Bill Haley & His Comets
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| Bill Haley & His Comets |
Bill Haley & His Comets, c. 1955. |
| Background information |
| Also known as | Bill Haley and the Saddlemen, The Kingsmen, The Lifeguards, B.H. Sees Combo |
| Origin | warwick, Pennsylvania |
| Genres | Rock and roll, country, rockabilly |
| Years active | 1949–1952 as Saddlemen; 1952–1981 as Bill Haley & His Comets; 1981–present as The Comets, Bill Haley's Comets, etc. |
| Labels | Atlantic, Keystone, Cowboy, Holiday, Essex, Decca, Warner Bros. Records, Orfeón, Dimsa, Newtown, Guest Star, Logo, APT, Gone, United Artists, Roulette, Sonet, Buddah, Antic |
| Associated acts | The Jodimars |
| Members |
Marshall Lytle
Joey Ambrose
Dick Richards
David Byrd
Jackson Haney
; also
Al Rappa
Lenny Longo (separate groups called Bill Haley's Comets) |
| Past members |
Bill Haley
Johnny Grande
Billy Williamson
Rudy Pompilli
Al Rex
Franny Beecher
Ralph Jones
Nick Nastos
John "Bam-Bam" Lane and more than 100 others. |
- This article is specifically about the rock and roll band. See Bill Haley for biographical information regarding Haley himself. For articles on albums with this title, see Bill Haley and His Comets (1960 album) and Bill Haley and the Comets (1963 album).
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American
rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names
Bill Haley and The Comets and
Bill Haley's Comets (and variations thereof), was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest of the world. From the end of 1954 until the end of 1956 the group would place nine singles into the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten.
[1]
Bandleader
Bill Haley had previously been a
country performer; after recording a country and western-styled version of "
Rocket 88", a rhythm and blues song, he changed musical direction to a new sound which came to be called rock and roll.
Although several members of the Comets became famous, Bill Haley remained the star. With his spit curl and the band's matching plaid dinner jackets and energetic stage behaviour, many fans consider them to be as revolutionary in their time as
The Beatles or the
Rolling Stones were in theirs.
Following Haley's death, no fewer than six different groups have existed under the Comets name, all claiming (with varying degrees of authority) to be the official continuation of the group led by Haley. As of early 2008, three such groups are still actively performing in the United States and internationally.
[edit] Early history and Rocket 88
The band initially formed as
Bill Haley and the Saddlemen c. 1949–1952, and performed mostly country and western songs, though occasionally with a bluesy feel. Many Saddlemen recordings would not be released until the 1970s and 1980s, and highlights included romantic ballads such as "Rose of My Heart" and
western swing tunes such as "Yodel Your Blues Away". The original members of this group were Haley, pianist and accordion player
Johnny Grande and
steel guitarist Billy Williamson.
Al Thompson was the group's first bass player, followed by
Al Rex and
Marshall Lytle. During the group's early years, it recorded under several other names, including Johnny Clifton and His String Band and
Reno Browne and Her Buckaroos (although Browne, a female matinee idol of the time, did not actually appear on the record).
Haley began his rock and roll career with a cover of "
Rocket 88" recorded for the
Philadelphia-based
Holiday Records label in 1951 which sold well and was followed up a cover of a 1940s
rhythm and blues song called "
Rock the Joint" in 1952 (this time for Holiday's sister company,
Essex Records). Both songs were released under the increasingly incongruous Saddlemen name. It soon became apparent that a new name was needed to fit the music the band was now playing. A friend of Haley's, making note of the common alternative pronunciation of the name
Halley's Comet to rhyme with
Bailey, suggested that Haley call his band The Comets. (This event is cited in the Haley biographies
Sound and Glory by John Haley and John von Hoelle, and
Bill Haley by John Swenson.)
The new name was adopted in the fall of 1952. At that time, the members were Haley, Grande, Williamson, and Lytle. Grande usually played piano on record, but switched to accordion for live shows as it was more portable than a piano and easier to deal with during musical numbers that involved a lot of dancing around. Soon after renaming the band, Haley hired his first drummer,
Charlie Higler, though Higler was soon replaced by
Dick Boccelli (a.k.a Dick Richards). During this time (and indeed, as late as the fall of 1955), Haley did not have a permanent lead guitar player, choosing to use session musicians on record and either playing lead guitar himself or having Williamson play steel solos, instead.
Slap-back bass, one identifying characteristic of rockabilly, was used the Comets' recordings of "Rocket 88", "Rock the Joint", "Rock Around the Clock", and "Shake, Rattle, and Roll".
[2]
[edit] National success and Rock Around the Clock
In 1953, Haley scored his first national success with an original song called "
Crazy Man, Crazy", a phrase Haley said he heard from his teenage audience. Haley later claimed it sold a million copies, but this is considered an exaggeration. "Crazy Man, Crazy" was the first
rock and roll song to be televised nationally when it was used on the soundtrack for a 1953 television play starring
James Dean. Haley and His Comets then recorded "
Rock Around the Clock", Haley's biggest hit, and one of the most important records in rock and roll history. Sales of "Rock Around the Clock" started slow but eventually sold an estimated 25 million copies (per the
Guinness Book of World Records) and marked the arrival of a cultural shift.
