''Rock with Bill Haley and the Comets'' is the title of an early

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

music

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

issued by

Essex Records Essex Records was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1951 by Dave Miller (producer), David Miller primarily to record contemporary country and western, rhythm and blues as well as jazz and Gospel music, gospel. Jack Howard was the promot ...

(ESLP 202) in December 1955, and featuring music by the titular group,

Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band founded in 1947 that continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...

. The album features recordings made by Haley in 1952 and 1953, including his hits, "

Rock the Joint "Rock the Joint", also known as "We're Gonna Rock This Joint Tonight", is a 1949 boogie song recorded by various proto-rock and roll singers, notably Jimmy Preston and early rock and roll singers, most notably Bill Haley in 1952. Preston's version ...

", "

Crazy Man Crazy "Crazy Man, Crazy" was the title of an early rock and roll song written by, and first recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets in April 1953. It is notable as the first recognized rock and roll recording to appear on the national American musical char ...

" (''Billboard'', #12, ''Cashbox'', #11), " Fractured" (''Billboard'', #24), and " Live It Up" (''Billboard'', #25).

Content

All the songs on ''Rock with Bill Haley and the Comets'' were previously released as singles under the Essex banner, including several that were originally released when the band used the name Bill Haley and the Saddlemen. The album does not include any of the tracks Haley and the Comets recorded in 1954 before moving to Decca, nor are any of the tracks from 1951-52 included that Haley recorded for Essex's sister label,

Holiday Records Holiday Records was an American record label based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which was active in the early 1950s. Owned by Dave Miller, who also owned Essex Records, it is best known for releasing some of the earliest recordings widely ide ...

(although later releases of Haley's Essex label work would include these tracks). Essex leased this album out to numerous other labels that subsequently issued it under their own brand. This includes Somerset Records, Paragon Records, Reo Records, Transworld, and

Quality Records Quality Records was a Canadian entertainment company which released music albums in Canada on behalf of American record labels. They also released recordings by Canadian artists. The company operated between 1950 and 1985 with offices in Toron ...

. The album was released in the UK in 1962 by Pye Golden Guinea Records under the title ''Rock the Joint''.

Track listing

# "

" (Harry Crafton, Wendell Keane, Harry Bagby) # "Rockin' Chair on the Moon" (Bill Haley, Harry Broomall) # "Farewell, So Long, Goodbye" (Bill Haley) # " Real Rock Drive" (Bill Haley) # " Fractured" (Bill Haley, Marshall Lytle) # " Stop Beatin' Round the Mulberry Bush" (Bickley Reichner, Clay Boland) # "

" (Bill Haley) # "

Pat-a-Cake "Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake, Baker’s Man", "Pat-a-Cake", "Patty-cake" or "Pattycake" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6486. Verse :Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man. :Bake me a cake as fast as you can :R ...

" (Billy Williamson, Bill Haley) # " Live It Up!" (Bill Haley) # "What'cha Gonna Do" (Bill Haley) # "I'll Be True" (William McLemore) # " Dance with a Dolly" (Terry Shand, Jimmy Eaton, Mickey Leader)

Personnel

The Comets *

Bill Haley William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-sel ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Billy Williamson –

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

Johnny Grande John Andrew Grande (January 14, 1930 – June 3, 2006) was a member of Bill Haley's backing band, The Comets. Life and career Born in South Philadelphia, Grande played piano and accordion with Bill Haley and the Saddlemen, later known as Bill H ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

; organ on 11 *

Marshall Lytle Marshall Edward Lytle (September 1, 1933 – May 25, 2013) was an American rock and roll bassist, best known for his work with the groups Bill Haley & His Comets and The Jodimars in the 1950s. He played upright slap bass on the iconic 1950s rock ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

Dick Richards Dick Richards (born 1936) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Known as a storyteller and an “actor’s director”, Richards worked with Robert Mitchum, Gene Hackman, Martin Sheen, Blythe Danner, Catherine Deneuve, Al ...

- backing vocals on 9, 11 Additional musicians *

Danny Cedrone Donato Joseph "Danny" Cedrone (June 20, 1920 – June 17, 1954) was an American guitarist and bandleader, best known for his work with Bill Haley & His Comets on their epochal "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954. Career Cedrone was born in Jamesvil ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

on 1, 2, 4, 6, 12 *

Art Ryerson Arthur Ryerson (May 22, 1913 – October 27, 2004) was a jazz guitarist who emerged in the 1930s, playing acoustic and electric guitar, as well as the banjo. He played with jazz orchestras and bands in the 1930s and the 1940s. In the early 19 ...

on 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 *

Billy Gussak William Gussak (1920 – 1994) was an American jazz and recording session drummer, best known for being the drummer on the classic 12 April 1954 recording of "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets. Some sources incorrectly spell ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

on 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 * Tony Lance -

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

on 3, 9, 11 * Dave Miller - clapboard on 11, backing vocals on

Note: no drums were used on tracks 1, 2, 12. According to the Haley biography ''Sound and Glory'' by John W. Haley and John von Hoelle (Dyne-American, 1990), numerous other individuals participated on backing vocals on 7, including record executive

Jerry Blaine Jerry Blaine (December 31, 1910 – March 14, 1973) was a bandleader, co-founder of Jubilee Records, record distributor, and singer who recorded 18 sides for the Master and Bluebird labels from 1937 to 1938. Biography He was born to a Jewish ...

External links

Bill Haley discography
{{Authority control Bill Haley & His Comets albums 1954 compilation albums Essex Records compilation albums Albums produced by Dave Miller (producer)