Thanks to
belboid for doing this. I've had a great time digging around in 1959. It was a good year for rockabilly and rock'n'roll, not that you'd know it from the countdown. Ya bunch of jazzheads.
Here's my votes:
1. Cliff Richard & The Drifters – Cliff
I was serious when I posted this earlier on the thread. It's easy to forget that - before the films, before eurovision, before his campaigning with Mary Whitehouse, before Wimbledon, before the Millennium Prayer, before the Yewtree raid on live TV - there was a brief moment when Cliff Richard was shit hot - "the British Elvis". And this album captures that moment. Recorded live over 2 days at the Maida Vale studios in front of a screaming audience, it's a brilliant rockabilly album, with some great instrumental tracks thrown in introducing that Hank Marvin twang.
2. Ray Charles – What’d I Say
I'm shocked that this didn't get more love. It starts with Ray fucking Charles doing
What'd I Say and carries on from there. Soul music pretty much started here.
3. Ronnie Hawkins – Ronnie Hawkins (rockabilly)
4. Gene Vincent – Sounds Like Gene Vincent (rockabilly)
5. Ricky Nelson – Ricky Sings Again (rockabilly)
6. Johnny And The Hurricanes – Red River Rock (early surf)
7. Lobo Y Melon – Lobo Y Melon (Mexican Salsa)
8. Bo Diddley - Go Bo Diddley
cool
9. Esquerita – Esquerita! (fantastic Little Richard knock-off)
10 The Big Bopper – Chantilly Lace (rock'n'roll)