Much more impressive was "
Shake, Rattle and Roll", a somewhat bowdlerized cover version of the
Big Joe Turner recording of earlier in 1954. The record was one of Decca's best selling records in that year.
[3] The song was the seventh best selling record in November of '54.
[4]
Although Haley's "Shake, Rattle and Roll" never achieved the same level of historical importance as "Rock Around the Clock", it actually predated it as the first major international rock and roll hit, although it did not attain the Number 1 position in the American charts, but became his first Gold Record. When
Elvis Presley recorded the song in 1956, he combined Haley's arrangement with Turner's original lyrics but failed to score a substantial hit. Late in 1954, Haley also recorded another hit, "Dim, Dim The Lights", which was one of the first R&B songs recorded by a white group to cross over to the R&B charts. Johnnie Ray had charted #1 r&b with "Cry" in 1952.
The (belated) success of "Rock Around the Clock" is attributed to its use in the soundtrack of the film
Blackboard Jungle, which was released in March
1955. The song, which was re-released to coincide with the film, rose to the top of the American musical charts that summer and stayed there for eight weeks, the first rock and roll record to do so.
Ambrose's acrobatic saxophone playing, along with Lytle on the double bass -literally on it, riding it like a pony, and holding it over his head- were highlights of the band's live performances during this time. Their music and their act were part of a tradition in
jazz and
rhythm and blues, but it all came like a thunderclap to most of their audience. In late 1954, Haley and His Comets appeared in a
short subject entitled
Round Up of Rhythm, performing three songs. This was the earliest known theatrical rock and roll film release.
In 1955, Lytle, Richards and Ambrose quit the Comets in a salary dispute and formed their own group,
The Jodimars. Haley hired several new musicians to take their place:
Rudy Pompilli on sax, Al Rex (a former member of the Saddlemen) on double bass, and
Ralph Jones on drums; in addition, lead guitarist
Franny Beecher, who had been a session musician for Haley since Cedrone's death in the fall of 1954, became a full-time Comet and Haley's first performing lead guitarist. This version of the band became even more popular than the earlier manifestation, and appeared in several
motion pictures over the next few years.
Other hits recorded by the band included "
See You Later, Alligator" in which Haley's frantic delivery contrasted with the
Louisiana languor of the original by
Bobby Charles, "Don't Knock the Rock", "Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie", "Rudy's Rock" (the first instrumental hit of the rock and roll era) and "Skinny Minnie".
In 1956, Bill Haley and His Comets appeared in two of the earliest full-length rock and roll movies:
Rock Around the Clock, and
Don't Knock the Rock.
[edit] Decline in popularity
The band's popularity in the United States began to wane in 1956–57 as sexier, wilder acts such as Elvis and
Little Richard began to dominate the record charts (although Haley's cover version of Little Richard's "
Rip It Up" - which
was released in direct competition - actually outsold the original). After "Skinny Minnie" hit the charts in 1958, Haley found it difficult to score further successes Stateside, although a spin-off group made up of Comets musicians dubbed
The Kingsmen (no relation to the later group of "
Louie, Louie" fame) did score a hit with the instrumental, "Weekend" that same year.
Overseas, however, Haley and his band continued to be extremely popular, touring the United Kingdom in February
1957, during which Haley and his crew were mobbed by thousands of fans at
Waterloo Station in London at an incident dubbed the
Second Battle of Waterloo by media. That same year, the Comets toured Australia and in 1958 enjoyed a successful (if riot-dominated) tour of the European mainland. Bill Haley & His Comets were the first major American rock and roll act to tour the world in this way. Elvis who was on duty in Germany visited them backstage at some shows. During an off day in Berlin they performed two songs in the
Caterina Valente movie "Hier Bin ich Hier Bleib Ich" (Here I Am Here I Stay).
Back in the U.S., Haley attempted to start his own record label, Clymax, and establish his own stable of performers, most notably Philadelphia children's show hostess
Sally Starr and the
Matys Brothers. Members of The Comets were commissioned to work as session musicians on many of these recordings, many of which were written or co-written by Haley and/or members of The Comets. The Clymax experiment only lasted about a year. In 1959, Haley's relationship with Decca collapsed and after a final set of instrumental-only recordings in the fall, Haley announced he was leaving Decca for the new
Warner Bros. Records label.
[edit] Mexico and the late 1960s
In 1961–1962,
Bill Haley y sus Cometas (as the band was known in Latin America) signed with the
Orfeón label of Mexico and scored an unexpected hit with "Twist Español", a Spanish language recording based on the
Twist dance craze that was sweeping America at the time. Haley followed up with what was, for a time, the biggest selling single in
Mexican history with "Florida Twist". Although
Chubby Checker and
Hank Ballard were credited with starting the Twist craze in America, in Mexico and Latin America, Bill Haley and His Comets were proclaimed the Kings of the Twist. Thanks to the success to "Twist Español" and "Florida Twist", among others, the band had continued success in Mexico and
Latin America over the next few years, selling many recordings of Spanish and Spanish flavored material and simulated live performances (
overdubbed audience over studio recordings) on the Orfeon label and its subsidiary, Dimsa. They hosted a TV series entitled
Orfeon a Go-Go and made
cameo appearances in several movies, lipsynching to some of their old hits. Haley, who was fluent in Spanish, recorded a number of songs in the language, but the vast majority of the band's output during these years were instrumental recordings, many utilizing local session musicians playing trumpet. There was also some experimentation with Haley's style during this time; one single for Orfeon was a folk ballad, "Jimmy Martinez", which Haley recorded without the Comets.
