Rock Around The Country

The Swedish Connection . . . continued

Rock Around The Country . . .
So it was that in the autumn of 1970 the first tracks on the 'Rock around The Country' album were laid down. Charters main concern with this new album was to bring the Haley sound up-to-date. And he succeeded, producing one of the finest albums Bill Haley ever made. A nice combination of traditional rock 'n' roll - 'Bony Moronie'. Fine country ballad - 'A Little Piece At A Time'. Novelty pop song - 'Pink Eyed Pussycat' and even a 60's style anti-nuclear protest song 'Who'll Stop The Rain?' To top all that, his version of 'Me and Bobby McGee' even received great praise from its' composer Kris Kristofferson. And so 'Rock Around The Country' was an artistic triumph, but unfortunately this was not recognised in album sales and it was to be a further two years before Bill would enter the recording studio again.

Just Rock & Roll Music . . .
was what the fans wanted to hear, and they were not to be disappointed. Having just returned from a very successful European tour including a show stopping performance at Wembley Stadium, Bill returned to the studio. Once again Charters took control of the sessions in Nashville. Despite the 'rock & roll' tag given to the record, it still has a very country feel. A nice touch Charters brought to the arrangements was the guitar 'ricochets' favoured by the Comets in the 50's. Rudy is, as ever, excellent and used to full effect on a great version of 'Bring It On Home To Me'. Indeed it's nice to hear Bill tackle some 50's hits he is not normally associated with, such as his fine version of 'I'm Walkin' and a great 'C.C. Rider'. Of course there had to be at least one old Haley standard, in this case the honours went to 'Crazy Man Crazy'.

From the album liner notes - This is as Bill said, 'just rock and roll music' - the songs and the music from the great years when rock and roll and Bill Haley ruled the music world. It's all still here,
. . . as wild and wonderful as ever

Stay Tuned for the continuing story of Bill Haley's highly successful recordings for the SONET record label