A set comprised of mostly early rock and roll, done by the original artists and/or those who were inspired by them, before veering off into other musical territory near the end of the 24-piece program. My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list.

1. Johnny and Edgar Winter, Rock & Roll Medley (live: Slippin’ And Slidin’, Jailhouse Rock, Tutti-Frutti, Sick And Tired, I’m Ready, Reelin’ And Rockin’, Blue Suede Shoes, Jenny Take A Ride, Good Golly Miss Molly)
2. The Rolling Stones, Mona (I Need You Baby)
3. Bo Diddley, She’s Fine, She’s Mine
4. Ronnie Wood & Bo Diddley, Crackin’ Up (from Live At The Ritz)
5. The Plastic Ono Band, Money (from Live Peace In Toronto 1969)
6. Paul McCartney, Hi-Heel Sneakers (from Unplugged – The Official Bootleg)
7. The Beatles, A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues (from Live At The BBC)
8. Jerry Lee Lewis, Crazy Arms
9. The Ventures, Walk – Don’t Run
10. Chuck Berry, Guitar Boogie
11. The Champs, Tequila
12. Buddy Holly/The Crickets, Fool’s Paradise
13. Roy Orbison, Go Go Go (Down The Line)
14. Charlie Rich, Lonely Weekends
15. Eddie Cochran, Nervous Breakdown
16. Carl Perkins, (The Right String, Baby, But The) Wrong Yo-Yo
17. Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat
18. Danny & The Juniors, Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay
19. Django Reinhardt, Djangology
20. Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live, Scatterbrain
21. Peter Green, White Sky (Love That Evil Woman)
22. Van Morrison, Listen To The Lion
23. Steve Winwood, Night Train
24. Tony Banks, Siren

My track-by-track tales:

1. Johnny Winter and Edgar Winter, Rock & Roll Medley (live: Slippin’ And Slidin’, Jailhouse Rock, Tutti-Frutti, Sick And Tired, I’m Ready, Reelin’ And Rockin’, Blue Suede Shoes, Jenny Take A Ride, Good Golly Miss Molly) . . . Nine rock ‘n roll classics, or at least snippets of them, some longer than others but it works, whipped up in a torrid six minute package. From the Winter brothers’ 1976 live album Together.

2. The Rolling Stones, Mona (I Need You Baby) . . . From their early days, the Stones doing the Bo Diddley beat. The song was first released on the band’s UK debut album, simply titled The Rolling Stones but, with a different track listing that didn’t include Mona, subtitled England’s Newest Hitmakers in North America. The colonies had to wait for 1965’s The Rolling Stones, Now! album to get Mona on an LP, back in the days when British bands like the Stones, Beatles and others, thanks in part to the practice of singles in the UK not usually also being released on albums outside of compilations, often saw their records repackaged and/or bastardized, depending how one looks at it.

For instance: The cover art for the Stones’ 1965 US release December’s Children (And Everybody’s), a photo of the band, was the same photo used for the UK album Out Of Our Heads while the US Out Of Our Heads cover used a different photo (and track listing) of the group. The Beatles, for one, hated the practice and what Capitol Records in the US did to their albums, understandable in terms of artistic integrity, album titles (Beatles ’65, Beatles VI etc. which didn’t exist in the UK) song sequencing, sound mixes and such. But on the flip side, those were the records many North American fans grew up with and were accustomed to, hence things like the 2014 box set CD release The U.S. Albums and, previous to that, the respective 2004 and 2006 boxes The Capitol Albums Volume 1 and 2. As a Stones and Beatles completist, I have all of it and while I grew up in Canada and first heard and had the North American ones, I do prefer the UK versions of the early albums, in at least some measure as a way of honoring the artists’ intentions.

3. Bo Diddley, She’s Fine, She’s Mine . . . And here’s Bo himself, from 1955 with the B-side to Diddley Daddy, the A-side hitting No. 11 on the R & B charts. Diddley’s She’s Fine, She’s Mine was in 1960 adapted by American blues singer/songwriter/harmonica player Willie Cobbs and became his You Don’t Love Me, later to be given an epic 19-minute treatment on The Allman Brothers Band’s classic 1971 live album At Fillmore East.

4. Ronnie Wood & Bo Diddley, Crackin’ Up (from Live At The Ritz) . . . And Bo again, this time with Stones’ guitarist Wood on a rollicking live album recorded in New York City in 1987 and released in 1988. A 10-song trip through mostly Bo’s catalog including Crackin’ Up but also showcasing Plynth (Water Down the Drain) from the Jeff Beck Group’s Beck-Ola album, Ooh La La by another of Wood’s former groups, Faces, and the Stones’ Honky Tonk Women, the album hit No. 40 on the Japanese charts.