In 1966, the Comets (without Bill Haley) cut an album for Orfeon as session musicians for Big Joe Turner, who had always been an idol to Haley; no joint performance of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" was recorded, however. In a 1974 interview with
BBC Radio, Haley said Turner's career was in a slump at this time, so he used his then-considerable influence with Orfeon to get Turner a recording session. The Comets' association with Orfeon/Dimsa ended later that year.
By 1967, as related by Haley in an interview with radio host
Red Robinson that same year, the group was "a free agent" without any recording contracts at all, although the band continued to perform regularly in North America and Europe. During this year, Haley—without the Comets—recorded a pair of demos in
Phoenix, Arizona: a country-western song called "
Jealous Heart" for which he was backed by a local
mariachi band (and similar in style to the earlier "Jimmy Martinez", and late-60s-style rocker called "Rock on Baby" backed by a group called
Superfine Dandelion. Neither recording would be released for 30 years. In 1968, Haley and the Comets recorded a single for the
United Artists label, a version of
Tom T. Hall's "That's How I Got to Memphis" but no long-term association with the label resulted. In order to revive his recording career, Haley turned to Europe.
[edit] Revival
By the late 1960s, Haley and the Comets were considered an oldies act. The band's popularity never waned in Europe, and the group signed a lucrative deal with
Sonet Records of Sweden in 1968 that resulted in a new version of "Rock Around the table" hitting the European charts that year. The band would record a mixture of live and studio albums for the label over the next decade.
In the United States in 1969, promoter
Richard Nader launched a series of
rock and roll revival concert tours featuring "oldies" acts of the 50s and 60s. One of the first of these shows, held at the
Felt Forum at
Madison Square Garden in New York City, resulted in Haley receiving an eight-and-a-half minute standing ovation following his performance, as Nader related in his recorded introduction to Haley's live album
Bill Haley's Scrapbook, which was recorded a few weeks later at New York's
Bitter End club.
The band appeared in several concert films in the early 1970s, including
The London Rock and Roll Show and
Let the Good Times Roll. After 1974, tax and management problems prevented Haley from performing in the United States, so he performed in Europe almost exclusively, though he also toured South America in 1975. The band was also kept busy in the studio, recording numerous albums for Sonet and other labels in the 1970s, several with a
country music flavor. In 1974, Haley's original Decca recording of "Rock Around the Clock" hit the American sales charts once again thanks to its use in
American Graffiti and
Happy Days.
[edit] Late career
In February 1976, Haley's saxophone player and best friend,
Rudy Pompilli, died of
cancer after a nearly 20-year career with the Comets. Haley continued to tour for the next year with a succession of new sax players, but his popularity was waning again and his 1976 performance in London was critically lambasted by music media such as
Melody Maker. That year, the group also recorded an album,
R-O-C-K at
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio for Sonet Records. In early 1977, Haley announced his retirement from performing and settled down at his home in Mexico. According to the John Swenson biography of Haley, the musician was quoted as saying that he and Pompilli had an agreement that if one died, the other would retire.
The Comets continued to tour on their own during this period.
In 1979, Haley was persuaded to return to performing with the offer of a lucrative contract to tour Europe. An almost completely new group of musicians, mostly British - including
Pete Thomas (saxophonist) - were assembled to perform as The Comets, and Haley appeared on many TV shows as well as in the movie
Blue Suede Shoes, filmed at one of his London concerts in March 1979. A few days later, a performance in
Birmingham was videotaped and aired on UK television; it was released on DVD in 2005. During the March tour, Haley recorded several tracks in London for his next album with Sonet, completing the work that summer at Muscle Shoals in
Alabama; released later in the year, the resulting album
Everyone Can Rock & Roll was the last release of new recordings by Bill Haley before his death.
In November 1979, Haley and the Comets performed for
Queen Elizabeth II, a moment Haley considered the proudest of his career. It was also the last time he performed in Europe and the last time most fans saw him perform "Rock Around the Clock".
In 1980, Bill Haley and His Comets toured
South Africa but Haley's health was failing and it was reported that he had a
brain tumor. The tour was critically lambasted, but surviving recordings of a performance in
Johannesburg show Haley in good spirits and good voice. Nonetheless, according to the Haley News fan club newsletter and the Haley biography
Sound and Glory, planned concerts such as a fall 1980 tour of Germany, and proposed recording sessions in New York and
Memphis were cancelled—including a potential reunion with past members of the Comets—and Haley returned to his home in
Harlingen, Texas where he died in his sleep of an apparent
heart attack on February 9, 1981.
