UK Release Date: August 13th 1956
Topped the Chart:
· 21st October 1956 (for one week)
1 week total
Bill Haley’s timing was both brilliant and awful at the same time. Almost by luck, Rock Around the Clock arrived and made rock n roll a household name genre at a time when something new was born: the teenager. Frank Sinatra was your mum’s favourite popstar; teens in 1956 were ready for something new and raucous, which is why we find Bill Haley here at the top of the charts…for a week.
Because on the horizon stands a bequiffed Tupelo Terminator ready to tear down Haley’s brand before it even got going. Rock n Roll Stage Show is the first DOA album chart topper.
Haley was an odd proposition- paunchy, over 30 (and, like every adult in the 1950s, looking about 20 years older) and sporting a limp Superman curl, he was never going to find a place as a heart-throb, and his music just wasn’t electric enough. Chuck Berry had the rawness, Little Rickard the degradation, Jerry Lee Lewis the danger…because Haley was bringing his rock n roll from a big band and swing background compared to the far grittier blues of his contemporaries, he didn’t speak to "the kids" in the same way.
Despite this, Haley’s time at the top was influential- not only did Rock Around the Clock cause feral teens to rip up cinema seats (according to the tabloids, at least), Rock n Roll Stage Show was quietly revolutionary in its own way. The Comets’ fourth album (previous releases essentially collected recent A- and B-sides) was artistically ambitious for non-artistic enterprises. Realising that songwriting revenue was the real way to make money as musicians, every song bar one here is written by members of the band. It’s something that Buddy Holly would run with a year later, and is remembered more as a trailblazer.
It was also the first Comets album to be created as a single statement from the ground up, an attempt to create a version of their live show on record, as per the title—so each band members gets their moments in the spotlight, the record ebbs and flows between danceable instrumentals and audience call and response. It’s a fun record around that exudes joy at several points, but one that doesn’t quite work as a listening experience.
Rock n Roll Stage Show runs a little over half an hour but the filler stacks up quickly. Some of the instrumentals pop, like opener Calling All Comets with Rudy Pompilli’s tenor sax sounding so clear it might as well be beaming out into space. Others are a slog. Goofin’ Around features a catchy double bass line, but gets bogged down with noodly, uninspired guitar riffs; while A Rockin’ Little Tune tests the patience with its endless false endings and tuneless accordion.
The album also lacks any hits up to the standard of Comets’ singles Shake, Rattle and Roll or See You Later, Alligator. Penultimate track Hot Dog, Buddy, Buddy gets closest with a thrilling chorus-solo sequence that feels like a warm up for Elvis’ Blue Suede Shoes- “rockin’ on down the line” indeed. The Comets’ version of Louis Jordan’s Choo Choo Ch-Boogie adds the boom-chicka-boom rock sound to the original’s post war optimism, appropriately capturing the rhythm of a train, easily imitated on tea chests as part of the coming skiffle boom.
If Haley’s run of success had continued past this point, it might have been interesting to see the stage show concept improved and developed. Alas, Haley’s sound was old hat immediately thanks to the man waiting in the wings the following week. Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis is entering the building…
Score: 6/10
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