Tommy Steele Stage Show

Last updated
Tommy Steele Stage Show
TommySteeleStageShow.jpg
Live album by
Tommy Steele and the Steelmen
Released29 March 1957
Recorded16 December 1956
VenueConway Hall, London
Genre Rock and roll
Length24:17
Label Decca
Tommy Steele and the Steelmen chronology
Tommy Steele Stage Show
(1957)		 The Tommy Steele Story
(1957)

Tommy Steele Stage Show is a live album by English entertainer Tommy Steele, released as a 10-inch LP by Decca in March 1957. A concert recording of Steele backed by the Steelmen at London's Conway Hall, it was his first album release and features a version of the hit single "Rock with the Caveman" alongside several covers of American songs including three previously recorded by Hank Williams. The album's release followed Steele's swift rise to fame as a teen idol widely considered Britain's first rock and roll star, and the success of his UK Singles Chart number one "Singing the Blues". It received a muted critical reception but was commercially successful, peaking at number five on the UK Albums Chart.

Contents

Background

Born in Bermondsey in 1936, Thomas Hicks joined the merchant navy at 15 and fell in love with American music, particularly country music, during his service. [1] [2] He learned to play guitar and began performing on ships, inspired most by Hank Williams. [1] [3] On shore leave in summer 1956, Hicks formed a loose band, the Cavemen, with Soho bohemians Lionel Bart and Mike Pratt. [4] He began performing in Soho bars, including "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Heartbreak Hotel" alongside country songs in his set. [5] An appearance at the 2i's Coffee Bar was seen by John Kennedy, a photographer and publicity man. [4] Kennedy was intrigued by the singer, later commenting "Tommy was not handsome but he had a smile that drew you to him." [6] Kennedy brought in impresario Larry Parnes, who considered the act "electrifying". [7] [8] Within two weeks of his first meeting with Kennedy, Hicks was signed to Decca and rechristened Tommy Steele. [2]

In September 1956, Kennedy and Parnes arranged an elaborate publicity stunt which had Steele perform at a staged debutante ball populated by models and actresses posing as aristocracy. [9] The event gained the singer his first national press, billed as "Britain's top rock 'n' roll singing guitarist", in The People under the headline "Rock 'n' roll has got the debs too!". [9] [10] On his first single, "Rock with the Caveman", Steele was backed by the Steelmen, comprising several notable British jazz musicians. [11] The song, a humorous rock and roll composition written by Steele with Bart and Pratt, was a number 13 hit on the UK Singles Chart in November 1956. [2] [12] By November, Steele was headlining variety bills. [13] His recording of "Singing the Blues" topped the chart in January 1957, the same month it was announced he was to star in a film dramatising his rise to fame. [12] [14]

Steele was quickly accepted as Britain's first indigenous rock and roll star. [15] [nb 1] According to journalist Bruce Eder, Steele's singles with the Steelmen presented "uniquely English variants on a rock and roll sound". [2] [nb 2] Though frequently referred to as Britain's answer to Elvis Presley, Steele's energetic demeanour made his act less sexual than Presley's. [2] [20] According to Simon Napier-Bell, teenage fans "didn't love Tommy Steele because he was sexy, they loved him because he'd managed to do something never before done in the British music business. Be young!" [21] A teen idol, Steele was among the first British pop stars to be heavily merchandised, with tie-in sweaters, [22] shoes [23] and toy guitars. [24] [25]

Contents

TommySteele1957aCrop.jpg
Biograf Anglais 1957.jpg
Scenes of fervour at a Tommy Steele concert in Stockholm

Tommy Steele Stage Show was recorded at a specially-arranged concert at the Conway Hall, London, on 16 December 1956, the night before Steele's twentieth birthday. [26] [27] The recording was edited for release, with several songs omitted. [26] According to a contemporary write-up by Wendy Newlands of Westminster and Pimlico News, the resultant album's live status "means a great deal more than merely being a recording direct from the stage. It means we are treated to a sample of shouting and screaming from an audience of enthusiastic teenage fans." [28] Steele's concerts were often marked by audience frenzy, with reports of screaming drowning out his performances. [29] A review of an appearance at the Embassy Theatre, Peterborough on 11 February 1957 noted "each time he made a movement the girls screamed; a flick of the wrist sent them hysterical as they clapped and stamped on and off the beat." [30]