In April 1981, Bill Haley & His Comets returned to the British musical charts once again when MCA Records (inheritors of the Decca catalog) released "Haley's Golden Medley", a hastily compiled edit of the band's best known hits in the style of the then-popular "
Stars on 45" format. The single reached No. 50 in the UK but was not released in the United States.
In 1987, Bill Haley was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At that time, supporting bands were not also named to the hall. This policy has since changed and efforts have been under way for several years to have The Comets also named to the Hall. Bill Haley and His Comets have also been inducted into the
Rockabilly Hall of Fame and, in July 2005, the surviving members of the 1954–55 Comets (see below) represented Haley when Bill Haley and His Comets were inducted into
Hollywood's Rockwalk, a ceremony also attended by Haley's second wife and youngest daughter. The Comets placed their handprints in cement; a space was left blank for Haley.
In 2005, Bill Haley And His Comets were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. Two of the band's recordings have been voted Legendary Michigan Songs: "Rock Around The Clock" in 2007, and "Shake, Rattle And Roll" in 2009.
[edit] The Comets
More than 100 musicians performed with Bill Haley & His Comets between 1952 and Haley's death in 1981, many becoming fan favorites along the way.
[5] Several short-lived Comets reunions were attempted in the 1980s, including one contingent (organized by
Baltimore-based piano player
Joey Welz who was briefly a Comet in the mid-1960s) that appeared on
The Tomorrow Show, and another run by an
Elvis Presley impersonator named
Joey Rand (this group later lost a legal action over the right to use the Comets name).
The Comets, featuring musicians who performed with Haley in 1954–1955, reunited in 1987 and are still touring the world as of 2007, playing showrooms in the United States and Europe. They have also recorded a half-dozen albums for small labels in Europe and the United States. This version of the group has also been credited as
Bill Haley's Original Comets, and in circumstances where the use of the Comets name is in dispute,
A Tribute to Bill Haley and
The Original Band. The basic line-up of this group from 1987 to May 2006 consisted of Marshall Lytle (bass), Joey Ambrose (sax), Johnny Grande (piano), Dick Richards (drums) and Franny Beecher (guitar). British singer
Jacko Buddin augmented the group on vocals during most of their European tours, with Lytle taking over on vocals for US/Canadian tours beginning in 2000 and full-time in Europe in the mid-2000s. Since they connected with Klaus Kettner's Rock It Concerts (Germany) in 1991 they have played hundreds of shows all over Europe, dozens of TV shows and in March 2007 pre-opened the Bill-Haley-Museum in Munich, Germany.
Two additional groups claim the name
Bill Haley's Comets and have extensively toured in the United States since forming in the 1980s: one originally Haley's 1965–68 drummer
John "Bam-Bam" Lane, the other run by
Al Rappa who played bass for Haley off-and-on between late 1959 and early 1969 (some media promotion for Rappa erroneously states that he joined the group in 1956). Both these musicians claim
trademark ownership of the Bill Haley's Comets name; this dates back to Lane and Rappa (during a period when they worked together as one band) winning a trademark infringement lawsuit against the aforementioned Joey Rand group in 1989. Both Rappa and Lane's bands have, from time to time, recruited other former Comets for their line-ups (for example, in 2005, Rappa joined forces with Joey Welz), but for the most part the bandleaders are the only regular members who have worked with Bill Haley directly. Lane died in 2007 but his group continues to perform, led by bandleader Lenny Longo, who has no direct Bill Haley connection. Al Rappa incorporated numerous professional musicians from the Southern Indiana area such as Warren Batts, Joe Esarey, Dave Matthews, John Urbina and many others to make a full band. Al Rappa performed his Upright Bass show before thousands in audiences all over the country. The band members from Al Rappas "Comets" went on to form the LocoMotion showband and continued touring the States without Al Rappa. LocoMotion is now no longer a band. Esarey went on to graduate from Cedarville University and Luther Rice Seminary and now pastors a growing church in Ohio. Esarey has released two Saxophone solo albumns and is currently writing and producing Christian music for a worship group, "poiema". www.HisPoiema.org www.JoeEsarey.com
In March and July 2005, the members of the 1954–55 group, now billed as simply The Comets after decades of controversy over the use of the name, made several high-profile concert appearances in New York City and Los Angeles organized by
Martin Lewis as part of celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of rock and roll, the release of
Blackboard Jungle, the 50th anniversary of "Rock Around the Clock" hitting Number 1, and the 80th birthday of Bill Haley.
[6][7] During a July 6, 2005 concert at the
Viper Room in
West Hollywood, The Comets were joined on stage for one song by
Gina Haley, the youngest daughter of Bill Haley; at a similar appearance in March they were joined by Haley's eldest son,
John W. Haley.
In 2006, The 1954–55 Comets spent much of the year in residence at
Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in
Branson, Missouri. Meanwhile, the John Lane edition of Bill Haley's Comets recorded a new album in Tennessee in early 2006 which has yet to be released.
