Joel Hill, "I Thought It Over" c/w "Little Lover," Trans American TR-PW-519 (rel. 9/1960)
This was the triumphant first era of The Producer: their word, not the artists', was law. Phil Spector, Hugo & Luigi, Bob Crewe and Lee Hazelwood were considered the musical equivalent of a movie director. It was their vision, and any song, artist or sound bent to their will.
Many fine records came from this approach; a cubic ton of now-unlistenable dreck dominates this period. To write it off, as rock historians still persist in doing, is an ignorant error. Always assume something of interest lurks beneath the surface of popular culture. Take some effort to find it and you'll be rewarded.
To young musicians in the late 1950s, rock 'n' roll was a guiding light, and the forced change of course towards more efficient, controlled and commodified teen music didn't appeal to them. Their only course: to do what they did and find whatever small audience would react. These musicians knew it was a matter of time before the pendulum swung in their direction.
Joel Scott Hill was born in 1939 in a small town in East Texas. In his childhood, his family relocated to San Diego, California. Hill took up the guitar in his early youth and was compelled to master the instrument. By his teens, he had a rock 'n' roll band which wowed his local audience.
Joel had an "in" to the musical world. His cousin was Jeanette Hicks, a country singer whose duet with George Jones, "Yearning," was a chart hit for Texas label Starday. Ms. Hicks had Hill join her for a live performance on the TV series Louisiana Hayride, where he soloed on-screen and impressed the crowd. Joel met Johnny Cash, a featured guest that evening. This gig might have convinced Hill he had an entree to musical stardom.
Back in San Diego, Hill started a new band called The Rebels. High-school chum Jim Lee, who worked in the music world, got the band into a recording studio for an unissued session funded by Era Records. This no-go moment was deflating, but The Rebels rebounded. Lee convinced them to work up some guitar instrumentals and pitched them to Titan, a small LA imprint. As The Strangers, they had a pop chart hit with "Caterpillar Crawl," a loping slice of vibrato menace that was first called "Cockroach Crawl."
The Strangers had big regional hits with the song, which got into the national Top 50 and led to several sought-after follow-up discs. Without their fans' knowledge, Joel Hill had gotten into their system.
It made sense to try a vocal recording. Hill was a clear devotee of the Sun Records style of rock 'n' roll. With Jim Lee as producer and co-songwriter, Joel went solo for Trans American, with two recordings that kept alive the volatile spirit of 1956.
With heavy slapback reverb on his vocal, Hill sings on the dazzling "I Thought It Over," which features his impressive, adept guitar playing alongside pounding piano and, somewhere behind it all, a strong bass line and propulsive production. Jerry Lee Lewis could've recorded this for Sun Records without much change; producer Sam Phillips or Jack Clement might have dialed down the reverb, but the overkill behind Hill's voice makes this perhaps the most forceful rock 'n' roll statement of 1960--a year in dire need of some musical oomph. This side has become a favorite of rockabilly fans who, like their Northern Soul equivalents, treasure commercial failures and treat them as though they were major hits.
The record's intended A-side, "Little Lover," isn't a pleasant rockaballad: proof the above reviewer didn't bother to listen. The reverb is lessened, and Hill's appealing Texas drawl is easier to hear. His guitar's on fire in this loping mid-tempo mover with a sense of menace for force not found in the discographies of Frankie Avalon or Bobby Rydell.
Thus, the single wasn't poised for the big time. It charted well in some areas, including Vancouver, B.C., whose listeners still encouraged rock 'n' roll. The song's narrative gets a bit convoluted, but so are human feelings; it conveys a young person's romantic anxiety well.
Given a small pressing, this single faded from the public ear soon after its delivery and was bootlegged in the 1970s--a sure sign of a rare record's desirability.
After the non-event of this single, Hill turned to session work, and his guitar is heard on many a teen pop single. Monogram Records releases three solo discs in 1963 and '64, by which time Beatlemania restored rock 'n' roll to the public ear and eye. Hill formed a new band, The Invaders; they opened for The Rolling Stones at a '64 California concert.
Hill later joined Moby Grape, pop-psych trend-setters; later in his long career, he was a member of white bluesmongers Canned Heat. Hill is still with us, and I hope he looks back as this 1960 single with some fondness. It was one part of the flame that kept rock 'n' roll alive and well.
Tomorrow: celebrate Easter with the passion of The "5" Royales, via their final single for Apollo Records. A triumph of my skills as an audio restorer and two outstanding sides by this greatest of all Black vocal groups!
Two great songs! "I thought It Over" starts at sweaty fever pitch and never lets up. "Little Lover" happily bops along—it reminds me a bit of Sam The Sham's jaunty tunes to come a few years later. Gee-tar is excellent on both of these songs.
ReplyDeleteI hear it now: both sides really predict the Tex-Mex style of Sam The Sham and His Pharoahs. Good call, my friend!
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