Three of the album's selections, "Honky-Tonk Blues", "Kaw-Liga" and "Wedding Bells", were written or popularised by Hank Williams. [15] Williams' songs were among the first Steele learnt to play. [3] He considered "a good third" of his live set at this time to be country music, commenting "believing the drums accentuated the second and fourth beat of the bar, the fans assumed it was rock and roll." [31] In a 1957 article, Steele singled out "What Is This Thing Called Love", a jazz standard written by Cole Porter, as one of his favourite songs to sing. [3] The song had previously been recorded by Frank Sinatra, whose work Steele admired. [3] "Razzle-Dazzle", written by Jesse Stone, had been a 1956 hit for Bill Haley & His Comets, while "Giddy Up a Ding-Dong" was originally recorded by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, who toured the UK with Steele in May 1957. [32] [33] [34] A studio version of "Teenage Party", written by Steele, was issued as the B-side of his single "Knee Deep in the Blues" in February 1957. [26] [35]

Release and reception

Tommy Steele Stage Show was released by Decca on 29 March 1957. [26] It was available only as a 10-inch LP rather than a standard 12-inch. [26] It reached number five on the Record Mirror albums chart (later the UK Albums Chart) on 21 April 1957 and was the week's highest charting non-soundtrack or compilation album. [12] The album was reissued, in its original 10-inch form, in July 1981 as part of a mid-price Decca campaign that also included The Tommy Steele Story (1957) and Billy Fury's The Sound of Fury (1960). [6] [36] It received a CD release in 2017 as part of Real Gone Music's 4CD Three Classic Albums set compiling Steele's 1950s recordings. [37]

Despite the album being commercially successful, it received a poor reception. Bob Dawbarn of Melody Maker , then largely a jazz-oriented publication, commented "from a musical point of view everything is wrong - pitching, tempo, timing of entries and diction". Dawbarn wrote that he considered himself "sufficiently cynical to believe this one will sell a million while failing to find anything in the whole LP to justify such a sale". [38] Writing under his pseudonym Disker in the Liverpool Echo , Tony Barrow described Steele as "full of life" and noted that the entertainer "never seems embarrassed by the most hard-boiled audiences", but opined "apart from his exuberance he has nothing. It is apparent that he is quite unable to sing and play the guitar at the same time. In the case of many of his numbers I would even go further and say he cannot sing with or without a guitar." He concluded that "the fact remains that he is still a scream-agers' delight and Decca will probably get away with this album." [39] In The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (1997), Colin Larkin rated the album three stars out of five. [40]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Giddy Up a Ding-Dong" Freddie Bell, Pep Lattanzi1:59
2."Treasure of Love"Joe Shapiro, Lou Stallman1:43
3."Honky-Tonk Blues" Hank Williams 3:00
4."Razzle-Dazzle" Jesse Stone 2:36
5."Kaw-Liga"Williams, Fred Rose 2:12
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Teenage Party" Tommy Steele 2:20
2."Wedding Bells"Claude Boone4:46
3."What Is This Thing Called Love" Cole Porter 1:35
4."On the Move" Mike and Bernie Winters 2:13
5."Rock with the Caveman" Frank Chacksfield, [nb 3] Lionel Bart, Mike Pratt, Steele1:53

Notes

  1. ↑ A British precursor to Steele was Tony Crombie & His Rockets, a band of jazz players who modelled themselves after Bill Haley & His Comets and formed in August 1956. [16] [17] Their Columbia single "Teach You to Rock" made the UK Top 30 in October 1956. [18]
  2. ↑ Steele wrote in March 1957 that he did not consider himself "part of the skiffle movement". [19] In 2018, he told Bob Stanley that he did not like skiffle at this time, recalling, "It was like an old-fashioned country music to me, and I wanted to do this wonderful new beat music." [1]
  3. ↑ Frank Chacksfield is not credited on the single release of "Rock with the Caveman".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Steele</span> British entertainer (born 1936)

Sir Thomas Hicks, known professionally as Tommy Steele, is an English entertainer, regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">That'll Be the Day</span> 1957 single by the Crickets

"That'll Be the Day" is a song written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison. It was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 and was re-recorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, the Crickets. The 1957 recording achieved widespread success. Holly's producer, Norman Petty, was credited as a co-writer, although he did not contribute to the composition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Hayward</span> British musician, lead singer and guitarist of the Moody Blues

David Justin Hayward is an English musician. He was the guitarist and frontman of the rock band the Moody Blues from 1966 until that group's dissolution in 2018. He became the group's principal vocalist and its most prolific songwriter over the 1967–1974 period, and composed several international hit singles for the band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Pratt (actor)</span> English actor, musician, songwriter and screenwriter

Michael John Pratt was an English actor, musician, songwriter and screenwriter, known for his work on British television in the 1960s and 1970s.