On June 2, 2006, Johnny Grande, keyboardist with the 1954–55 Comets and an original founding member of the band, died after a short illness. The following month, 85-year-old guitarist
Franny Beecher announced his retirement, though he was at one point announced as participating in an early 2007 tour of Germany. The three remaining original Comets (Lytle, Richards, and Ambrose) continue to perform in Branson with new musicians taking over the keyboard and lead guitar positions. During September 2006,
PBS in the United States aired a series of programs videotaped in Branson during the spring of 2006; these shows include the last recorded performances of the complete Original Comets line-up including Grande.
John "Bam-Bam" Lane died on February 18, 2007
[8] but his edition of Bill Haley's Comets is expected to continue touring, with the 2006 recordings to be released in Lane's memory.
On October 27, 2007 ex Comets guitar player Bill Turner opened the afore mentioned Bill-Haley-Museum in Munich, Germany.
Several tribute bands patterning themselves after The Comets are also active in Europe, including Phil Haley and His Comments in Great Britain, and
Bill Haley's New Comets in Germany
[9].
[edit] Discography
Bill Haley & His Comets recorded many singles and albums. The following list references only their original release and does not include compilation albums or single reissues. This list does not include releases on which the Comets worked as session musicians and only includes releases during Haley's lifetime.
[edit] Singles
As Bill Haley & the Saddlemen (and variations of the name)
1950
- Deal Me a Hand/Ten Gallon Stetson (Keystone 5101)
- Susan Van Dusan/I'm Not to Blame (Keystone 5102)
- Why Do I Cry Over You?/I'm Gonna Dry Ev'ry Tear With a Kiss (Atlantic 727)
- My Sweet Little Girl from Nevada/My Palomino and I (Cowboy 1701) - released as Reno Browne and Her Buckaroos
1951
- Rocket 88/Tearstains on My Heart (Holiday 105)
- Green Tree Boogie/Down Deep in My Heart (Holiday 108)
- I'm Crying/Pretty Baby (Holiday 110) - with Loretta Glendenning
- A Year Ago This Christmas/I Don't Want to Be Alone for Christmas (Holiday 111)
1952
As Bill Haley & His Comets (and name variations thereof)
1953
- Stop Beatin' round the Mulberry Bush/Real Rock Drive (Essex 310)
- Crazy Man, Crazy/Whatcha Gonna Do? (Essex 321)
- Pat-a-Cake/Fractured (Essex 327)
- Live it Up/Farewell-So Long-Goodbye (Essex 332)
1954
1955
- Mambo Rock/Birth of the Boogie (Decca 29418)
- Razzle-Dazzle/Two Hound Dogs (Decca 29552)
- Burn That Candle/Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie (Decca 29713)
1956
1957
- Forty Cups of Coffee/Hook, Line and Sinker (Decca 30214)
- (You Hit the Wrong Note) Billy Goat/Rockin' Rollin' Rover (Decca 30314)
- The Dipsy Doodle/Miss You (Decca 30394)
- Rock the Joint (a.k.a. New Rock the Joint [stereo])/How Many? (Decca 30461)
- Mary, Mary Lou/It's a Sin (Decca 30530)
1958
- Skinny Minnie/Sway with Me (Decca 30592)
- Lean Jean/Don't Nobody Move (Decca 30681)
- Chiquita Linda (Un Poquito de tu Amor) /Whoa Mabel! (Decca 30741)
- Corrine, Corrina/B.B. Betty (Decca 30781)
1959
1960
- Skokiaan (South African Song) /Puerto Rican Peddler (Decca 31030)
- Music! Music! Music!/Strictly Instrumental (Decca 31080)
- Candy Kisses/Tamiami (Warner Bros. Records 5145)
- Hawk/Chick Safari (Warner Bros. 5154)
- So Right Tonight/Let the Good Times Roll, Creole (Warner Bros. 5171)
- Rock Around the Clock/Shake Rattle and Roll (new versions) (Warner Bros. no. 7124)(Back to Back Hits)
1961
- Honky Tonk/Flip, Flop and Fly (Warner Bros. 5228)
- Riviera/War Paint (Gone 5116)
- Twist Español/My Kind of Woman (Spanish version) (Orfeon 1010) [May 1961]
- Cerca del Mar/Tren Nocturno (Orfeon 1036)
- Florida Twist/Negra Consentida (Orfeon 1047)
- Spanish Twist (English version) /My Kind of Woman (Gone 5111) [September 1961]
1962
- Caravan Twist/Actopan Twist (Orfeon 1052)
- La Paloma/Silbando Y Caminando (Orfeon 1062)
- Bikini Twist/Rudy's (Orfeon 1067)
- Mas Twist/Tampico Twist (Orfeon 1082)
- Twist Lento/Sonora Twist (Orfeon 1100)
- Martha/Tacos de Twist (Orfeon 1132)
- Jalisco Twist/Pueblo del Twist (Orfeon 1169)
1963
- Tenor Man/Up Goes My Love (Newtown 5013)
- White Parakeet/Midnight in Washington (Newhits 5014)
- Dance Around the Clock/What Can I Say (Newtown 5024)
