ALBUM: Go Bo DIddley (1959, RE 1986)
MVC Rating: 4.5/ $$$ (used reissue)
All the songs on this album were recorded in the 1950’s before 1958. I was born 1959.
I believe I first heard a Bo Diddley song on a Rolling Stones record. The song was ‘Crackin’ Up.’ Don’t remember the Stones album, maybe ‘Love You Live.’ All of the songs on this LP clock in at under 3 minutes. No messing around with these tight simple, but potently rhythmic, blues songs. Between Chuck Berry and Bo, Keith Richards must have learned every chord in his arsenal.
Diddley, Mississippi born, he died at 79 in 2008 in Florida. He is known for his guitar-with-a-beat technique, influencing the likes of Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones and the Who (Magic Bus). The kids loved it; parents were outraged by the pulsating herky jerky guitar music..
Premierguitar.com writes: Along with Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley was one of rock n’ roll’s guitar-slinging originators. His guitar rhythms harked back to a more primitive place than the swing-meets-country style of Berry; outraged parents in the fifties referring their children’s affection for “jungle music” were most likely referring to Bo Diddley.
I love the way DIddley snarls and talks every now and then. His insult battle with Jerome Green in ‘Say Man’ presages rap battles of the future.
Fun, but short, album to put on at a party to dance to the songs of a man who actually named a song after himself: