REVIEWS
GREEN HELL (D)
"The Q-Recordings New Mexico 58 - 64". Roher Rock & Roll von einer in Vergessenheit geratenen 50ies Legende. Dank der Rock & Roll archäologischen Besessenheit des Beat-Man gibt es jetzt diese Zusammenstellung mit verschollen geglaubten Aufnahmen, komplett mit ausführlichen Linernotes und einem Interview mit Jerry J. Nixon. Die Songs sind gesanglich nicht gerade meisterhaft, aber die sehr gute Backing Band macht das mehr als wett. Gerade die frühen Stücke sind pures Dynamit. Die Sechziger Aufnahmen hingegen gehen schon mehr in Richtung Pop! Wirklich sehr gelungene Platte, und dass nicht nur wegen der Musik – dem Beat-Man ist es hier gelungen einen genialen Schwindel aufzuziehen! Darf man es überhaupt verraten? Wer ist der angeblich 1999 gestorbene Jerry J. Nixon wirklich? Wurde hier ein neues musikalisches Feld aufgetan – die Erfindung verschollener Rock & Roll Helden?! Kauf die Platte und mach dir selbst einen Reim.
SHREDDING PAPER,USA
Jerry J. Nixon - "Gentleman Of Rock n Roll"
"Out of the blue" might be understatement here. Are these classic rockabilly recordings really from the early '60s? According to the liner notes, Nixon was born in Yorkshire, England in 1937 and moved to the United States in 1955 where the success of Elvis Presley spurred Nixon to try his hand at the genre. In the late '50s and early '60s great regional rockabilly records were common, as was their lack of national success. Nixon wrote some absolutely stunning songs that fans of Warren Smith and Ral Donner will appreciate in a big way. "Moonlight" is a superlative rock-a-ballad that sounds like something that rolled right out of the Sun Records studios. "Red Sun" is a fantastic rocker that surfaces here in two versions. The single version from 1964 is a polished gem with Nixon's band The Volcanoes in great form. Later, the disc provides the original demo version from '58 with more of a Hasil Adkins psychobilly feel. There are some cover versions here, including a pair of live Elvis covers from a 1958 performance, but it's the quality of the original material that makes this the rockabilly find of the last twenty years. :
munster ,spain
En este disco hay 5 singles que Jerry J Nixon publicó en el sello Q de New Mexico entre 1958y 1963. Puro rock&roll y algunas baladas tambien. En los temas de los 60s incluso hay un órgano Farfisa. Además canciones en directo con la gente chillando y las chicas volviendose locas, algunas entrevistas de la radio y algunas tomas ineditas y demos. Jerry J Nixon murió en 1999 pero aqui esta este album lleno de fantástico rock&roll de los 50s, un gran compositor y uno de los mayores heroes desconocidos del rock&roll.
alan wright , usa
This CD purports to be the entire recorded outfit of an obscure '50s rockabilly singer/guitarist named Gerald James Hall a.k.a. Jerry J. Nixon, an English expatriate who was based in New Mexico and released records on the obscure Q Recordings label. I, for one, am simply not buying it. Not that this isn't good, in fact it's very good rock and roll, but there's no way this stuff was recorded in the late '50s and early '60s. It's simply too well-produced and the fact that much of this is in stereo makes it all the more unlikely. Who is behind the mystery music man is anyone's guess, though. The CD comes with a booklet detailing the career of Jerry J. Nixon, and has period looking pics to back it up. Whoever - beyond Voodoo Rhythm themselves - is behind it certainly did a good job with this hoax. The less savvy might be fooled, but any attempts to find any other info about Nixon, Q Recordings and his back-up band the Volcanoes, has proved fruitless. The label gives themselves an out as well, claiming that Nixon died in 2001. Regardless, this is some hot stuff, full of great hiccuppy vocals and classy lead git work on originals like "Saturday Midnight Bop," "Red Sun," "(We're Gonna) Wang Dang Doodle," more pop-oriented numbers like "Tonight" and "Miss Lonely" - which references Rick Nelson's "Lonesome Town" - and "live" covers of "Ready Teddy," "Rip It Up," "End Of The Road," and "Keep A Knockin." A brief interview clip also belies the origin of Jerry J. Nixon, since he sounds uncannily like Voodoo Rhythm label owner Beatman! Whatever the story is, and who knows when it'll be dispelled, this is some great roots rock and roll music.