- Tandy/You Call Everybody Darling (Newtown 5025)
- Yakety Sax (by Bill Haley & His Comets) /Boot's Blues (by Boots Randolph (Logo 7005)
- ABC Boogie (new version) (by Haley) /Rock Around the Clock (by Phil Flowers (Kasey 7006)
- Pure de Papas/Anoche (Orfeon 1195)
- El Madison de la Estrella/Viajando Con el Madison (Orfeon 1229)
- Avenida Madison/Reunion de Etiqueta (Orfeon 1243)
- Limbo Rock/Ana Maria (Orfeon 1269)
1964
- Green Door/Yeah, She's Evil! (Decca 31650)
- Adios Mariquita Linda/El Quelite (Orfeon 1324)
- Mish Mash/Madero y Gante (Orfeon 1333)
- Jimmy Martinez/Al Compás del Reloj (Orfeon 1429)
1965
- Burn That Candle (new version) /Stop, Look and Listen (APT 25081)
- Tongue-Tied Tony/Haley-a-Go-Go (APT 25087)
- A Gusto Contigo/Mish Mash (Orfeon 1570)
1966
1968
- That's How I Got to Memphis/Ain't Love Funny, Ha Ha Ha (United Artists 50483)
1970
- Rock Around the Clock/Framed (live versions) (Kama Sutra 508)
1971
1978
- Yodel Your Blues Away/Within This Broken Heart of Mine (previously unissued pre-Comets recordings) (Arzee 4677)
1979
- Hail Hail Rock and Roll/Let the Good Times Roll Again (Sonet 2188)
- Everyone Can Rock and Roll/I Need the Music (Sonet 2194)
1980
- God Bless Rock and Roll/So Right Tonight (Sonet 2202)
[edit] Albums
- 1956 - Rock 'n' Roll Stage Show (Decca 8345)
- 1957 - Rockin' the Oldies (Decca 8569)
- 1958 - Rockin' Around the World (Decca 8692)
- 1959 - Bill Haley's Chicks (Decca 8821)
- 1959 - Strictly Instrumental (Decca 8964)
- 1960 - Bill Haley and His Comets (Warner Bros. 1378)
- 1960 - Haley's Juke Box (Warner Bros. 1391)
- 1961 - Twist (Dimsa 8255)
- 1961 - Bikini Twist (Dimsa 8259)
- 1962 - Twistin' Knights at the Roundtable (live) (Roulette SR-25174)
- 1962 - Twist Vol. 2 (Dimsa 8275)
- 1962 - Twist en Mexico (Dimsa 8290)
- 1963 - Bill Haley & His Comets (compilation with unreleased tracks) (Vocalion 3696)
- 1963 - Rock Around the Clock King (Guest Star 1454)
- 1963 - Madison (Orfeon 12339)
- 1963 - Carnaval de Ritmos Modernos (Orfeon 12340)
- 1964 - Surf Surf Surf (Orfeon 12354)
- 1966 - Whiskey a Go-Go (Orfeon 12478)
- 1966 - Bill Haley a Go-Go (Dimsa 8381)
- 1968 - Biggest Hits (re-recordings plus new tracks) (Sonet 9945); issued in England as Rock Around the Clock (Hallmark SHM 668) and in North America as Rockin' (Pickwick SPC 3256)
- 1968 - On Stage Vol. 1 (live) (Sonet SLP63)
- 1968 - On Stage Vol. 2 (live) (Sonet SLP69)
- The above two albums have been reissued in many forms, including by Janus Records as the two-album set, Razzle-Dazzle (Janus 7003), a numerous releases on the Pickwick and Hallmark labels.
- 1970 - Bill Haley Scrapbook (live) (Kama Sutra/Buddah 2014)
- 1971 - Rock Around the Country (Sonet 623); issued in North America by GNP-Crescendo (LP 2097) and as Travelin' Band on Janus (JLS 3035)
- 1973 - Just Rock 'n' Roll Music (Sonet 645); issued in North America by GNP-Crescendo (LP 2077)
- 1974 - Live in London '74 (live) (Antic 51501)
- 1975 - Golden Favorites (compilation with unreleased tracks) (MCA Coral 7845P)
- 1976 - Rudy's Rock: The Sax That Changed the World (billed as Rudy Pompilli and the Comets; recorded without Haley) (Sonet 696)
- 1976 - R-O-C-K (re-recordings) (Sonet 710)
- 1978 - Golden Country Origins (previously unissued pre-Comets recordings) (Grassroots Records)
- 1979 - Everyone Can Rock and Roll (Sonet 808)
Other notable album releases by the group included
Rock with Bill Haley and the Comets (Essex 102; 1954),
Shake, Rattle and Roll (Decca DL5560; 1955),
Rock Around the Clock (Decca DL8225; 1956) and
Rockin' the Joint (Decca DL8775; 1958). These were all compilations of previously issued material.
[edit] Unreleased recordings
As with
Elvis Presley and other contemporaries of the 1950s, a large stock of previously unreleased recordings by Bill Haley exist and have been released periodically in the years following his death. Many of these are early country and western tracks recorded as demos or, for some reason, unreleased. However, occasionally tracks from the 1950s and 1960s have emerged, as have live recordings. Since the early 1990s several European labels have released a number of previously unreleased recordings, including
Hydra Records,
Rollercoaster Records,
Rockstar Records,
Buddah Records, and
Bear Family Records.
