Rufus Thomas was no pup when Strolling The Canine was launched. Born in 1917, he’d earned a good dwelling round Memphis as an MC, dancer, radio DJ, and wisecrackin’ theatre act, and each a type of abilities got here in useful when he made his pop breakthrough with the album’s title monitor in 1963.
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He’d already had an on-off relationship with the R&B chart for a decade, offering Solar Information with successful – and a lawsuit claiming copyright infringement – with “Bear Cat” in 1953, a reply to Huge Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog.” However as soon as he’d damaged by means of with Stax, he by no means went away, offering dance-craze soul tunes lengthy after dance crazes had been a retro factor. So this right here (46-year-old teenager’s) debut album has exhortations to do “The Dog,” the “Mashed Potatoes,” the monkey (“Can Your Monkey Do The Dog”), and the title tune.
Thus far, so restricted. However no! Thomas is aware of find out how to cease stuff from getting uninteresting. He has character by the bucketful, and hawks songs like a market dealer shifting gen-u-wine Rolexes. He attracts loads from the R&B sounds of New Orleans: his model of “Ya Ya” is the equal of Lee Dorsey’s, and his lower of Jesse Hill’s “Ooh-Poo-Pah-Doo” outshines the unique. John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” will get additional boom-chitty-boom. And he’s acquired an awesome voice: hoarse, wailing, deeply human – everyone wants an uncle like this at a household get-together. He’s nice with a ballad too…
Truly, there ain’t no ballads right here, no method – a uncommon factor for a soul album of the period, which is one purpose why the Strolling The Canine document acquired worn out at events. It was one lengthy floor-filler. Even Thomas’ daughter Carla, pressed into service on “Cause I Love You,” is a duetting foil.
After the title monitor was launched as a single, on June 17, 1963, the Strolling The Canine album was snapped up by mods within the UK, and the bands they raved to plundered it for materials – The Rolling Stones amongst them. Rufus Thomas’ affect unfold so far as the sky. This album affords a dozen good-time the reason why.
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