"Butterfly" is a popular song written by Bernie Lowe and Kal Mann and published in 1957. The song is credited to Anthony September as songwriter in some sources. This was a pseudonym of Anthony Mammarella, producer of American Bandstand.

"Red Sails in the Sunset" is a popular song. Published in 1935, its music was written by Hugh Williams with lyrics by prolific songwriter Jimmy Kennedy. The song was inspired by the "red sails" of Kitty of Coleraine, a yacht Kennedy often saw off the northern coast of Northern Ireland and by his adopted town Portstewart, a seaside resort in County Londonderry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Put a Spell on You</span> 1956 single by Screamin Jay Hawkins

"I Put a Spell on You" is a 1956 song written and recorded by "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins. The selection became a classic cult song, covered by a variety of artists. It was Hawkins' greatest commercial success, reportedly surpassing a million copies in sales, even though it failed to make the Billboard pop or R&B charts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Robertson (musician)</span> Musical artist

Henry MacLeod Robertson, often credited as Harry Robinson, was a Scottish musician, bandleader, music director and composer. He worked as a musical director on British television shows in the 1950s and 1960s, and also arranged for theatre shows and films, notably those of the Hammer production company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Here Come the Nice</span> 1967 single by Small Faces

"Here Come the Nice" is a song by English rock band Small Faces. Written by guitarist Steve Marriott and bass guitarist Ronnie Lane, it was released as a single on 2 June 1967, through Immediate Records. The song, which was the band's debut on Immediate, was their first promoted release of 1967, following feuds with Decca Records. It marked a distinct turning point for Small Faces' career, being their first single to deliberately venture into psychedelia, though they had previously done that on a few album tracks for Decca. The song's subject regarding a drug dealer somehow bypassed the BBC censors, who did not ban it, which resulted in the song managing to chart at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart during the summer of 1967. The song received mostly good reviews from music critics, with many positively noting the change of genres.

Terry Dene is a British rock music singer popular in the late 1950s and early 60s. He had three Top Twenty hits between June 1957 and May 1958.

British rock and roll, or sometimes British rock 'n' roll, is a style of popular music based on American rock and roll, which emerged in the late 1950s and was popular until the arrival of beat music in 1962. It was important in establishing British youth and popular music culture and was a key factor in subsequent developments that led to the British Invasion of the mid-1960s. Since the 1960s, some stars of the genre, most notably Cliff Richard, have managed to sustain successful careers and there have been periodic revivals of this form of music.

Charles William Harris, better known by his stage name of Wee Willie Harris, was an English rock and roll singer. He is best known for his energetic stage shows and TV performances starting in the 1950s, when he was known as "Britain's wild man of rock 'n' roll".

<i>The Tommy Steele Story</i> 1957 British film

The Tommy Steele Story is a 1957 British film directed by Gerard Bryant and starring Tommy Steele, dramatising Steele's rise to fame as a teen idol. Along with Rock You Sinners, it was one of the first British films to feature rock and roll. In the US, where Steele was not well-known, the film was released under the title Rock Around the World. The film was announced in January 1957, three months after the release of Steele's first single "Rock with the Caveman".

"Treasure of Love" is a song written by Joe Shapiro and Lou Stallman and performed by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters. It was featured on their 1956 album Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters. "Treasure of Love" reached No. 1 on the U.S. R&B chart, No. 16 on the U.S. pop chart. Overseas, the song went to No. 27 on the UK Singles Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little White Bull</span> 1959 single by Tommy Steele

"Little White Bull" is a song by English rock and roll singer Tommy Steele, released as a single in November 1959. It was included on the EP Tommy the Toreador from the film of the same name in which Steele also starred. Steele's royalties from the single's sales were donated to the "Variety Club of Great Britain fund for a cancer research unit for children". The song peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart and it was awarded a silver disc in January 1960 for 250,000 sales in Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock with the Caveman</span> 1956 single by Tommy Steele and the Steelmen

"Rock with the Caveman" is the debut single by Tommy Steele and the Steelmen, released in October 1956. It peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, making it one of the first British rock and roll records to chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">What a Mouth (What a North and South)</span> 1906 song written by R. P. Weston

"What a Mouth (What a North and South)" is a music hall song written by R. P. Weston in 1906 and first sung by Harry Champion. It is better known for the version recorded by Tommy Steele in 1960, which peaked at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart.

