VICKI YOUNG, "RIOT IN CELL BLOCK #9" C/W "HONEY LOVE," CAPITOL F-2865 (RELEASED 7/1954)

In the summer of 1954, mainstream popular music sat in the shadow of a gathering tsunami. They pretended it wasn’t there, and the acts like The Four Lads, Dinah Shore, The Modernaires and a bazillion dance bands still occupied the white pop charts. That tsunami was rock ‘n’ roll—a deadly blend of country and rhythm and blues that had, in July of that year, already unleased its thesis statement—“That’s All Right” by Elvis, Scotty and Bill.

Just a novelty, executives scoffed. It’ll never last. While many labels did white covers of Black chart hits, it was more focused on the song rather than the genre. If “Honey Love” by Clyde McPhatter and The Drifters was a #1 Black hit, why not make several white pop covers to get in on the action? This covered the bases and the songwriters didn’t mind this passive income. But the results…(deep sigh)

“Tepid” begins to describe most of them. Vocalists and musicians unfamiliar with Black music couldn’t make much of it or perform it with real fervor. Most of these white pop covers—which would continue well into the rock ‘n’ roll era—lacked guts, and further revealed the harmless, bland nature of post-war pop music. Rock ‘n’ roll was the shot in the arm needed to combat the malignancy of vanilla-on-vanilla mainstream music, which was stuck in a time-warp. 1954 pop hits could have been recorded verbatim in 1939 without significant changes.

Some white artists approached this new music with zest and curiosity. The earliest reactions to rock ‘n’ roll fascinate me, and when they’re good they can be impressive. Such is the case with pop chanteuse Vicki Young’s take on the Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller song “Riot in Cell Block #9,” written for and performed by The Robins for Leiber and Stoller’s Spark Records out of Los Angeles. It reached the r&b Top 10 and charted at #79 on the white pop charts in the summer of ’54.

At that time, Leiber and Stoller were independent producers for Capitol Records, where they wrote and produced a series of singles for white harmony group The Cheers. They also appear to have engineered this cover version of “Riot,” for which Jerry Leiber rewrote the lyrics to accommodate a female point of view.

Dave Cavanaugh’s orchestra attempted the bluesy stop-start backing heard on the original Robins recording. The results are better than one might expect. Young’s vocal is full of bite and drama and Cavanaugh’s backing is hard-edged. The addition of for-hire saxophonist Plas Johnson adds some authenticity to the melee. A capable, bluesy guitarist joins the fray later in the record.

Rockabilly filly Wanda Jackson covered Young’s version for Capitol Records in 1961. While that version is celebrated by fans, Vicki Young was there first, and thought she was no rock ‘n’ roller, this was an adventurous foot forward into a musical unknown.

Hear it >>>>> HERE. <<<<<

The intended A-side was “Honey Love,” an early hit for The Drifters on Atlantic Records. This calypso-tinged bopper received many covers, including a country version by novelty-prone Bill Carlisle for Mercury Records. All covers made a muddle of the opening rhythmic chant which, in the Drifters original, is “love-me-love-me-love-me-lo.”

In this more tempered pop version, it’s “let-me-let-me-let-me-know.” A more aggressive white vocal chorus tames this rendition, but Ms. Young gives it a sincere go and her performance is appealing. Overall, this version is an ideal specimen of how mainstream pop music regarded and first responded to a sound that would soon bury it deep in the past.

Hear it >>>>> HERE. <<<<<

Vicki Young did other r&b covers but this single was her most consequential. And that’s all we wrote!

Tomorrow: Northern Soul nuggets by The Poppies via a spendy 1966 Epic Records single. One side has a Sun Records connection!