rolf hansson, nor
Beatles tillhör rockhistoriens mest stilbildande artister, kanske var de t.o.m. det mest betydelsefulla bandet som funnits inom det vi kallar rock- eller popmusik. Men lek med tanken att de fyra Liverpoolgrabbarna hade debuterat idag, och att de hade låtit som de gjorde på 1960-talet. (Ja, jag vet att det är omöjligt, men försök ändå att tänka er det.) Hade de blivit lika stora då? Eller hade de avfärdats som ett förhållandevis ointressant, 60-talsinspirerat retroband? Den här typen av resonemang kring förhållandet mellan musikalisk kvalitet och tid dyker automatiskt upp när jag lyssnar på 'Gentleman of rock´n´roll'. Så här ligger det nämligen till: Voodoo Rhythm Records påstår att Jerry J Nixon är en sorgligt bortglömd hjälte från rockens barndom. Inspelningarna på denna CD sägs komma från de singlar Nixon och hans kompand The Volcanoes ska ha spelat in för ett litet bolag vid namn Quality Records i New Mexico mellan 1958 och 1964, samt från några radioinspelningar gjorda under samma tidsperiod. CD-omslaget med tillhörande booklet förstärker intrycket av att det handlar om autentiskt 50- och 60-talsmaterial. Där finns ett antal foton som onekligen ser ut att vara från 1950-talet, bilder på skivetiketter från originalsinglarna, samt en intervju med Nixon som sägs vara gjord 1999, två år innan hans bortgång.
Men samtidigt antyder skivbolaget att alltihop kan vara fejk och att Jerry J Nixon & The Volcanoes i själva verket kan vara ett nutida rockabillyband som hittat på hela denna historia och medvetet försökt få sina inspelningar att låta "gamla". I pressreleasen står det nämligen: I don´t know if this is real old stuff or only a big rock'n´roll swindle...decide yourself.... Givetvis blir inspelningarnas äkthet avgörande för min bedömning. Om detta verkligen är autentiska inspelningar från sent 50- och tidigt 60-tal har Voodoo Rhythm Records verkligen lyckats gräva fram en intressant, bortglömd pusselbit ur rockhistorien. Med sin ruffiga, primitiva blandning av rock'n´roll och 60-talspop skulle Jerry och Vulkanerna i så fall vara en felande länk mellan 50-talets rockabilly och garagerockband som Sonics och Wailers.
Om inspelningarna å andra sidan är "fejkade" i den meningen att de egentligen gjorts av ett gäng nutida musikanter – ja, då är mitt intresse naturligtvis inte alls lika stort. Visst, plattan innehåller förstås fortfarande en del fräcka, roliga rocklåtar i tidig 60-talsstil. Men i så fall har ju inte inspelningarna något som helst rockhistoriskt värde. Och då är Jerry J Nixon & The Volcanoes precis det jag i inledningen av denna text menade att ett nutida Beatles skulle vara, alltså ett förhållandevis ointressant, 60-talsinspirerat retroband. Kul för stunden, men knappast av något större intresse för andra än de allra mest hängivna rockabilly- och garagerockfansen.
Kanske finns det någon där ute som vet något om Jerry J Nixon och kan avgöra huruvida dessa inspelningar är nya eller gamla? Själv har jag efter ett tiotal lyssningar ännu inte lyckats bestämma mig för vad jag ska tro...
sleazegrinder ,usa
Beatman and his gang of Swiss pranksters at Voodoo Rhythm are perfectly capable of faking an entire rock and roll career, so when they seem a little hazy on Jerry J's history, I have to remain at least a bit skeptical- I mean, for a record that collects tracks originally taped in 1958-1964, the organ on a few tracks sounds remarkably like the one Beatman's Die Zorros band used just a few months ago- but it's such a great story, I'm gonna hope it's all true anyway. See, Jerry J was a Brit born rockabilly cat who made a name for himself at local hotspots in New Mexico in the late 50's. He recorded for the possibly apocryphal Q label until the early 60's when he punched the owner in the teeth. He got summarily dropped from the label, never regained his momentum, and died a broken man in the 90's. All his singles languished in complete and utter obscurity, until some friend of Beatman's showed up one night at a local bar with a fistful of them under his arm. "The Gentleman of Rock n Roll" collects all these tapes, and this, then, is the first and last full length Jerry J Nixon has ever had.
