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WHERE SOME OF THE BEST MUSIC EVER

RECORDED FOUND ITS WAY ON TO DISC

Okay, so that’s probably only my opinion, you’ll have to let me know. I want to introduce you to a
booklet of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues record label listings which was published in 1978 and

was put together by Ray Topping with a forward by
John Broven. I’d been buying blues and R&B records
since around 1963-1964, some of which were quite
possibly from the Crescent City, not that I would’ve

been aware of that at the time. This booklet helped a
lot.

As time moved on and it became much easier to buy
imported 45s and LPs, many New Orleans labels
found their way to my shelves. Among the most

obvious was the 45 on Par-lo by Aaron Neville,
(’Tell It Like It Is’) as well as a selection of albums
on the Bandy label by people like Ernie K-Doe,
Benny Spellman, Chris Kenner, Art & Aaron
Neville and Jessie Hill.

These days of course you can find lots of the
above on compilation albums: some great,
some to be left in the record racks! There
follows a list of music that I’d encouraged
you to find, if, of course you wanna “Laissez

les bons temps rouler”.

JOCKOMO JOCKOMO : Music Club MCCD
206 (1995) Twenty two spicy favourites

WE LOVE TO ROCK ‘N’ ROLL : WestSide

WESM 544 (1998) Great N.O. party disc

MR. JOE’S JAMBALAYA & LOADED DOWN WITH THE BLUES : Charly SNAD664
(2012) Double cd featuring two previous vinyl albums.

NEW ORLEANS BLUES, SOUL & JAZZ GUMBO : Metro METRSL033 (2012) Another double disc
worth every penny, even if you have some of the tracks already!

NEW ORLEANS GRIS GRIS : Metro METRSL057 (2013) A few rarities on this double cd set.

There’s so much available to select from, including individual artist albums… talent like the late Johnny
Adams, Earl King, Snooks Eaglin, Neville Brothers and so many more. My advice—go grab some!

Bob Pearce