Search - Bobby Charles :: See You Later, Alligator

"...After A While Crocodile..."

Mark Barry at Reckless Records, Lon | UK | 07/04/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a voracious collector of Chess and all its subsidiary labels, I've amassed nearly 900 tracks by diligently acquiring heaps of hefty box sets and individual compilations. But even with all that, I've only 3 tracks by Bobby Charles. So as you can imagine this fantastically well put-together haul of the Louisiana Rhythm 'n' Blues man's rare sides is a godsend. There's a lot on here, so let's get to the details first...



Released June 2010 in Europe, "See You Later, Alligator" on Bear Family BCD 17207 AH has 28-tracks (67:03 minutes) covering the debut part of his career on Chess Records between October 1955 and March 1961. It will finally allow fans to sequence all of his 7" singles for the label as follows:



1. Later Alligator b/w On Bended Knee

Chess 1609, November 1955 [Tracks 1 and 2]

[Note: Only later reissues carry the more famous title, "See You Later, Alligator"; it finally charted in March 1956 for only 1 week at Number 14; Bill Haley and His Comets had a hit with it as "See You Later, Alligator" in February 1956 on Decca; Track 1 also features studio dialogue at the end of it that leads into Track 2]



2. Don't You Know I Love You b/w Why Did You Leave

Chess 1617, March 1956 [Tracks 5 and 4]



3. Time Will Tell b/w Take It Easy Greasy

Chess 1628, July 1956 [Tracks 8 and 7]

[Note: initial adverts ran the A side as "Only Time Will Tell" and subsequent discographies have sometimes carried this title, but it was issued as "Time Will Tell" on record and later adverts carried the shortened title]



4. No Use Knocking b/w Laura Lee

Chess 1638, November 1956 [Tracks 10 and 12]



5. Put Your Arms Around Me Honey b/w Why Can't You

Chess 1647, January 1957 [Tracks 18 and 6]



6. No More (I Ain't Gonna Love You No More) b/w You Can Suit Yourself

Chess 1658, May 1957 [Tracks 28 and 11]



7. One Eyed Jack b/w Yea Yea Baby

Chess 1670, September 1957 [Tracks 19 and 20]



Bobby Charles never had an LP of his own during his stay at the famous label, but there were many recording sessions with unaired material. The first LP to document his released and previously unreleased material was the 1984 US compilation "Chess Masters" on CH-9175. This CD will allow fans to sequence that LP too as follows:



Side 1:

1. Watch It Sprocket [3]

2. Yeah Yeah [20]

3. You Know I Love You [5]

4. Good Loving [21]

5. I'd Like To Know [24]

6. Ain't Got No Home [9]

7. Time Will Tell [8]

8. Take It Easy Greasy [7]

9. You Can Suit Yourself [11]



Side 2:

1. See You Later Alligator [1]

2. On Bended Knee [2]

3. I'll Turn Square For You [15]

4. I Ain't Gonna Do It No More [28]

5. Put Your Arms Around Me [18]

6. Lonely Street [16]

7. Mr. Moon [14]

8. One Eyed Jack [19]

9. Hey Good Looking [27]



Finally - a further retrospective referenced in the Discography is a rare 1996 28-Track Japanese CD also called "Chess Masters" On MCA/Chess MVCM-22078. It carried six more previously unreleased tracks - "I'm A Fool To Care" [13], "Over Yonder" [17], "Your Picture" [22], "Teenagers" [23], "Tell Me Baby" [25] and a cover of the Hank Williams classic "Lovesick Blues" [26].



The reissue producer is DAVE SAX, while Bear Family's own JURGEN CRASSER has done the remasters to beautiful effect (as always) and the 30-page liners notes are by New Orleans Rhythm 'n' Blues authority RICK COLEMAN who wrote "Blue Monday: Fats Domino And The Dawn Of Rock 'n' Roll" (winner of the Best Music Biography award for 2007). The outtake "Ain't Got No Home" sounds rough, but most of the cuts here are clean and clear in all the right ways. Once the gatefold is open, there is a Chess themed CD inside with a photo of his debut 7" pictured beneath the see-through tray on the right with an attached booklet to the left.



Staying with packaging - Bear Family now issues almost every non box-set CD in a chunky card digipak of varying sizes - and I love them. Visually they're gorgeous and read-wise they're the absolute business - and this issue is no different. The booklet is awash with trade adverts, pictured Chess singles and a fantastic session-by-session Discography at the rear. Better still are the details on every release and Charles' checkered career - both good and bad. There's lurid and witty tales of Chuck Berry doing Bobby's hair curl for $15 on the Chess tour bus, Leonard Chess's reaction to him being a white guy on all-black label, Bobby losing two homes - one to fire in 1996 and the other to Hurricane Rita in 2006 and then right back to the drunk girl in the "Ol' Midway" restaurant in 1955 who gave the 17-year old novice musician the "After A While Crocodile..." lyric idea in the first place - are all fab. The usual classy stuff...



But what really shocks you is the quality of the music... Although Guidry worshiped Fats Domino and clearly followed his New Orleans rolling piano style, Bobby was no cheap imitator. Guidry wrote 15 of the 28 tracks on here with most of the others co-written with his friend and fellow label mate PAUL GAYTEN - and they're uniformly excellent. WILLIE DIXON is on here too and Doo Wop fans should also note that THE CARDINALS are featured on Tracks 1 to 3. Highlights for me are the slow almost soulful blues of "Why Did You Leave", the lovely jaunt of "Time Will Tell" and the sax boogie of "No Use Knocking".



Robert Charles Guidry died in January 2010 and probably received a few small obits around the world - this CD may elicit the same lack of interest. But for me, "See You Later, Alligator" is one of the very real reasons why Bear Family is held in such affection among music lovers. It's beautiful and they've done him and his memory proud.



Fabarooney boys and well done. Recommended to New Orleans lovers everywhere."

Classic Cuts from a Louisiana Master

Kevin Fontenot | New Orleans, LA United States | 07/06/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bobby Charles (Robert Charles Guidry) can be considered the godfather of Swamp Pop--the south Louisiana/Gulf Coast fusion of Cajun, country, R & B, and rockabilly that is identified with a front line of horns (heavy on the saxs) and heart breaking vocals. He may well have been the first to record the genre as the opening three cuts on this cd reveal. Charles was the most gifted songwriter of the genre, a talent for which he is better known than for his singing. (The other great songwriter, Jimmy Donley, also has been given the Bear Family treatment.) This release will help correct some of that. Charles wrote numerous hits for others including "See You Later Alligator," "Before I Grow Too Old," and "Your Picture," a staple in south Louisiana in version by Johnny Allen. On this disc we get Bobby Charles' cut of that song and an unissued version of "I'm A Fool to Care" that may make Joe Barry fans rethink that song. Charles did most of his recording at Cosmo Matassa's studio in New Orleans. That includes his earliest sides with his band, The Clippers, a seminal Swamp Pop ensemble. He did a session in Chicago backed by Willie Dixon's studio band. The rest of his sessions featured top rate New Orleans R & B guys like Lee Allen, Allen Toussaint, and Earl Palmer. His final session on this disc features an unidentified New Orleans band, probably Mac Rebennack (Dr John)'s group. The music is divided between rockers and the sentimental vocals that are usually seen as Swamp Pop. There is a heavy Fats Domino influence in Charles' vocals, also typical of Swamp Pop. If you like good rock and roll and rhythm and blues, this cd is fantastic. For the Swamp Pop and Louisiana fan, it is essential."