The music here is stellar early rock n roll, bringing to mind Sun-era Elvis and Eddie Cochran, full of skronking saxes, twangy guitar, Jerry Lee piano plinking, Nixon's distinctive 'billy warble, and a discernable Latin influence, and even if it is all a goof, it's still a killer record- I mean, can you really argue with "(We're Gonna) Wang Dang Doodle"? No way, Jack. There's an excerpt from a radio interview at the opening of "Gentleman" that claims to be from October, 1958, presumably on Mexican radio, since it's mostly in Spanish. The interviewer asks Jerry a long-winded question in Espanol, and he remarks, in terse English, "Yeah, there's 4 guys in the band. You gonna play the record now?" Regardless of Jerry J. Nixon's true origins, I can't think of a better summation of the whole story than that. Lost classic or new ruse, this one's a rocker, for sure.
Rockin' Wildcat Review
Schon vor Monaten erschienen die ersten Gerüchte um einen bis dato unveröffentlichten 50¹s Act mit dem schönen Namen Jerry J. Nixon. Eine Biography machte die Runde, Photos von Singles, die noch nie jemand gesehen hat, Photos eines Künstlers, den noch nie jemand gesehen hat etc. etc. Dies führte soweit, das sich selbst uralte Plattensammler genötigt
sahen ihre Unkenntnis zu gestehen. Nun, ich habe das Album vorliegen, die Photos gesehen, die Songs gehört und darf von meiner Seite aus sagen, Mr. Beatman HUT AB !!!!!!!!!!! Bekannt für seine wundervolle Art von Humor hat Beatman wieder einmal bewiesen, was mit den modernen Mitteln der Werbung und einer hervorragenden Idee bewerkstelligt werden kann. Um¹s kurz zu machen Mr. Jerry J. Nixon existierte als solcher wahrscheinlich nicht, ebenso die Singles, ABER ABER ABER wundervolle Musik, verpackt in eine Story in Bild und Ton. Wen stört¹s hier dass es sich nicht um einen Altstar handelt (Hallo Sammler, hört auf nach den verschwundenen Q Records Singles zu suchen)? Ihr fühlt Euch vorgeführt ABER NICHT DOCH !!! Das Album ist den Kauf so oder so wert. Alleine schon die super gemachten Intervieweinspielungen sind den Kauf wert. Von echten Knallern wie Saturday Midnight Bop, Why Did I ?, Wang Dang Doodle oder Travelling Free, bzw. die zwei supergemachten Livecovers Rip It Up und Ready Teddy bis hin zu 60¹s R'n'R tunes wie Red Sun und Sometimes, von Keep A Knockin und End Of The Road ganz abgesehen. Ein weiteres Album des Jahres und wieder auf Voodoo Rhythm Records wo soll das noch hinführen? Einfach schön und wer das Teil nicht in der Sammlung hat ist selber schuld !! THE BEST FAKE EVER !!!
RECENSIONE
Un'altra intelligente e valorosa iniziativa della Voodoo in questo 2003 è stato il recupero artistico e discografico di Jerry J. Nixon, uno dei più grandi sconosciuti eroi del rock&roll, come viene definito dalla stessa label nelle note informative, nonché notevole song-writer.
Siamo alla fine degli anni '50, in pieno boom rock'n'roll e Jerry, nato in Inghilterra ma trapiantato negli USA nella metà dei '50 registra per la Q Records con i suoi Volcanoes una manciata (4) di singoli nel New Mexico tra il '58 ed il '64 tutti riportati in questo assemblaggio della Voodoo Rhythm, Gentleman of Rock'n'Roll, insieme a registrazioni live a Dallas (i classici Rip It Up e Ready Teddy), outtakes, interviste radiofoniche e sessions dimostrative. Jerry J.Nixon, morto poi nel 1999 in condizioni precarie possedeva uno stile vocale non particolarmente viscerale, piuttosto agrodolce e decadente per il rockabilly ed infatti i brani migliori a mio parere di questa compilation davvero succosa e riuscita non sono i brani più veloci tipicamente rockabilly, Railroad Shuffle, Keep On Knockin', Saturday Midnight Bop (peraltro godibilissimi) ma le ballate lente e mid-tempo di Nixon, genere in cui mi sembra fosse particolarmente versato. Quindi piccoli capolavori perduti riappaiono, sconosciuti davvero fino all'altro ieri, come Moonlight, Why Did I?, Red Sun, Miss Lonely, Tonight, There's A World Between You and Me, Travelling Free, songs ricche di una triste vena melodica e nelle quali fanno capolino anche le tastiere, anticipando certe atmosfere sixties di appena qualche anno dopo.
