DAVID HOUSTON, "ONE AND ONLY" C/W "HACKIN' AROUND," RCA VICTOR 47-6927 (REL. 5/1957)

 

Today's record, released in the rock 'n' roll-friendly year of 1957, illustrates how the major labels approached this vibrant vernacular music style. One side of this single is pitch-perfect; the other shows a confused notion of what rock 'n' roll was in the hands of New York producers and a major record label. 

With the right material, and with a game performer, even the most cynical arrangers, contemptuous of this new youth music, couldn't screw it up. "One and Only" is an ideal specimen of the best results. David Houston, 22 at the time, made his first recordings in 1955 and was picked up by RCA-Victor later that year. The label kept him on for close to two years and tried to mold him into a mainstream pop singer. Despite this, he countered that schlock with some stellar pieces of rockabilly, abetted by studio guitarist Mickey Baker, who could only make any session he played on better than average.

"One and Only" has Houston in a crazed mood. He rattles off its machine-gun lyrics with an intensity that reminds of Jerry Lee Lewis, and Mickey Baker encourages this manic episode with his lightning-fingered fretwork. It's astounding that this record is allowed to be as intense as it is. No vocal chorus, no cutesy touches--just Houston's voice, Baker's guitar, bass and drums. Baker's high-register solo is a thing of frantic beauty.

This is a recording worthy of Sun Records--where Houston made a one-off single in 1963 and reissued in '66 when his massive country hit "Almost Persuaded" topped the charts. Houston's single for Sam Phillips is a wan ghost of this mesmerizing, raw performance.

In 1957, Cash Box still enthused about rock 'n' roll.

"Hackin' Around" isn't bad, in comparison, but shows the label's reluctance to go full-bore rock 'n' roll. A vocal chorus and sped-up piano dominate this teen-centric side penned by three middle-aged New York musicos, among them Charles Grean and Bob "Hutch" Davie. 

When I first heard this side, I feared the worst, but it's far less destroyed than other RCA-Victor rock 'n' roll records of its year. 1957 saw more genuine rockers fly under the radar, as their sound was still deemed commercial. The bloom was off the rose by mid-1958, and with the passing of Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in February 1959, rock 'n' roll went underground for a few years. It never died, but it was at serious odds with the commercial mainstream until the British invaders reminded us how good it was/is.

The Lousiana-born Houston made oodles of records, but nothing he recorded after 1957 is worth hearing. Before he went full-on country, his recordings catered to the teen pop sound, often with calamitous results. I'm glad he was able to make a handful of solid, sincere rockabilly sides--and that he sounds like he enjoyed every moment.

Tomorrow: Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps with their third Capitol Records single--two tracks from their debut LP of that year. A hard-to-find single!