"Savvy Sugar" is designed as a natural successor to the thoroughly-recommended Fantastic Voyage compilation, "Heavy Sugar" (FVTD051). Whereas that 3xCD release was devoted to a panorama of R&B sides out of New Orleans, "Savvy Sugar" focuses on "The Pure Essence of West Coast Rock & Roll". Los Angeles may well be synonymous with movie stars, the Capitol Tower and Sunset Boulevard, but it also ranks as a leading location on the road to rock n roll. The music's emergence in the 1950s brought about a profusion of area recording facilities, many of which were dotted around the city's 498 square miles. These included Radio Recorders, United, Gold Star and Master Recorders, and the studio owners were quick to learn that it paid to be as diverse as possible. The day might start with a film dubbing, ahead of a television commercial being taped over the lunch hour. Then in the afternoon the microphones could be adjusted to record a big band, followed by a teenage pop session in the evening. What made the system totally unique was the fact that a clutch of skilled musicians from the Hollywood sound stages were also responsible for supplying the goods on the rock n roll dates. Drummer Earl Palmer, guitarist René Hall, bassist Red Callender, and the sax and piano-playing brothers, Plas & Ray Johnson, were the guys in question, and their infinite adaptability was responsible for some of the most exciting rock n roll recordings of all time. Having said that, many of the new breed-ers like Ricky Nelson, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Tommy Sands chose to use their own players; a situation that effectively allowed the baton to be handed over in readiness for another era. Compiled and annotated by Stuart Colman, "Savvy Sugar contains several hard-to-find items from this electrifying era, plus a miscellany of freshly-unearthed gems and a range of goodies that have been laying in wait for far too long. Bearing in mind the CD set's all-important sub-title, "The Pure Essence of West Coast Rock n Roll", "Savvy Sugar" could well turn out to be this season's # 1 guilty pleasure.
J**S
Here's Johnny
Though Some Tracks On This 3 CD Set Feature Johnny Otis, Most Of The Rest Of This Outing Certainly Contains Many More Recordings That Johnny Was Involved In As A Musician, Producer, And Label(s) Owner.I Remember Many Of These Acts Appearing Live With Johnny, As Well On His Local Television Show On KTLA.Too Many Acts And Tracks To List Here, But If You Are Around My Age, And From Southern California, You Don't Need Any Liner Notes To Know That Johnny Otis Is Synonymous With Early Los Angeles Rock And Roll And R & B*( Not To Mention His Work With KING, MERCURY, DUKE / PEACOCK And SAVOY )* R&B As It Once Was In It's True Form, Not The Sludge Referred To As " R&B " These Days...R.I.P. Johnny
A**N
Plenty of variation.
Pretty good collection of material from the 'golden age of rock 'n roll'.Mostly r & b themed cuts on first two discs, with country influence kicking in on disc 3.Personally, I considered this set to be slightly inferior to most of the other compilations in this 'Sugar' series, but only (probably) because I already had a good few of the tracks in my collection.
B**S
Just Pure Rock n Roll
A great 3 disc pure rock and roll from the 1950s of really some great atists.Please put this amazing collection into your collection as it is time less.
R**L
The real stuff
There's so much one can say about this triple CD that I would be ableto write pages and pages. I will resume it to only a few words. Absolutelyout of this world!! Here we have the genuine roots of the raw beginningsof Rock & Roll interpreted by may originators like Fats, Larry Williams,Johnny Otis, The Platters, Ricky Nelson and so many more "obscure" artistsnever heard of before but producing the real stuff. Don't wait, go for it!!
R**1
A not bad rocking cd
So so not bad rocking cd
D**T
ok
ok
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