Lavoro sterile di antiquariato musicale? Assolutamente no: con questo disco la Voodoo afferma
laconicamente il valore meta-temporale ed inossidabile del buon rock'n'roll umettando il tutto di un'accattivante charme nostalgico che non guasta
OTHERS (THE NACKED TRUTH)
HOT JAZZ ET BLUES
Martinez and the Missing Nixon, by Thierry Deschaux 4.September 2003
Late in 1972 on a hot summers night I was in Didier Marnon¹s now legendary Monmatre jazz cellar "Le Flip³. To keep the crowds coming in Didier had begun adding Beat Groups or British style Blues acts to his bill, sometimes resulting in a kind of bubbling tension between his usual cool jazz types and "les Yeah Yeahs³, but he was still doing OK, the music was of a fairly high standard and his over-priced drinks kept flowing.
On this particular night he was holding a kind of all-comers session and to my great surprise, I had the pleasure of finally meeting and seeing one of my favourite sax players Jose Martinez.
Martinez was an Hispanic American who could play any style, Cool, Be-Bop, Hard, Rock n¹ Roll and this night he cut the place up with his playing and for one small moment united the long and short-haired in a display of pure music. Martinez seemed a little down on his luck, floating through Europe picking up gigs with various scratch bands as best he could. I arranged to meet him the next day, I bought him lunch and quite a bit of cheap table wine and he signed several old albums for me which I¹d dug out of my collection, sometimes just on the hunch that he might have played on the session he didn¹t remember too well either but he did remeber the early days and took me right back to starting out in the border country down in New Mexico. He¹d started out playing with a bunch of much younger guys, basically teaching them how to play in order to get gigs, the Volcanoes were a back up band to a Rock n Roll singer by the name of Jerry J. Nixon.
Martinez seemed kind of extra-proud of these recordings and a little irritated that someone with my knowledge of his career new nothing about them. I think he was just proud of the moment if you like that pure unashamed moment when you realise you can play, when for the first time the music makes sense, it¹s not over ambitious it¹s just right for that particular moment in time. I asked where I might find copies of the Volcanoes work with Nixon, he just laughed and wished me luck. I never saw him again but he was an artist and a great man. I¹ve continued to try and collect his work, studying all the smallprint on old dusty record covers, anxious to see if my man Martinez was on the session or not. And now this happens, over the border ,someone from La Suisse is releasing a collection of New Mexican Nixon recordings. I can¹t wait to get my hands on a copy I¹ve ordered three of course- just in the hope that there¹s a couple of tracks with Martinez on it. If I¹m lucky I¹ll buy a bottle of the cheapest table wine I can find, pretend my hair is a little longer and reminisce about Paris in '72 content that my Martinez collection is finally complete and drink a toast to my great man with the Sax!
1:
Howdy Voodoo guys!
So what's the deal with Jerry Nixon?
i'm a journalist In Santa Fe. I've never heard of any of the people or places in the liner notes (though the streets are real.) Is this a hoax as some have suggested?.......Love the CD though
STEVE TERRELL
2:
I was so curious about the Jerry J. story I actually went to the library and checked old phone books and city directories and couldn't find anything.
I already wrote a column on the CD and my hunt for Jerry J. Nixon that is running in the paper on Friday. (It'll be on my blog too.) I thought it was a perfect April Fool's column.
You guys had me going. I bought the CD in Austin during the recent South by Southwest Festival and listened to it driving back to Santa Fe. My friend was reading me the liner notes and I was amazed. "He was a COMMUNIST?!" But the fact that I hadn't heard of any of the people or places (I've lived in Santa Fe since 1968) and my friend, who was born here circa 1954, hadn't either, I got suspicious.
The studio over a garage on Galisteo actually did sound believable. (Not these days. Galisteo is full of art galleries and expensive tourist places now. But back then there were bars, whorehouses, gas stations, all kinds of stuff) I had a little more problem with a bar and BBQ off Old Taos Highway. That's been almost all residential for years.
But great hoax. The music definitely sounded believable. I played some cuts on my radio show last week ad will do more this week.
STEVE TERRELL
3:
SANTA FEE NEWS
Every few years about this time, I toy with the idea of writing an April Fool's column and make up a bunch of ridiculous titles for CDs to review. "Where the Rude Boys Are: A Reggae Tribute to Connie Frances"; "Ebony and Ivory: The Ray Charles/Elvis Costello Sessions"; "The Symphonic Iggy Pop"; The Essential Eddie Money (oops, that's a real one!)
