Bill Haley and the Comets - Twistin' Knights at the Round Table (CD)

All Music Guide

This 1962 album, recorded live at ~the Roundtable Club in New York, came out of Bill Haley's involvement with Gone and Roulette Records, which also yielded some single sides. It's a twist album that shows the band making their way through this engaging if repetitive music, and evidently having a good time doing it. There's no real audience interaction here, but there is decent, occasionally inspired sax and guitar playing (Rudy Pompili and Frannie Beecher were still aboard). The array of songs is entertaining, including a twist version of "Lullaby of Birdland" and other jazz/big-band standards, all stripped down for Haley's band to work with. Leader and group alike are a bit past their prime and sound it, but they're still tight and they still enjoy the work, and it's just possible to appreciate the remnants of what, seven years before, was one of the hottest rock roll acts in the business.

- Bruce Eder, All Music Guide