Roy Brown ★★★★
Roy Brown – Rocks
BEAR FAMILY. CD
The up-tempo side of Mr Good Rocking Tonight, 1947-60.
Beth Lesser
A key post-war R&B singer and songwriter who influenced many future stars – B.B. King, Little Richard and Elvis being obvious examples – Roy Brown cut an impressive string of jumping sides for labels like DeLuxe, King and Imperial, which pack a formidable punch when rounded up together like this. His self-penned calling card Good Rocking Tonight, recorded in 1947 at Cosimo Matassa’s studio in New Orleans, features a booting horn section, while the knowingly salacious lyrics of Butcher Pete (1949) and Good Rockin’ Man (1951) have little to do with your friendly high street food purveyor or with comfortable front-porch chairs. A particular highlight is Riding High (1949), which echoes the earlier boogie-driven intensity of Roy Milton’s Solid Senders or Louis Jordan’s Tympany Five. The hits dried up, but Brown kept up the quality right until the close of the 1950s.