5. The Plastic Ono Band, Money (from Live Peace In Toronto 1969) . . . Heavy, gritty version of the rock and roll standard, as performed by the hastily put together band of John Lennon (vocals, guitar), Eric Clapton (guitar), longtime Beatles’ associate Klaus Voorman on bass and future Yes drummer Alan White … and Yoko Ono, literally in the bag for at least part of the performance at the Toronto Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival festival at Varsity Stadium. The festival featured, among others, rock and roll pioneers Bo Diddley (him yet again, not obsessed with him he just keeps popping up; it’s that type of interconnected song set), Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard along with Chicago, The Doors and Alice Cooper, whose band also served as the backing group for Gene Vincent of Be-Bop-a-Lula fame.

6. Paul McCartney, Hi-Heel Sneakers (from Unplugged -The Official Bootleg) . . . From McCartney’s terrific 1991 release, part of the then-popular MTV Unplugged series that eventually became too much of a good thing. The album, which includes Gene Vincent’s Be-Bop-a-Lula but I decided to play Hi-Heel Sneakers instead, is a nice combination of early rock and roll standards and some Beatles’ material like I’ve Just Seen A Face, Here, There and Everywhere, We Can Work It Out plus McCartney solo stuff like Junk and That Would Be Something. It also includes a great version of Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine, sung by one of McCartney’s guitarists at the time, Hamish Stuart. Stuart, an original member of the Average White Band, is currently in Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band.

7. The Beatles, A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues (from Live At The BBC) . . . The many connections within the set continue with the Fab Four’s cover of Alabama songwriter/guitarist Terry Thompson’s tune, which was the B-side to American soul singer Arthur Alexander’s hit single You Better Move on, which in 1964 was covered by The Rolling Stones. The Beatles either recorded or performed live on the BBC countless times between 1962 and 1965, many of the results of which appeared on Live At The BBC, a 2-disc set first released in 1994 and then re-released in expanded form along with On Air – Live At The BBC Volume 2 in 2013. A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues, sung by John Lennon, was recorded in early August, 1963 and aired on the BBC later that month.

8. Jerry Lee Lewis, Crazy Arms . . . A No. 1 country hit and top 30 overall chart placing for Ray Price in 1956, it was the first single recorded by Lewis, also in 1956 although it didn’t chart. The song was later released on Lewis’s self-titled debut album in 1958. That record is sometimes referred to as High School Confidential due to that single’s presence on the record, by which time The Killer was a star via hits like Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On, Great Balls Of Fire and Breathless.

9. The Ventures, Walk – Don’t Run . . . The first of three consecutive instrumentals. Written by American jazz guitarist Johnny Smith, The Ventures took it to the top of the charts in 1960 and yes, this is a deep cuts show but as I often mention, I do play the occasional singles that either didn’t chart, ones by relatively obscure artists or songs that may not have been heard, at least by me, in ages. I pulled this one, along with some others in the set, from my trusty 3-CD Totally Essential Rock ‘N’ Roll collection. Not sure how to describe it in words but it’s one of those tunes that one recognizes immediately upon it starting to play.

10. Chuck Berry, Guitar Boogie . . . Perfectly descriptive title for this instrumental from Berry’s 1958 album One Dozen Berrys. It’s got Berry’s signature intro to the point one almost expects him to start singing Johnny B. Goode or something but it works perfectly well without vocals. There’s way more than a dozen strawberries on the cool cover, but the album is called One Dozen Berrys due to its 12 tracks including the hits Sweet Little Sixteen and its B-side Reelin’ and Rockin’ (later an A-side hit) and Rock and Roll Music.

11. The Champs, Tequila . . . Last one in the mini-instrumental set although I suppose it’s technically a semi-instrumental with this one because the word ‘tequila’ is spoken, in a fun and effective way, three times during the two minute, 13-second track. A No. 1 hit in 1958, it’s one of those cool cases where an A-side, in this case Train To Nowhere, a fine song in its own right but unsuccessful, was flipped over by a DJ who played the B-side Tequila at a Cleveland radio station, and the rest is history. The song has been covered countless times by artists from every genre of music one could name and has a big popular culture presence. It’s appeared in movies like Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie and the TV series Happy Days.

12. Buddy Holly/The Crickets, Fool’s Paradise . . . It sounds instantly familiar which I suppose most if not all Holly tunes do, similar to, say, Chuck Berry, which some might consider repeating themselves but I find a testament to the effective hooks and melodies inherent in their work. This was the B-side to the top-30 charting A-side Think It Over which also made No. 9 on the R & B list. Fool’s Paradise made No. 58 on the main charts.

13. Roy Orbison, Go Go Go (Down The Line) . . . B-side to the 1956 single Ooby Dooby and the first song written by Orbison although, according to Wikipedia, Sun Records owner and founder Sam Phillips later bought out out Orbison’s songs and put his own name on the credits. It was later covered and released as Down The Line by both Jerry Lee Lewis and Ricky Nelson, among others including Orbison himself, who reworked it for his 1970 album The Big O.

14. Charlie Rich, Lonely Weekends . . . Does the great country singer ever sound like Elvis Presley on this 1960 rockabilly release, but I suppose lots of these types of songs sound like Elvis, or vice-versa. In any event, it’s all such quality, infectious stuff – short, sweet, effective.