Notable discoveries that have been commercially released have included:
- Several 1946 radio recordings Haley made with the Down Homers (Rock n' Roll Arrives box set, Bear Family Records, 2006);
- A large cache of country-western recordings made by Haley in the 1946–51 era, before the formation of the Comets (also released on Rock 'n' Roll Arrives);
- An April 1955 concert in Cleveland, Ohio including the earliest known live recordings of "Rock Around the Clock" (Rock 'n' Roll Show, Hydra Records, 1995);
- A concert recording from the German tour of 1958 (Vive La Rock 'n' Roll, Big Beat Records, 2002);
- A 1957 radio recording from Haley's tour of Australia;
- Soundtrack recordings from the 1958 film Here I Am, Here I Stay and the 1954 short film Round Up of Rhythm (On Screen, Hydra Records, 1998);
- Previously unreleased live recordings from the 1969 Bill Haley's Scrapbook sessions at the Bitter End (CD release of Bill Haley's Scrapbook (Kama Sutra/Buddah, 1993) and The Warner Brothers Years and More box set (Bear Family, 1999);
- Two Christmas recordings and a version of "Flip Flop and Fly" from the 1968 United Artists sessions;
- In-studio discussion recordings and alternate takes from the 1979 Everyone Can Rock and Roll sessions (The Journey to Fame, Denton Media, 2004);
- Assorted demos and alternate takes from the Decca and Warner Bros. era from the period 1958–1961, as well as additional alternate takes and unreleased tracks from the various labels Haley recorded with in the mid-1960s (The Decca Years and More box set (Bear Family, 1991) and The Warner Brothers Years and More box set (Bear Family, 1999); and
- Two 1962 broadcasts for Armed Forces Radio (On the Air, Hydra Records, 2001).
A number of recordings exist in the hands of private collectors and remain to be commercially released, including a number of privately made live recordings of several 1960s and 1970s concerts, and a number of rehearsal recordings from 1960. To date, however, no one has discovered any alternative takes of any of Haley's most famous recordings of the 1950s, in particular "Rock Around the Clock" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll".
[edit] Later Comets recordings
Several of the post-Haley contingents of Comets had their own single and album releases:
- The 1981–82 Comets reunion group recorded on single in 1982, Bring Back the Music/The Hawk Talks (Music City Records). Musicians involved in this recording included former Comets Franny Beecher, Al Rappa and Joey Welz. Welz later released a single overdubbing two Haley demo recordings using a group of session musicians who were dubbed The Comets for the occasion.
- The Joey Rand version of Bill Haley's Comets recorded an album in the 1980s.
- The John Lane version of Bill Haley's Comets recorded a live album in the early 2000s, along with a Christmas single.
- Al Rappa's version of Bill Haley's Comets have recorded tracks with Joey Welz.
- The 1954–55 Comets (a.k.a. The Original Comets) have been the most prolific, recording a half-dozen albums since 1993 -
The group has also appeared as guest stars on a number of other recordings by
Andy Lee Lang,
Schurli Weiss and others.
[edit] Chart positions (US and UK)
- Billboard or Cash Box charts:
- "Crazy Man, Crazy" - # 11, Cashbox; # 12, Billboard, June 27, 1953
- "Fractured" - #24, Billboard, August, 1953
- "Live It Up" - #25, Billboard, October, 1953
- "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock" - US # 23 on May 29, 1954 [for only one week]; UK # 17, in December 1954
- "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock" – US R'n'B #3 then # 1 (8 weeks), Billboard, US; # 1 (7 weeks), Cashbox, 06/1955; # 1 , UK, 10/1955; UK recharts # 5 09/1956; # 24, 12/1956; #25 01/1957; #20 04/1968; #34 05/1968; #12 UK then #39 US, 04/1974
- "Shake, Rattle and Roll" – # 7 [04/54]; # 4 UK, 12/1954
- "Dim, Dim the Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere)" - # 11, Billboard; # 10 R&B chart 01/1955
- "Birth of the Boogie" – #17, Billboard; # 18, Cashbox, 04/1955
- "Mambo Rock" – (flipside of "Birth Of The Boogie") # 17, Billboard, US; # 14, UK, 04/1955
- "Two Hound Dogs" – # 9, Billboard; # 31, Cashbox, (09/1955)
- "Razzle-Dazzle" - (A-side of "Two Hound Dogs") # 15, 09/1955; # 13 UK, 09/1956
- "Burn That Candle" - # 9, 11/1955
- "Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie" – (A-side) of "Burn That Candle") #23, Billboard; # 24, Cashbox; # 4 RU, 01/1956
- "The Saints Rock 'n' Roll" - # 18, 04/1956 # 5 UK, 05/56
- "R-O-C-K" - (A-side of "The Saints Rock and Roll") # 29, Billboard; # 21, Cashbox, 04/1956
- "Hot Dog Buddy Buddy" - # 36, Cashbox; # 60, Billboard, 06/1956
