TOMMY STEELE WITH THE STEELMEN/THE TOMMY STEELE STORY LF 1288 (-57) UK MONO

 For background on the man please check post on his debute LP "Tommy Steele Stage Show"  https://monolover.blogspot.com/2020/12/tommy-steele-and-steelmentommy-steele.html . Even this early he was in musicals and acting, so while the debute was from a live performance recorded at Café de Paris in London this follow-up was in fact a soundtrack from a movie about Steele's rise to fame as a teen idol, no doubt inspired by US movies like "Rock Around The Clock". I haven't seen the film, but can truly enjoy the record anyway. This is good fifties rock'n'roll, blending ballads with uptempo. Fourteen well performed cuts all penned by Steele himself, with or without co-writers. It may seem hazardous to squeeze in seven tracks on each side on a 10 inch, but the audio here is surprisingly fine - big, strong and natural. As usual I like the uptempo songs best, like "Take Me Back Baby", "You Gotta Go", "Cannibal Pot" and "Teenage Party". You can, with all right, argue that he's got nothing on the much heavier American rock stars that started to emerge at this time, like Little Richard, Chuck Berry or Elvis, but to me that's not the point. This is the beginning of British and European rock'n'roll and even if inspired by US giants it comes idiomatic for its place. Originally released like this also in Scandinavia, South Africa, Downunder, France and Spain. In US and Canada issued as "Rock Around The World" (London LL 1770) as a 12 inch with other sleeve design. EU 2008 CD on Hallmark (706872) came with nine bonus tracks. Premiere UK had label as shown here in a fully laminated cover with crescent flips and a Decca c/o inner. (ZÖNT*)