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78 RPM



78 RPM Record

Artist:Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton
Label:  Peacock
Country:USA
Catalogue:1612
Date:Feb 1953
Format:10"
Collection:  I Own It     I Want It 
Community: 16 Own
Price Guide:$27
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PRICE GUIDE
$27


TrackArtistTitleComposerRating
AWillie Mae "Big Mama" ThorntonHound DogJ. Leiber, M. Stoller, J. OtisRate
BWillie Mae "Big Mama" ThorntonNight MareJ. Leiber, M. Stoller, J. OtisRate


Notes

Kansas City Bill [aka Johnny Otis] & Orch

Images



Comments and Reviews
 
peterh
18th Nov 2014
 a) ACA 2258
b) ACA 2260
 

 
BigBadBluesMan
22nd Dec 2013
 
 

 
pstoller
10th Jul 2013
 Some clarification: Although the name "Kansas City Bill" was derived from the name of Johnny Otis' drummer Laird "Kansas City" Bell, it is Otis, not Bell, who plays drums on "Hound Dog." The record was issued in late February of 1953; Billboard frequently reviewed records from independent labels as much as a few weeks after they had been issued (if only because those labels were lax about getting pre-release copies to Billboard).

The Finnish issue on Karusell and the French issue on Vogue 3328 credit Robey as composer and Joe Scott as "orchestra" leader, but while that could have been Robey pulling a fast one, it's also possible that someone simply copied the credits over to "Hound Dog" from "Mischievous Boogie." It is exactly the same recording as originally issued in the US on Peacock 1612 in 1953 (and again as Peacock 1612 in 1956, with "Rock-A-Bye Baby" from Peacock 1647 instead of "Night Mare" on the flip).
 

 
mickey rat
12th Jun 2013
 Amazing that this was released in Europe. Robey reissued it in America when Elvis was hot with the song. A Billboard review (18 August 1956) has the reissue with it's original catalog number 1612 but with a different flip side "Rock-a-bye baby" (from the same session as "Hound Dog" and previously released as Peacock 1647). 1954 European issues coupled "Hound Dog" with "Mischievous Boogie" from her very first session in Houston in 1951, indeed recorded with the Joe Scott Orchestra (according to Blues Records Vol.2) and originally issued as Peacock 1603. Interesting too that a 1967 Duke/Peacock catalog still had 45s available with "Nightmare" as the verso.
 

 
Boursin
11th Jun 2013
 Yes, it's the same classic version.

I checked the matrix numbers (ACA 1924 / ACA 1925) and it turns out that even they are fake - they originally belonged to a 1951 record by Joe "Papoose" Fritz (Peacock 1574)! So the songwriting credit to Robey, the orchestra credit and the matrix numbers are all wrong, but it's still the same recording.
 

 
Jock_Girl
11th Jun 2013
 So -- Is this the same version of Hound Dog as on the Finnish release on Karusell 15040? I note that it credits Joe Scott and his Orchestra and this says Kansas City Bill and Orchestra
 

 
Boursin
11th Jun 2013
 Other Don Robey traffic on 45cat somehow led me here. Just yesterday I added the insanely rare Finnish 78 of "Hound Dog", issued to cash in on Elvis, and having a different B side, "Mischievous Boogie". As you can see, Robey credited both songs to himself, and "Kansas City Bill" is replaced by an even more false credit for Joe Scott!

Peacock must have shopped this coupling around in Europe, as it was also pressed on 78 at least in Sweden (Karusell K 66), France (Vogue V 3328) and the UK (Vogue V 2284), all during 1954. I've never seen a copy of the latter, not even a picture, and it must have been rare enough to pass most UK collectors by.

You could apparently have ordered records from Robey right up until he sold the labels in 1973. The late Juhani Ritvanen, Finland's biggest ever R&B scholar (he was subscribing to the Billboard as a teenager in 1963) reproduced a mouth-watering 1972 invoice for various rare Duke and Peacock 45s in a story on Bobby Bland that he wrote for the local Blues News magazine in the '80s.
 

 
mickey rat
2nd Feb 2013
 Don Robey was slow getting this one out. Both sides were from an August 1952 session in Los Angeles with Johnny Otis. Otis wisely ditched the horn section for "Hound Dog" and only used the rhythm section featuring the very underrated Pete Lewis on guitar and drummer Laird Bell who somehow became "Kansas City Bill" on the label. Like most other '50s collectors outside America I didn't hear this until probably the mid '60s (on a Duke LP probably) and it blew me away - a true classic! Robey obviously kept pressing it (on 45 at least) because he made sure Billboard and Cashbox were aware of it through much of 1956 when Elvis was riding high with the song. I have a 1967 Peacock/Duke/Backbeat catalog with ten different 1950s Willie Mae Thornton 45s still in print. Like Art Rupe at Specialty, Robey kept almost everything in print for many years. I'm sure I intended to order quite a few records when I received this catalog in 1967 but would not have had the money so probably just drooled.
 

 
Jock_Girl
1st Feb 2013
 Date change requested

Damn wikipedia!
 

 
fixbutte
1st Feb 2013
 There's a Billboard review in the March 14, 1953 issue (p. 32) and a Peacock ad for "Hound Dog/Nightmare Blues - Both Sides" the week before (p. 49), so March 1953 is quite reliable as release month.
 

 
Whyperion SUBS
31st Jan 2013
 
 

 
vaquero
31st Jan 2013
 actually it was released in 1953
 

 
Jock_Girl
31st Jan 2013
 While Elvis' 1955 version is better known, this recording, the original, blows it away!
 


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See Also

78 Record
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton - They Call Me Big Mama / Cotton Picking Blues - Peacock - USA - 1621 (1953)
Next by Artist
78 Record
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton - Hound Dog / Mischievous Boogie - Vogue - UK - V2284 (1954)
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78 Record
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton - Hound Dog / Rock A Bye Baby - Peacock - USA - 1612 (1956)
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Marie Adams - My Song / Sweet Talking Daddy - Peacock - USA - 1610 (1952)
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