<i>Jim!</i> 1958 studio album by Jim Dale

Jim! is the first studio album by the English actor, singer and songwriter Jim Dale, credited to Dale with Ken Jones and his Orchestra and the Michael Sammes Singers. Released as a 10-inch LP on EMI's Parlophone label in March 1958, Jim! was produced by the label's head George Martin and has been cited as "the first British rock and roll LP". It was Dale's only album released during his initial fame as a teen idol; he quit recording to pursue comedy soon after its release.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Stanley, Bob. "How Tommy Steele, Britain's biggest pin-up, was savaged by the teenage mob". The Times. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Eder, Bruce. "Tommy Steele Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Steele, Tommy (2 February 1957). "Tommy Steele Says" (PDF). Melody Maker. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  4. 1 2 Beacom, Brian (28 August 2015). "Britain's first pop star Tommy Steele on six decades in showbiz". The Herald. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  5. ↑ Spencer, Leigh (2009). "Here's what he did when he wanted to rave". Now Dig This (314).
  6. 1 2 Mathews, Derek (2006). Tommy Steele: His Life, His Songs . Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  7. ↑ Stanley, Bob (2013). Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop. Faber & Faber. ISBN   978-0-571-28198-5.
  8. ↑ Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 1133/4. ISBN   1-85227-745-9.
  9. 1 2 Kennedy, John (1958). Tommy Steele. Corgi.
  10. ↑ "Rock 'n' roll has got the debs too!". The People: 1. 16 September 1956. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  11. ↑ "Rock with the Caveman". www.skidmore.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
  12. 1 2 3 "Tommy Steele". Official Charts. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  13. ↑ "The green man recalls some of his most interesting assignments and the highspots of show business in 1956" (PDF). Record Mirror: 13. 22 December 1956. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  14. ↑ "Tommy Steele gets rolling" (PDF). Melody Maker. 12 January 1957. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  15. 1 2 Lashua, Brett; Spracklen, Karl; Wagg, Stephen (2014). Sounds and the City: Popular Music, Place and Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   9781137283115 . Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  16. ↑ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1 ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 29. CN 5585.
  17. ↑ Chabourne, Eugene. "Tony Crombie". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  18. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 127. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  19. ↑ "Skiffle on trial" (PDF). Melody Maker: 3. 9 March 1957. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  20. ↑ O'Curran, Charles (27 July 1957). "At last! The truth about Elvis Presley" (PDF). Melody Maker. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  21. ↑ Brownlee, Nick (2003). Bubblegum: The History Of Plastic Pop. Bobcat Books. ISBN   9780857124487.
  22. ↑ "Rock man rock" (PDF). Melody Maker. 23 February 1957. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  23. ↑ "Rock with Coles melody makers" (PDF). Melody Maker. 16 March 1957. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  24. ↑ Schroeder's Collectible Toys: Antique to Modern Guide. Collector Boosk. 1995. ISBN   9780891456612 . Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  25. ↑ Lewisohn, Mark (2013). The Beatles – All These Years, Volume One: Tune In. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN   978-1-4000-8305-3 . Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 Lassandro, Sebastian (2021). Tommy Steele: A Lifetime in the Spotlight. Fonthill Media. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  27. ↑ "Tommy Steele is debs' delight" (PDF). Melody Maker. 1 December 1956. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  28. ↑ Newlands, Wendy (22 March 1957). "Record hits". Westminster and Pimlico News: 4. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  29. ↑ "I didn't hear a word". Leicester Mercury: 4. 9 February 1957. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  30. ↑ Gaylor, Gus (15 February 1957). "Teenage Gus Gaylor reports on a lot of Tommy rock". Peterborough Standard: 9. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  31. ↑ Leigh, Spencer. "Here's what he did when he wanted to rave". Spencer Leigh. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  32. ↑ "Bill Haley's amazing disc achievements in Britain" (PDF). NME. 1 February 1957. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  33. ↑ "Steele and Bellboys in package tour" (PDF). Melody Maker. 30 March 1957. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  34. ↑ Escott, Colin (1999). All Roots Lead to Rock: Legends of Early Rock 'n' Roll. Bear Family. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  35. ↑ E. James, David (2015). Rock 'n' Film: Cinema's Dance with Popular Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780190842017 . Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  36. ↑ "Comeback for the 10-inch LP" (PDF). Music Week: 2. 18 July 1981. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  37. ↑ "Three Classic Albums 4CD". Raucous Records. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  38. ↑ Dawbarn, Bob (20 April 1957). "Pop Discs" (PDF). Melody Maker. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  39. ↑ "Off the record". Liverpool Echo: 61. 30 March 1957. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  40. ↑ Larkin, Colin (1997). "Tommy Steele". Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. London: Virgin Books. p. 1133. ISBN   1-85227 745 9.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.