Sunday, September 25, 2022

Twist--Bobby Dunn With Les Cooper and His Twisters (Palace M-689)

 



What a front jacket!  How best to describe it?  A child's crayon scribblings?  A movie poster for Attack of the Killer Silly String?  An image from a failed 1960 private eye series?

Pretty minimalist, but I like it.  And this twist LP (aptly called Twist) features something fairly rare to budget label twistploitation albums: Accurate track credits.  The tracks are by the actual R&B artists--Bobby Dunn and Les Cooper--actually credited!  My friend and R&B/budget label expert Brian McFadden kindly confirmed this for me. Save for a few retitled tracks, this release is totally on the level.  And Brian sent me an image of Bobby Dunn's You Are the One (which shows up on Side 2, track 3) in its original 45 rpm issue:


Come the next Palace Twist LP, "Beep Bottomly" was the name on the cover.  I think we can assume that "Beep Bottomly" was totally made up.  Or we can only hope, for Beep's sake.

Some excellent R&B by these two well known artists in that vein, even if at least a couple selections are somewhat derivative.  I refer to the Side 2 opener, Do the Twist! which is basically Money Honey and Fannie Mae, melody- and riff-wise.  I love it, regardless.  And the Side 2 opener, What a Thrill! also uses the Fannie Mae riff.  Interestingly, Buster Brown's Fannie Mae was coupled with the Les Cooper hit Wiggle Wobble on a 1963 Oldies label reissue.  Small world.

Like most twist LPs, real or of the twistploitation variety, this gets a little monotonous, but it rocks solidly throughout.  Come to think of it, my last budget twist offering (by "Tubby Chess") was unusually good for a jobber-rack release, so maybe we're seeing a pattern here.  Or maybe not.

If you're in the mood to twist (and, by the fourth day of fall, who isn't?), this is the twist LP for you!  Or, if you prefer, the Twist LP for you!  Thanks again to Brian for his help.


DOWNLOAD: Twist--Bobby Dunn With Les Cooper and His Twisters (Palace M-689)


Do the Twist!

Twisting With Joyce

The Congo Twist

Les Cooper's Twist

I've Got Love in My Heart for You

Twist With the Twisters

What a Thrill!

Shimmy, Baby

You Are the One (Bobby Dunn)

The Chinese Twist

The Latin Twist

Twisting on the Hill



Lee


5 comments:

musicman1979 said...

You can tell your public that Beep Bottomly is a fake artist. I looked up Volume Two on E-Bay, and it features some newer twist tunes like "the Peppermint Twist" alongside the 10 cuts from the Tubby Chess Twist album. Volume 3 was a combination of cuts from this album and repeats from the Tubby Chess; you could call Volume 3 the "Best of Palace Records Twist albums."

https://www.ebay.com/itm/293305498226?hash=item444a5eba72:g:dmEAAOSwMmBV6xca&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4NVThqS5On52sViYhVrCyaTk01H%2FxDZYCcVfK%2Fh1AiMD3nR7lG6fEuqeo0DpW46y%2F9xjAzp7LFeGWVPKyZqwGZYl5Lp0VaHQNZLOwOKK3b2%2BLIvszbC3RIFBPSNgJKzwmbNrefM2xc%2FRwhb%2FwR%2B

As for the record itself, it sounds like a combination of some of the Teen-Age Dance Party rock sound that you featured on this blog earlier this year, some screaming R&B, and even a hint of Jazz. There are some cuts on here that did have some potential on here to become to huge hits. Even though he played on the Mercury/Wing and Phillips Twist LP's you spotlighted earlier this year, some of this record sounds like what it would be like if Boots Randolph cut his own solo Twist record. There is some good stuff on this, however, most of this is typical of the same type of generic "Blah" music that Palace put out on a regular basis. '

Bobby Dunn sounds a little bit like Gene McDaniels on "You Are the One" It sounds like most of the kind of R&B that the labels were issuing in the early-'50's. If Snuff Garrett got his hands on this album and got Ernie Freeman to do the arrangement, Liberty Records would have been able to turn this song into a huge hit for Gene McDaniels along the lines of "Point of No Return" "Chip Chip" and "A Hundred Pounds of Clay." There is even a touch of BB King in Bobby Dunn's vocals. This tune has the feel of a Demo.

While the Bobby Dunn cuts sound more like genuine R&B than regular twist music, they are actually pretty good. While not quite as musically exciting as Tubby Chess and his Candy Stripe Twisters, This Twist-blues-R&B-Pop musical hybrid is good, but not great. Three out of five stars from me.



Diane said...

So much information, as usual. Love getting to twist again!

Ernie said...

Sometimes I can't help but wonder how these guys got away with just blatant theft and misrepresentation. :(

TupeloBrian said...

We had a Palace kiddie record bought before I came along. Billed to the Cricketeers, I think it was a low budget ripoff of Alvin and the Chipmunks but I could be wrong.

Rev. bIGhIG said...

Well, I loved Les Cooper's "Wiggle Wobble", so let's see what's on this LP.
Thanks.