- "Rockin' Through the Rye" - (flipside of "Hot Dog Buddy Buddy") #39, Cashbox; #78, Billboard; # 3, UK, 08/1956; # 19 (UK), 01/1957
- "See You Later, Alligator" – # 6, 02/1956; # 7 UK, 03/1956; # 12 UK, 09/1956 (new entry)
- "Rip It Up" – # 25, 08/1956; # 4 UK, 11/1956
- "Teenager's Mother (Are You Right?)" - (flipside of "Rip it Up") - #45, Cashbox; # 68, Billboard, 08/1956
- "Rudy's Rock""- # 34, Billboard, US; # 38, Cashbox; # 30 (UK), 11/1956; re-charts # 26 (UK), 12/1956
- "Don't Knock the Rock" - # 45, 12/1956; # 5, NME, UK, 02/1957
- "Rock the Joint" (1952 recording) - # 20 UK, 02/1957
- "Forty Cups of Coffee"/"Hook, Line and Sinker" - # 70, Billboard; "Forty Cups of Coffee", #46, Cashbox, 04/1957
- "(You Hit the Wrong Note) Billy Goat" - # 60, Billboard; # 54, Cashbox, 06/1957
- "Skinny Minnie" - # 22, Billboard; # 25, Cashbox, 05/1958
- "Lean Jean" - # 67, Billboard; # 52 Cashbox, 08/1958
- "Week End" - (recorded under the name The Kingsmen) # 35, Billboard Hot 100, November/1958
- "Joey's Song" - # 46, Billboard; # 35, Cashbox, US; # 1 (8 weeks), Kent Music Report, Australia; # 26, Canada, 11/1959
- "Skokiaan (South African Song)" - # 70, 1960
- "Tamiami" - # 79, Cashbox, March 12, 1960
- "Rock Around The Clock" - US Pop, # 39, Billboard; # 36, Cashbox; UK, # 12, in April 1974
- "Haley's Golden Medley" - (posthumous edit of "Rock Around the Clock", "Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "Choo Choo Ch' Boogie", and "See You Later Alligator" with "A-B-C Boogie" as the B side) # 50, UK, 04/1981
- "Swing the Mood" - (featured samples of the original Decca recordings of "Rock Around the Clock", "Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie", and "Shake, Rattle and Roll" in a mix by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers) #1, (5 weeks), UK; #11, Billboard Hot 100, #7, Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales, US, July, 1989
[edit] American Chart Toppers (Top 100)
- Launched on January 1, 1955 (coast to coast, under control).
- (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock: enters the "A.C.T." on 21/05/1955 topping on 9/07/1955 for 8 weeks.
[edit] British Chart Toppers (Top 20)
- Also launched on January 1, 1955 (round 2 decades later under control of Scotland Yard).
- (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock: enters the B.C.T. on 7/01/1955 reaching #17 two weeks later, re-enters on 14/10/1955 topping on 25/11/1955 for 11 weeks then re-enters once again on 21/09/1956 peaking at #5 a few weeks later.***Also B.C.T.'s #25 in January 1957 dropping out for a week before making its fifth and final re-entry on Columbia/Brunswick at #22.
[edit] Mexico and India
In addition, Bill Haley and the Comets also scored chart hits in Latin America, Mexico, and India during the period 1961–1966 with recordings such as "Twist Español", "Florida Twist", "Spanish Twist", "Caravan Twist", and "
Land of a Thousand Dances". Reportedly, "Chick Safari", a 1960 recording, reached the No. 1 position on the Indian musical charts. Both the single "Florida Twist" and the
Twist LP Record went to No. 1 in Mexico.
Based on the
Billboard Hits of the World chart, Bill Haley and the Comets had the following chart hits in Mexico and India in 1962:
- "Florida Twist", #3, Mexico, Billboard Hits of the World, April 28, 1962
- "Caravan Twist", #5, Mexico, Billboard Hits of the World, April 28, 1962
- "Spanish Twist", #3, India, Billboard Hits of the World, June 30, 1962
[edit] Sources
- Jim Dawson, Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution! (San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2005)
- John W. Haley and John von Hoelle, Sound and Glory (Wilmington, DE: Dyne-American, 1990)
- John Swenson, Bill Haley (London: W.H. Allen, 1982)
- Discography information from Bill Haley Central and Bill Haley & His Comets, etc.: A Discography, an unpublished reference work by Herbert Kamitz.
- What Was The First Rock'N'Roll Record? ISBN 0-571-12939-0 (paper)
- Rock File no 4 - Panther Books Ltd., Great Britain, 1st Pub. 1976. (ISBN unavailable). ISBN possibly (0?)-586-04370-5.
- Billboard magazine.
- Cash Box magazine.
[edit] References
- ^ All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music By Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine. 2003. Backbeat Books. page 315. ISBN 0879307609
- ^ Bill Haley: The Daddy of Rock and Roll. John Swenson. 1982. Stein and Day. pages 36, 47, 51. ISBN 0-8128-2909-3
- ^ Billboard Jan 15, 1955 page 38
- ^ Billboard Nov 13, 1954 page 64
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ see also www.bill-haley.com
[edit] External links
