wonky leg , dodgy eye and booze.......it gets no better than this

the mighty gene vincent had been one of the men in the first wave of the rock n roll boom back in the day.

unfortunately for gene he did not perish in a plane or car crash, instead he had to soldier on in the face of the 'beat boom' changing pop in the early 60's all over the world.
this must have been a daunting prospect. after years of girls thrusting their very dry and proper croutches at him , he had to pack up his wodden leg in his kit bag and head to the hills.

luckily , dwelling on a nerby hill was mr john peel . peel had his own record label at this time - dandelion - peel was a huge vincent fan - his favourite singer of all time (at that time) . peel missed vincent and convinced him to come back from the wilderness (tho vincent had recorded some rippers in the 60's - see his garage punk monster, 'bird doggin') .
it came to pass that peel paired vincent up with a killer line up - skip batton , mars bonfire amongst others play on the album.........the funkiest version ever of 'be bop a lula' is on this record . that version is a life changer .
the album is produced by kim fowley (also produced them belfast gypises below) . mr fowley is mad . his madness creates a beautifully clean record that captures gene live on the mic . it feels like you are in the room with him . you can hear his anxiety as he belts out new and old songs. gene was chompin down hard on burgers , qualludes , barbs , fags and booze at this time....pop in a flicky eye and wonky hip and you have an interesting recording session.

i first loved mr vincent in about 85 during my rockabilly exploration . i then remember seeing a documenatry about this period of gene's life , when he was making this record. it was a touching documentary and always stayed somewhere in my head. i think it may have been broadcast on one of those 'marathon' music nights on bbc2 hosted by mark ellen ...those were the days.

anyways , rock n roll lives .........be bop a lula gene baby , be bop a lula.........


now playing : smut on the telly