There is no question that Big Joe Turner rocked. He rocked harder than any jump blues bandleader, his band hitting the downbeat with a vengeance matched only by Turner's full-throated roar. This was big-band blues in sound but not in style; it was rock & roll before there was a name for it. Bear Family's 2011 set Rocks concentrates on his hardest-swinging R&B, leaning hard on Turner's classic sides for Atlantic: "Roll 'Em Pete"; "Honey Hush"; "Flip, Flop and Fly"; and "Shake, Rattle and Roll," which Bill Haley sweetened up ...
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There is no question that Big Joe Turner rocked. He rocked harder than any jump blues bandleader, his band hitting the downbeat with a vengeance matched only by Turner's full-throated roar. This was big-band blues in sound but not in style; it was rock & roll before there was a name for it. Bear Family's 2011 set Rocks concentrates on his hardest-swinging R&B, leaning hard on Turner's classic sides for Atlantic: "Roll 'Em Pete"; "Honey Hush"; "Flip, Flop and Fly"; and "Shake, Rattle and Roll," which Bill Haley sweetened up for the first crossover rock & roll single. There's no saccharine sweetness here, just thundering R&B, with the tracks dipping into his latter career just enough to prove that Turner was no few-years dynamo -- he was a force of nature who could still deliver after his time passed. There are other collections that perhaps serve up the expected hits in a cleaner fashion, but this has the big, bold infectious swing of the man at his best. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi
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Add this copy of Rocks to cart. $19.54, new condition, Sold by Importcds rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sunrise, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2011.
