Without skiffle there may well have been no Beatles, Stones, Bee Gees, Who, Faces, Hollies .. the list goes on. Individual members, or even most members of those bands at some time in their early musical lives had been a part of a skiffle group. Perhaps the best known among them were The Quarrymen, who's lineup had John Lennon and Eric Griffiths on guitars, Pete Shotton on washboard and Bill Smith on tea-chest bass. Later as people came and went Paul McCartney and George Harrison joined and stayed .. and the rest was history.
Skiffle groups popped up all over England in the 1950's mainly because of the instruments involved. If just one person could get hold of a guitar and another could sneak a washboard from their Mum, a bass could be made from a tea chest with a broom handle and string. For very little outlay you had a band. In the early days the repertoire consisted of songs made popular by Lonnie Donegan, Englands greatest proponent of skiffle music. He was the only skiffle act to really make it to the charts. He had over 30 top 30 singles, three #1's and he was the first British singer to have two US top 10's. He was also Britain's most successful recording artist before the Beatles.
The skiffle craze was relatively short-lived though with rock and roll taking over the radio and the ever growing airwaves of television. Lonnie ended up doing novelty songs like 'Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour' and 'My Old Man's a Dustman'.
Fast forward to 1997 when Van Morrison had the idea of recording an album of skiffle music with Dr. John. He wanted to pay homage to all the musicians who started their careers playing skiffle, and the list included himself and his early band The Sputniks. As he says on the album sleeve notes "We had a washboard, guitar, tea-chest bass and a type of kazoo called the zobo."
Lonnie Donegan had played with the Chris Barber Jazz Band back in the early 50's when he had his first hit with 'Rock Island Line' so after talking to Lonnie it was decided that the 3 of them, Van, Lonnie and Chris, would get together and record an album of live performances. Dr. John made it in on a few of the songs and the end result was this album of classic tracks.
The shows used on the album were recorded on 20 and 21 November 1998 at Whitla Hall in Belfast. When the record was reviewed in The Times in early 1999 they used what is possibly my all-time favourite description of any music, anywhere at any time. They wrote .. "If real ale could sing this is how it would sound .."
To me it sounds great. A lot of the songs were done by Lonnie back in the day, but to hear them in this setting, with these people is a long-awaited pleasure.
Lonnie takes a solo to start the album with 'It Takes a Worried Man'. Van joins him for 'Lost John' then brings Dr. John in on 'Goin' Home' with Chris Barbers trombone startling the song. After a couple more tracks, Lonnie let's loose on his 1957 hit 'Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O' with Alan "Sticky" Wicket going twenty to the dozen on the washboard to keep a frenetic pace. This leads in to the slower, gently rocking 'Alabamy Bound' with Van and Lonnie (eventually) getting together after a slow start by Van. Nick Payne blows just enough harmonica to make it ever so slightly heart-achy (as any good harmonica player does.) This song was actually the 'b' side to the '... Daddy-O' single.
'Midnight Special' rolls along like the train it's based on with Van and Lonnie sharing the dominant lead. After a few more classics written by the likes of Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly the band gets foot-tapping with 'Railroad Bill' and 'Mule Skinner Blues' . ("good morning captain"). After 'The Ballad of Jesse James' the show ends with a fitting song .. 'I Wanna Go Home'. If the title is unfamiliar it's probably better known by the Beach Boys version, 'Sloop John B'.
This album is bittersweet. It brought Lonnie Donegan back for a new found group of fans rediscovering the music that formed their parents lives. Sadly Lonnie only had a brief time to enjoy it as he passed in 2002 aged 71 years. We're fortunate that this album became part of his legacy with no small thanks to Van for arranging it and Chris and Dr. John for adding to the experience.
The vinyl may be hard to find. You can get the CD or listen to the full album on YouTube.
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