Re: Go ahead, I dare ya.....

Date: 9 Apr 2003 23:02:19 -0700
Newsgroups: rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1950s
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> That's My Desire (HUGE Frankie Laine influence!!!)
Well, sure Bruce.
THAT'S MY DESIRE was a Gold Record.
By 1958 (Buddy Holly's time), Frankie Laine had racked up 19 Gold
Records.
He'd had, at that time, 59 singles that charted.
He'd had his own TV show, starred in a half dozen movies, and was one
of the highest paid singers of the time (the highest paid before
Elvis).
Now (ignoring artistic aspirations for the moment), if Buddy Holly
wanted to be a successful singer, then he'd have wanted to take some
cues from Frankie Laine.
Re FL's artistic influence on BH (R&R in general):
I've recently purchased the first 2 Bear Family albums -- which
constitute all of Laine's commercial recordings from 1944 - 1955. I
was surprised to find that a fair amount of his singles from this
period sound pretty darn close to R&R. His early recordings have a
strong R&B/Jazz feel to them (many of these make for far stronger
candidates for R&R forerunners than the majority of songs recently
elected into the "Hall of Fame" by this group). With songs like AIN'T
THAT JUST LIKE A WOMAN, BEBOP SPOKEN HERE, IT AIN'T GONNA BE LIKE
THAT, THAT AIN'T RIGHT, DON'T DO SOMETHING TO SOMEONE ELSE, etc., he
has to be considered an R&B singer (as well as Jazz, Western, Pop,
etc.).
But it his work in the early 50s, at Columbia, that really surprised
me. Because, along with the great Standards I was familiar with, he
also recorded a lot of songs that are, if not straight R&R, only a
hair's breadth away from it. First off, there are the duets the Jo
Stafford: HAMBONE, PIECE-A-PUDDIN', SETTIN' THE WOODS ON FIRE, GOIN'
LIKE WILDFIRE, and HEY GOOD LOOKIN' are a mix of country and rock.
Backed on many of these by an electric guitar (some of the guitar
solos make Chuck Berry sound tame), these songs are loud, uptempo,
even violent (musically), rock songs (written by Hank Williams or a
variation on the Bo Diddley/Papa's gonna buy you a... lyric). 6 of
the Laine/Stafford collaborations charted -- 3 of which I'd consider
to be R&R (or Damn Near R&R) songs.
In 1955, he collaborated with The Four Lads (who had earlier backed
Johnnie Ray on *the* first R&R song, CRY) on 12 gospel songs -- 11 of
which ROCK! These songs have all the elements of the R&R/Doo Wop
groups including driving rhythms, hand clapping, Doo Wa's, multi-part
harmonies, etc. -- and blow all the Doo Wop music I've ever heard
clear out of the stratosphere (including even the great Dion and the
Belmonts). Laine does a spoken interlude in two of these and (as in
his Hawaiian SONG OF THE ISLANDS) immediately brings to mind later
recordings by Elvis.
Some of his solo efforts from this period would also qualify as R&R or
Near-R&R. TONIGHT YOU BELONG TO ME (one of the first Laine songs I
ever heard -- from an old 78) is a slow rock ballad. In the
accompanying Bear Family book, Laine says that he did this song sort
of like a hymn. I can see what he means, but it's closer to Johnnie
Ray and Elvis (who hadn't hit yet). He also did a couple of uptempo,
country flavored tunes, HEY JOE! and HAWKEYE, which are similar to his
duets with Stafford. Both of these songs were hits (HEY JOE!, in the
Top Ten, went Gold). BUBBLES (described by Laine as a half-assed rock
song) is actually a very good Pop Rock song from 1955.
How much was Buddy Holly influenced by Frankie Laine? Probably not a
lot ... that is to say, not in a direct fashion. Their vocal styles
are completely different (Frankie didn't hiccup), and none of
Frankie's songs have Buddy's "Tex-Mex" sound.
Still, when one of the biggest singers of the day had a long string of
proto-rock hits, I don't see how any R&R singers who follow in his
wake can be entirely free of his influence.
Indirectly, his music, like that of Johnnie Ray (and to a lesser
extent, many of the Mercury and Columbia stars) served as a bridge
between the big band era crooner style and R&R.