BO DIDDLEY: BO DIDDLEY IS A GUNSLINGER (1960)
1) Gun Slinger; 2) Ride On
Josephine; 3) Doing The Crawdaddy; 4) Cadillac; 5) Somewhere; 6) Cheyenne; 7)
Sixteen Tons; 8) Whoa Mule; 9) No More Lovin'; 10) Diddling; 11*) Working Man;
12*) Do What I Say; 13*) Prisoner Of Love; 14*) Googlia Moo; 15*) Better Watch
Yourself.
The first of several «Bo Diddley is a...» type
of records, starting out in an almost «conceptual» manner and then proceeding
in whatever non-conceptual directions the original concept might have pushed
the music. In other words — a nice pretext here for Mr. Bo to show off in some
nice Western gear on the front cover. But whaddaya want, The Magnificent Seven came out that year, after all, and why
shouldn't Afro-American rock'n'rollers have loved it, too?
The good news is: Ennio Morricone was not yet
working with Sergio Leone, so there is no danger of hearing Bo try out his own
interpretation of ʽThe Good, The Bad, And The Uglyʼ. The bad news is that the
proposed scenario might have been —
who knows? — more exciting than hear Bo slap on a lyrical, attitud-inal, and,
sometimes, musical country-western sheen on everything we'd already heard
before. The ugly news, then, to
dispense with the trio, is that this album contains what might be the worst
cover of ʽSomewhere Over The Rainbowʼ ever recorded by a human being. (At
least, in the pre-1980s era.)
But cheer up: in the end, Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger is a pretty funny concept, and a fairly
exciting musical ride. What I mean is, anybody who appreciates, say, Weird Al
Yankovic's bag of parody tricks, has no reason to cringe at the idea of Bo
Diddley expropriating other people's ideas, adapting them to his own playing
style, and coming out with something that is a shameless rip-off and a
hilarious parody at the same time. The most important thing, though, is the
humor and the playfulness of it all. If you have something against playing with
Uncle Bo, stay away. If you're willing to accept the Gunslinger's rules,
though... excitement awaits, crude as it may be.
The title track ever so slightly modifies the
Bo Diddley beat (actually, the drums play without syncopation, whereas the
guitars still syncopate, and this creates a slightly irritating, but
clever aural effect) to give us another
episode of ʽThe Story Of Bo Diddleyʼ, this time set at the «O-K Corral». After
that, Western references float away, only to resurface on ʽCheyenneʼ, which is
basically a synthesis — literally! —
of the Coasters' ʽAlong Came Jonesʼ (again!) and LaVern Baker's ʽJim Dandyʼ,
taking the "and then?"s from the former and the
"waaah-oooh"s from the latter. Both are classics of the comedy-R'n'B
substyle, and the synthesis works much better than a separate cover of each
would have had — and what is that
«bubbling» percussion? Sounds just like
certain patterns of electronic drums circa early 1980s. Later on, it reappears
on ʽWhoa Mule (Shine)ʼ, a stop-and-start blues-pop account of a Southern mule,
where its clippity-clop does resemble a mule's slow, steady pace, instead of
the light horsey gallop on ʽCheyenneʼ. Clever!
The most often covered songs on the record
would probably be ʽRide On Josephineʼ (George Thorogood had a version) — a
Diddley-style rewrite of Chuck Berry's ʽMaybelleneʼ, with a different chorus
but essentially the same verses; and ʽCadillacʼ, done by the Kinks on their
debut album — here, with a saxophone-adorned arrangement, which Gene Barge
contributes in well-imitated King Curtis style. Again, though, it is not the
saxophone itself that matters (we can all just go listen to the real King
instead), but its interplay with the distorted lumps, shards, and splinters of
sound spluttered by Bo and his second guitarist (Peggy Jones) in all
directions. And then there is ʽSixteen Tonsʼ by Merle Travis, a track that Ed
Sullivan, for some reason, once expected Bo to perform on his show, and got
pretty upset when the man played ʽBo Diddleyʼ instead. Don't worry, Mr.
Sullivan — Bo Diddley takes his responsibilities seriously. A five-year wait
period is actually quite a sign of respect. And it's a nice cover, too.
Overall, the only true misfires are the ballads
— once again, Bo proves that he's no ladies' man when it comes to wearing your
heart on your sleeve: ʽNo More Lovinʼ is clumsy, rotten doo-wop, and
ʽSomewhere...ʼ ... oh my God. (Then again, I never even liked that song in the
movie — and I never really liked the movie — and I never ever liked a single
cover of that song — and for some reason, Eric Clapton performed it live during
my only live Eric Clapton experience — okay, I'm probably not the right person to pronounce judgement in this case).
But apart from that, Gunslinger is an oddball of an album in that it is not all that
different in scope or freshness from the two that precede it, but somehow, is
still hammered together in a more concise, exciting, and intriguing manner. Not
surprisingly, unlike those two, Gunslinger
has been remastered and issued on CD,
with a bunch of bonus tracks (of which the wannabe-ancient road workin' song
ʽWorking Manʼ is the finest), and is well worth locating. Thumbs up.
Check "Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger" (MP3) on Amazon
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to ride my favourite fetish again.
ReplyDeleteThe opening notes of Kill the King live (and I don't mean the audio track played over the system) are based on Over the Rainbow. And even you like that.