Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Hank Ballard and the Midnighters - Best of the Best

This CD compiles some of Hank Ballard's best work of early r'n'r hits with The Midnighters (not to be confused with the 60's Chicano group that used "Thee" as part of their moniker). His R'n'B grooves gave a sexy swing to groovin' dance numbers like "Finger Poppin' Time" and "Let's Go, Let's Go, "Let's Go" as well as fairly lewd (for the day), almost single entendre songs like "Work With Me Annie" ("so good, so good, so good") and "Annie Had a Baby". There's a ballad, "Teardrops on Your Letter", which is slow but strong and the rest are jumpin' tunes - "It's Love Baby", "Sexy Ways", "The Hootchi Coochi Coo", "Annie's Aunt Fannie" and the original of "The Twist", written by Ballard.

This is a budget CD and is all too brief, but you get some wonderful, sax driven early r'n'r/r'n'b that is about as good as it gets and helped to set the template for what was to come.