LEIBER/STOLLER
Jerry Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and Mike Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. Leiber and Stoller’s initial successes were as the writers of such crossover hit songs as “Hound Dog” and “Kansas City”. Later in the 1950’s, particularly through their work with The Coasters, they created a string of ground-breaking hits that are some of the most entertaining in rock and roll, by using the humorous vernacular of the teenagers sung in a style that was openly theatrical rather than personal, songs that include “Young Blood”, “Searchin’”, and “Yakety Yak”. They were the first to surround black music with elaborate production values, enhancing its emotional power with The Drifters in “There Goes My Baby”. In all, Leiber and Stoller wrote or co-wrote over 70 chart hits. They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. (More from Wikipedia)
Also included on Ear-Piercing Punk is a wacky version of “Jailhouse Rock” by Dean Carter, who also performs the scorching “Rebel Woman”. The album opens with a great version of “I’m a Hog for You Baby” by the Groupies; that might be the coolest Leiber/Stoller (i.e., Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) song of them all – “Jailhouse Rock” (a big hit song for Elvis Presley, not to mention a movie, Jailhouse Rock) is another of their many, many classics.
(April 2011)
* * *
Anyway, it is hard for me to complain about what the Crawdaddys have included on Here ’Tis: The CD starts off with a blistering rendition of a rockin’ Chuck Berry song, “Thirty Days”, followed by an Allen Toussaint song called “Why Wait Until Tomorrow” that had been recorded by Lee Dorsey – best known for two charming hits, “Ya Ya” and “Working in the Coalmine”. Also on hand is a criminally obscure Leiber/Stoller song called “That Is Rock and Roll”, the flip side of the Coasters’ hit “Along Came Jones”. The Coasters, one of my favorite American R&B bands, had emerged in the 1960’s essentially as a showcase band for the best songs by this dynamite songwriting duo.
(January 2015/2)
