry had met the excellent R&B thug/guitarist Johnny 'Guitar' Watson a few years earlier and they became friends for life. In the mid-60s, the two played together and shared the stage in the clubs of L.A. One morning, the phone rang and they were both called to a major tour of the UK. A young band from Guilford, called The Stormville Shakers was chosen to accompany them.

The collaboration and friendship between Larry Williams and Johnny 'Guitar' Watson would of course continue for a number of years. In 1967 they released another LP and several singles together for Okeh, concentrating mainly on Soul (and producing ex-rival Little Richard on most of his Okeh sides, among others).

But the mighty fine and sadly overlooked (outside the UK) album of upbeat and sometimes even frenetic soul material is not our cup of tea on this self-assembled compilation. The guys, sometimes solo and sometimes together, have crafted some strong material to rival similar urban-soul efforts of the Chicago and Detroit scenes, with great arrangements and inflamed guitar/horn interactions and call-and-response routines, and on tracks where Watson shows off his R&B or jazz prowess on piano (it was after all his first instrument).

Even to those who like their Soul in a more slick Motown vein laden with horns, first class vocal work and occasional appetizing Funk, R&B or Doo-Wop flirtations, can’t go wrong with all of these tracks. They even backed by LA's kings of psychedelia, Kaleidoscope! As I was wondering around their stuff I discover that many of their singles sides on Okeh were drastically different mixes or recordings than the ones on their LP, tougher, grittier and to my ears better (for example just hear the brutal "I'd Rather Fight Than Switch" Larry Williams delivering). 

This enormous, and to some of you possibly exhaustive, selection of 35 songs is, in my opinion, a great illustration of what these bad motherfuckers were capable of when they weren't abusing drugs and guns.

I nicked and enriched the cover for my treasury from the Sleazy Records 2018 single. The sound may varies (not all my rips) but the 320 bitrate is still present, so don't worry.

Bunker Hill with Link Wray & The Raymen - The Mala Singles (White Trash Soul R&B Series No.6)

It was either "Back From The Grave 4"or "Talkin' Trash" compilation that I've crashed for the first time this manic piece of rock'n'roll at a certainly young age. In any case it was Tim Warren's fault. I can still clearly remember my reaction to this Little Richard loaded on speed drugs type of recording. Perhaps the first time ever punk rock was documented. The echo, the sloppy fierce band playing (at the time I wasn't aware that Link and his gang was behind), everything came and gone in less than two minutes leaving my mind, my stereo speakers and my place burnt down. 

Then times moved nearer the internet age and Norton Records' "Missing Links" series. I was already a huge fan of Linkster but I knew nothing about Bunker Hill. I was still in the process to discover who this cat was. To make a long story short and not boring you with my personal memories after MANY hours of google searching and fanzines reading (Kicks of course included) I found out that Bunker Hill was a professional boxer and a gospel singer with The Mighty Clouds of Joy, under the name of David Walker. 

When the other DC cat of our story heard him for the first time he nearly lost his mind. The Wray brothers (Link on guitar, Doug on drums and Vernon as a producer along with Shorty Horton on bass) rushed him into their home studio and set up two sessions. David as a singer of a very prestigious gospel group like The Mighty Clouds was afraid to record with his real name for the devil's music, so the gang decided to baptize him again as Bunker Hill. 

In 1962 Vernon took the master tapes to Arthur Yale and Jack Fine, who ran Mala Records, and the company released all three Bunker Hill singles within the next two years. All three records sold amazingly well. Hell, "Hide & Go Seek Parts 1&2" even climbed into Billboard's Hot 100!

Mala Records had still some inaugural Bunker Hill material in their vault (including nowadays lost track "Jungle Dan"), and they were planning to produce a whole album. For reasons unknown to me this sadly never happened. The last Bunker & Raymen single came out in September 1963 and it originated from the same '62 session as the previous recordings, this time with "The Girl Can't Dance" included. The flip was "You Can't Make Me Doubt My Baby", as adjusted from "You Can't Make Me Doubt" by The Gospelaires.

I have never really recovered from that first time I told/wrote you in the first lines. Everybody knows that I'm a faithful pilgrim to the Little Richard's chapel but I've never witnessed the King and Queen of Rock'n'Roll screams his lungs out like a sermon preacher in a fire & brimstone black church nor any other ever since!