Rosco Rhythm

Recently, Steve Roden, artist and proprietor of the excellent Airform Archives, bestowed upon me a stack of dog-eared and battered 8 x 10 publicity photos. He decribed them as having "a nice kind of patina." I like them better this way - with tape, holes and a smoky veneer from the juke joint they probably hung in. Here's Rosco Gordon in all that weathered glory. I've been wanting to post some of these sides for a while. These records, made in Memphis in the early fifties under the supervision of Sam Phillips and Ike Turner, are truly amazing and what is even more amazing is that somehow they found their way to Jamaica, where Rosco's unusual rhythm style is credited with shaping the sound of early Ska and Reggae records. "No More Doggin" was recorded in Tuff Green's living room, and if you listen closely near the end of the record, you can hear a phone ringing. It's probably Rosco's old lady. The ensemble band here on these records is The Beale Streeters, which included and backed at various times, among others Bobby Bland, Johnny Ace, Junior Parker and B.B. King. The horn solo and arrangement on "Wise To You Baby" are also unusual: lazy and direct at the same time. It carries the record, and what a record it is.


Download:



















"No More Doggin'" mp3
by Rosco Gordon, 1952.
available on Best of the Rpm Years



















"Wise To You Baby" mp3
by Rosco Gordon, 1953.
available on Rosco Gordon - T Model Boogie

"Booted" mp3
by Rosco Gordon, 1951.
available on Best of the Rpm Years

******************************
Bonus

"Rough and Tough" mp3
by Stranger Cole, 1962.
available on This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era 1960-1975

"Phoenix City" mp3
by Roland Alphonso and the Soul Brothers, 1965.
available on This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era 1960-1975

"Brand New Second Hand" mp3
by Peter Tosh and the Wailers, 1971.
available on In the Beginning

"You Done Me Wrong" mp3
by Tyrone Evans, 1968.
available on Trojan Singles Box Set

"Cry Tough" mp3
by Alton Ellis and the Flames, 1966.
available on This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era 1960-1975

"The Tide Is High" mp3
by The Paragons, 1967.
available on This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era 1960-1975