15. Eddie Cochran, Nervous Breakdown . . . As I was saying, about the Charlie Rich tune – short, sweet, infectious, effective. Best known for hit singles like Summertime Blues, Twenty Flight Rock, C’mon Everybody, Somethin’ Else and Cut Across Shorty, Cochran – like his friends Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens – died young in an accident. In Cochran’s case it was in a car crash in 1960 at age 21, just over a year after Holly, 22 and Valens, 17, along with The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), 28, perished along with pilot Roger Peterson in the February, 1959 plane crash immortalized as The Day The Music Died in Don MacLean’s 1971 hit American Pie. Chillingly, apparently Cochran was spooked by the death of his friends and developed a premonition that he, too, would die young and wanted to cut down on touring to reduce chances of an accident. The single car crash came while he was riding in a taxi on tour in England.

16. Carl Perkins, (The Right String, Baby, But The) Wrong Yo-Yo . . . Terrific toe-tapper by the man likely best known for Blue Suede Shoes, famously covered by Elvis Presley among countless renditions by various artists. Perkins also is responsible for Honey Don’t, Matchbox and Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby, all covered by The Beatles to the point Paul McCartney was once quoted as saying “if there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles.” I think there would have been, talent of that level tends to emerge regardless but no doubt Perkins was influential and provided at least some degree of push towards prominence.

17. Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat . . . A fun response to the song Hound Dog, by the man who gave the rock and roll world the 1963 hit single Walking The Dog which has been covered by artists like The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Roger Daltrey, Johnny Rivers, Mitch Ryder, Jason & The Scorchers, Green Day and many others.

18. Danny & The Juniors, Rock And Roll Is Here To Stay . . . Best known for their 1957 chart-topping At The Hop, this similar-sounding (especially the intro with the doo-wop vocal harmonies) 1958 followup made No. 19 on the hit parade.

19. Django Reinhardt, Djangology . . . Genre change as we bridge into some more modern, longer material via this 1935 recording by the renowned and influential Belgian jazz/gypsy jazz guitarist.

20. Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live, Scatterbrain . . . Beck, hardly a slouch himself, once described Django Reinhardt, in an interview with Guitar World Legends magazine, as “by far the most astonishing guitar player ever” so I figured let’s see what Beck himself has to play in the jazz fusion idiom as on this collaboration with the Czech-born composer/musician/producer Hammer, released on their 1977 album. Hammer, who was in the original lineup of John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra starting in 1971, also played on Beck’s studio albums Wired (1976), There & Back (1980) and Flash (1985). Hammer is well known for various movie and TV scores including the Miami Vice Theme which was a top 20 worldwide hit, including No. 1 on some lists, in 1985.

21. Peter Green, White Sky (Love That Evil Woman) . . . Propulsive near-nine minute title track to the Fleetwood Mac founder member’s 1982 album. Among the personnel on the album was drummer Reg Isidore, best known for his work in Robin Trower’s band on albums between 1973 and 1981 including Trower’s first two solo releases after leaving Procol Harum, the excellent Twice Removed From Yesterday and its followup a year later, the 1974 classic Bridge Of Sighs. Isidore died of a heart attack in 2009 at age 59.

22. Van Morrison, Listen To The Lion . . . An 11-minute voyage into Van The Man’s vocal style from his 1972 album Saint Dominic’s Preview. His voice as I often suggest and marvel at is an instrument in itself. Of course that is true of all singers, and it’s obviously subjective but Morrison’s voice in this regard is exceptional, as demonstrated on this epic as he sings, chants, moans . . . in short, vocalizes. In the words of noted music journalist/critic Robert Christgau in his review of the album and this song, vocals are sometimes more important than words. Also of note on the song is Ronnie Montrose, best known for hard rocking guitar in his band Montrose (from whence singer Sammy Hagar emerged), showing his versatility with some beautiful acoustic playing in tandem with Morrison.

23. Steve Winwood, Night Train . . . Funky, extended closing cut on Winwood’s hit album (No. 1 in Canada, No. 3 in the US) Arc of a Diver, released on the third-last day of 1980. While You See A Chance was the big hit, the title track also made the charts from a true solo album as Winwood sang and played every instrument – guitar, bass, various keyboards and synthesizers, and drums.

24. Tony Banks, Siren . . . And why not a little classical music from the Genesis keyboardist to conclude a set that went down some avenues that – after I intentionally started with lots of early rock and roll – I didn’t expect or necessarily intend. But in the end that’s a lot of the fun of it for me and the results come from having assembled the song list over a period of a few days, meaning I put things down, so to speak, then picked them up the next day and the day after that, in different musical moods each time. Composed by Banks and performed by the City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, this piece is from Banks’ second of now three classical albums, the 2012 release Six Pieces For Orchestra. The others are Seven: A Suite For Orchestra (2004) and Five, depicted as ‘5’ on the album cover, released in 2018. I don’t own any of them but I clued in to Sirens via the 3-CD Genesis compilation R-Kive, a 2014 set that features Genesis band material from all periods of the group plus solo work by Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett.