Stomp and Shout - Peter Blecha

 

Of course, I've been a fan of the Pacific Northwest sound ever since first discovering the Sonics and similar bands - or maybe even before, considering that I was a fan of Paul Revere and the Raiders in their hey-day in the 60's (and still am, for that matter). My pal Bob Blackburn, who is from the area, hipped me to this book, so, of course, I picked it up as soon as I found it.

Blecha opens with a young, unknown Ray Charles appearing in Seattle in 1948 and gives a bit of background on the area's musical and cultural leanings. As he moves on with some history of the burgeoning R'n'B scene, we also get a lesson in the area's segregation policies and their eventual breakdowns, thanks to open-minded promoters and business owners (and integrated bands, of course), as R'n'B morphs into R'n'R.

Moving from the hip R'n'B scene - played by both Blacks and Whites - there then evolved a younger, more purely rock'n'roll sound, championed by Tacoma's The Wailers. I had no idea that this savage, fuzzed out garage combo started in the early R'n'B scene! They were also the first to put out a garage version of "Louie Louie" that sold amazingly well in the NW but they couldn't get the national push to make it the smash that the Kingsmen later got with their copycat version. 

This point in the story is where it gets fascinating for me, with the start of bands like the Wailers and the breakthrough success of Paul Revere and the Raiders, along with their contemporaries. Of course, although I know it logically, it's interesting to find a chapter on Jimi Hendrix while we're still talking about the early/pre-Beatles R'n'B-morphing-into-R'n'R bands, but that's when'n'where he started! 

There’s a great chapter on the competing versions of “Louie Louie” from the Kingsmen (of course) and Paul Revere and the Raiders - both taken from the Wailers cover of the Richard Berry number. The Sonics don't really appear until towards the end of the book, but it sounds like they were as frantic live as their blistering records would seem. Apparently, the NW produced unparalleled, raucous, phrenetic live acts!

As the days of the mid-60's garage bands faded, Blecha takes one last look at Hendrix's success before closing this chapter on the NW sounds, although harkening to the later emergence of the Sub Pop bands.

I really enjoyed this one - a nice history lesson of the early R'n'B greats and a fascinating emergence of the crazed rock'n'roll that came from the area. Certainly recommended!