Charlie Feathers - Can't Hardly Stand It! - The Complete 50s Recordings

Can't Hardly Stand It! - The Complete 50s Recordings
El Toro Records ETCD 1020

Track listing:
CD1
1 Peepin' Eyes
2 I've Been Deceived
3 Defrost Your Heart
4 A Wedding Gown of White
5 Tongue-Tied Jill
6 Get With It
7 Everybody's Lovin' My Baby
8 Can't Hardly Stand It
9 One Hand Loose
10 Bottle to the Baby
11 When You Decide
12 Nobody's Woman
13 Too Much Alike
14 When You Come Around
15 Why Don't You
16 Jungle Fever
17 One Hand Loose (alternative take)
18 Can't Hardly Stand It (alternative take)
19 Bottle to the Baby (alternative take)
20 Bottle to the Baby (alternative take)
21 Everybody's Lovin' My Baby (alternative take)
22 Too Much Alike (alternative take)
23 My My - Jody Chastain (Ch. Feathers on guitar)
24 Jody's Beat - Jody Chastain (Ch. Feathers on guitar)

CD2
1 I've Been Deceived (demo version)
2 Runnin' Around (demo version)
3 Defrost Your Heart (demo version)
4 Runnin' Around
5 I've Been Deceived (alternative take)
6 Someday You Will Pay - The Miller Sisters (Charlie Feathers on spoons)
7 Defrost Your Heart (alternative take)
8 A Wedding Gown of White (alt. take)
9 We're Getting Closer to Being Apart
10 Bottle to the Baby (Sun demo version #1)
11 Bottle to the Baby (Sun demo version #2)
12 Frankie and Johnny (take #2)
13 Frankie and Johnny (take #5)
14 Bottle to the Baby (Sun take #1)
15 Bottle to the Baby (Sun take #2)
16 Honky Tonk Kind (take #3)
17 Honky Tonk Kind (take #4)
18 So Ashamed (take #1)
19 So Ashamed (take #2)
20 Corrine Corrina
21 The Man in Love
22 This Lonesome Feeling
23 Johnny Come Listen

El Toro have produced the goods again, this time concentrating on the early career of rockabilly legend Charlie Feathers. Featuring no fewer than 47 tracks, this release has all the singles, outtakes and demos that the Holly Springs Hellraiser cut. There’s a split opinion of Charlie within the rockabilly world. Some think he has been given undue acclaim, others think he should have been bigger than he was, but what everyone agrees on is the quality of his best rockabilly numbers.

CD1 kicks off with the hillbilly recordings, all of which stand the test of time well. Peepin’ Eyes is a lively pepped-up hillbilly, with I’ve Been Deceived having clever lyrics just a notch below ol’ Hank himself. It’s the Meteor single where thinks get spicy, Tongue-Tied Jill being nothing short of brilliant. This and the King stuff that follow show Charlie at his hiccupy, southern drawling, hip-swivelling best. Classics abound in the form of the issued and unissued versions of Everybody's Lovin' My Baby and Can’t Hardly Stand It. One Hand Loose has one of the coolest, simplest six word intros in rock ‘n’ roll music, “well I’m a tip top daddy” – you sure were Charlie. I love the poppier sounds of When You Decide and Too Much Alike and would have liked him to persevere with that sound in the early 60’s. Bottle To The Baby is another classic and in the spirit of completism El Toro have even chosen to include the great speeded up version that Ace put out a few years ago. The CD closes with both sides of the Jody Chastain single that Charlie played rhythm guitar on.

The second CD looks at the unissued recordings which at one stage were rare and much sought after. Oddly enough, some of this is the first stuff I heard of him, as the Zu Zazz album was my introduction, even before I heard the King classics. I love the alternates of Bottle to the Baby, Corrine Corrina and Frankie And Johnny, all of which are here. This is a brilliant release from El Toro which should hit all the right spots for either those without any Charlie in their lives (shame on you) or those who may have it all but just want it collected in one place. Either party is on a winner – he really was a tip top daddy.