Various Artists - Roots of Rock and Roll 1952, Vol. 8 (CD)

All Music Guide

This is the eighth volume in a series of doubledisc anthologies from French label Fremeaux Records that chronicles the years that led up to the birth of rock roll. While the magic year of 1954 is usually accepted as the dawn of the rock roll age, the whole matter has always generated a good deal of debate, and this installment in the Fremeaux series only muddies the waters, since the year it covers, 1952, shows things rocking along pretty well. One could argue that some of the tracks here, like Wally Mercer's wonderful "Rock Around the Clock," are really just speeded up RB, and technically, that's probably so, but there's no denying that something resembling the rock roll attitude is already in full swing in 1952. It's a remarkably short drive from Big Mama Thornton's funky blues original of "Hound Dog," included here, to Elvis Presley's alldressedupforradio version released a couple years later. On the other hand, it's difficult to relate some of these cuts to rock roll at all, li...ke the Carter Sisters' "Juke Box Blues" or even Jimmy Bryant's "Pickin' the Chicken," which, while it features an absolutely blazing electric guitar break, doesn't rock so much as break the speed barrier. Matters of musical history aside, it is just great to hear some of these songs, many of which are fairly rare, like one of the more upbeat (relatively) sides John Lee Hooker ever made, "Walkin' the Boogie," or Peppermint Harris' classy "I Cry For My Baby," or Percy Mayfield's elegant and stately masterpiece, "Louisiana." Whether these tracks contain the musical DNA that begat rock roll or not is, in the end, fairly irrelevant, since these records rock, pedigree or no. - Steve Leggett , All Music Guide Read more Less