Although remembered for his 1955 single
"Rock Around the Clock," which fired
rock & roll's first clear shot across the bow of pop music,
Bill Haley's initial recordings actually appeared a decade earlier on the
Cowboy Records label. Specializing in a sort of
polka-
country-
swing -- a style that combined accordions with pedal steel --
Cowboy released
Haley's first single,
"Candy Kisses," in 1948. Nearly 50 such early
Haley tracks appear here, and while these cuts display some verve and energy, and even some yodeling, don't expect anything much like proto-
rock & roll, even though it's tempting to look for it (and therefore see it, since no one wants to feel like it isn't hiding there somewhere). Oh,
Bill Haley & the Four Aces of Western Swing (or
Bill Haley & His Saddlemen, or any of
Haley's other band incarnations) do tend to edge up the beat a little, and there's a predilection for
boogie-woogie styling, but it isn't exactly
rock & roll. Or is it? Tracks like
"Rocket 88" really do stand directly at a crossroads. This generous two-disc, 53-track box presents
Haley's early work (along with four tracks by fellow
Cowboy recording artist
Ray Whitley, who, interestingly enough, played
James Dean's character's manager in
Dean's last film,
Giant), spanning 1947 to 1954 and brings everything right up to the doorstep of
rock & roll.
Haley knew what audiences wanted (and they wanted him to push the beat) and he always had his ear to the ground. What he heard in the collision of
Western swing and
boogie-woogie was
"Rock Around the Clock." The rest, as they say, is history. ~ Steve Leggett
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