Somehow it always seemed too cute to do a whole column of that stuff.
However in late March I stumbled across a real CD, that, after a little research, I've come to believe is an April Fool's Day joke at Santa Fe's expense by an obscure Swiss record label, Voodoo Rhythm.
Gentleman of Rock 'n' Roll. The Q Recordings, '58-'64, released last year, is by an unknown rockabilly singer named Jerry J. Nixon with sad eyes, pale skin and greasy hair.
Nixon's life story is told inside the package.
Indeed, it was like uncovering a secret history of this place I call my home.
Born Gerald James Hall in 1937 in Yorkshire England, the future rockabilly gentleman was involved with a botched armed robbery in Southampton. But because of his youth, he got off with a light sentence, joined the merchant marines and sailed to America, where he adopted a fake identity — Jerry J. Nixon — and stayed.
By 1956 "Nixon" ended up here in Santa Fe, where he initially worked at a cardboard box and packing company. Perhaps the oppression of this factory was what led Nixon to join the Communist Party of New Mexico.
Inspired by Elvis Presley, Nixon hooked up with a band playing at Atahualpa Bar & BBQ. The were initially called The Santa Fe Flames, but under Nixon's sway, they became The Volcanoes.
Santa Fe businessman Leonard E. Sanchez, who managed entertainers and owned Q Studios and Quality Records, heard a Nixon and The Volcanoes gig, signed them up, made some records and toured the Southwest and even Mexico.
Like the archetypal rock manager of the day, Sanchez took songwriting credits on nearly all Nixon's original songs.
After a few short years, however, things soured between Nixon and Sanchez, who gambled away all the band's money betting on card games and cockfights. He also favored one of his other stars, local country singer Dick Lotner.
The bad blood came to a head in 1963 when the two got into a fight that ended with Sanchez in the hospital and the Gentleman of Rock 'n' Roll in jail. The bio in the CD says the two never spoke again. However, according to the album notes, the song "Red Sun" was recorded at Q Studios in March 1964.
But shortly after that, Nixon left the Volcanoes and the music biz in general. After doing some work in the Texas oil fields, Nixon settled in Albuquerque by 1967, working as a driver for the Sunset Glades retirement home. He died in Albuquerque in 1999.
Damn! Had I known about him, I could have interviewed him. How come nobody ever told me about Santa Fe' greatest rockabilly commie?
But the more I thought about it, the more I suspected there was a good reason why nobody told me about Jerry J. Nixon.
The fact that I had never heard of any of the people or the places mentioned in the Nixon story made me wonder.
Checking city directories and phone books between 1957 and 1961 I found no listings for Atahualpa Bar & BBQ, Quality Records, Q recording studio or KWXL radio. There's no current listing for Sunset Glade retirement home in the Albuquerque directory. I couldn't find a listing for any cardboard factory in Santa Fe During those years.. There were no residential listings for Leonard Sanchez, Dick Lotner or Jerry Nixon.
Whoever wrote the stuff on the CDs knows something about Santa Fe though. Q Studios was said to be located above a garage on Galisteo Street, while Atahualpa Bar & BBQ allegedly was off Old Taos Highway.
So where did this music come from? One online critic said there are similarities between Nixon and Die Zorros, a Swiss band led by "Beatman" the head honcho of Voodoo Rhythm.
The sad part is, I wanted the album to be real. While not exactly revelatory, this is the sound of a journeyman rockabilly cat who captures the wild spirit of that era.
The music is tough and cranking. Several cuts feature an eerie organ sound (think Joe Meeks or Del Shannon), while "Saturday Midnight Bop," has a cool sax (credited to one Jose Martinez, if that can be believed) and Latin rhythm that could pass for proto-Los Lobos.
You could almost believe it's a frustrated cardboard worker releasing his tensions in a cluttered little studio overlooking a garage on Galisteo Street.
Of course the real Santa Fe wasn't devoid of real rock 'n' roll during this area. Wouldn't it be great if some record company recorded a compilation of real Santa Fe bands — The Defiants, The Rocking Aces, The Morfomen?
Jerry J. Nixon Lives on the Radio: Hear songs from the Gentleman and other rockabilly renegades on The Santa Fe Opry, country music as the Good Lord intended, Friday 10 p.m. to midnight and Terrell's Sound World, freeform weirdo radio (same time Sunday.)
Steve Terrell |
