Description
• Off to the desert, embark on a R ‘n’ R trip to the orient, to exotic destinations and distant cities: this CD edition from the ‘Destination’ series on Bear Family Records® is all about rock ‘n’ roll and sheikhs, harems, oases, King Tut and Ali Baba and faraway places like Baghdad and Istanbul.
• • Musical companions include Bill Haley and his Comets, Jerry Reed, Art Neville, Dinah Washington, The Fendermen and Preston Love.
• • The playlist from the 1950s and early ’60s provides Caravan, Come With Me To The Casbah, Turkish Doghouse, Ahab The Arab, Sinbad, Ali Ben Ghazi and more musical highlights.
• • Charmingly written liner notes and info on each performer by music historian Bill Dahl and careful re-mastering round out a delightful project.
If you were astride a mighty camel while fearlessly navigating the wind-swept sands of the Sahara, good oldfashioned rock and roll would be just about the last commodity you would expect to encounter. Yet such fantastic scenarios inspired a slew of songs set to exotically rocking rhythms, their unusual narratives constructed around sheiks, harems, oases, King Tut and Ali Baba, and far-off locales like Bagdad and Istanbul.
Those happen to be the very subjects dominating Bear Family’s ‘Destination Desert – 33 Oriental Rock ‘n’ Roll Treasures.‘ Some very unexpected names turn up on this anthology that you’d never expect to see searing their feet in such scorching, sun-strewn climes: rockabilly guitar ace Jerry Reed, for example, or sax wailer Preston Love, or New Orleans piano pounder Art Neville. Glamorous R&B chanteuses Dinah Washington and Big Maybelle seem highly unlikely candidates to hop aboard a dromedary, but they’re here as well. The Fendermen, The Polk Brothers, and Bobby Christian offer contrasting treatments of Duke Ellington’s immortal Caravan, while Ganimian and His Orientals extend the irresistible invitation Come With Me To The Casbah and Kent Westberry demonstrates how to do the Turkish Doghouse Rock. By the time you complete this sweat-soaked journey in the good company of Ahab The Arab, Sinbad, and Ali Ben Ghazi, you’ll be ready for a blast of air conditioning and an ice-cold libation!
CD:
Jerry Reed: Rockin’ In Bagdad The Champs: Ali Baba (2 rmst.) The Polk Brothers: Caravan Rock The Ramrocks: Pasha The Silver-Tones: Arabian Rock Eddie ‘The Sheik’ Kochak: Shish Ka Bob Rock The Majestics: Oasis Big Maybelle: That’s A Pretty Good Love Jack Hammer: Ali Ben Ghazi The Latins: Habibi Twist The Slaves: Hari’s Harem The Saxons: Camel Walk -part I Jo Ann Campbell: Ahab The Arab Preston Love: Ali Baba’s Boogie The Colts: Sheik Of Araby Dinah Washington: One Arabian Night
The Fendermen: Caravan Ferlin Husky: Aladdin’s Lamp Leroy Holmes: In A Persian Market Bill Haley and His Comets: Oriental Rock Bobby Freeman: Sinbad The Teentones: Sands Of Arabia Ganimian and His Orientals: Come With Me To The Casbah Dave & The Customs: Ali Baba Art Neville: Arabian Love Call The Socialties: King Tut Rock The Big Sound Of Don Ralke: Zooba! Billy Grammer: Princess Of Persia Johnny and The Hurricanes: Sheba Kent Westberry: Turkish Doghouse Rock The Renegades:
Istanbul The Sandpipers: Ali Baba Bobby Christian: Caravan
