The first single of the "Woman Who Built Atlantic" may not be earth-shattering on its own, but in the context of her future classics, it already shows quite a bit of the greatness to come. The song itself is nothing special: a vocal jazz ballad about the common subject of giving a tearful goodbye to the one you love. Yet, Ruth manages to convey quite an impressive range of emotions within less than 3 minutes: youthful optimism, tearful apologies, anguished cries, bitter nostalgia, and so much more. Even with a standard, Ruth imbues each and every lyric with a different micro-emotion, allowing the listener to savor every second of this performance. Whether the label understood it or not, Ruth had already arrived as a monster vocal talent, and while that alone couldn't make this a classic recording (even a performer of Ruth's caliber still couldn't turn a song like this into a great one), it is still quite a nice way for her to begin her rise as the true "Queen of R&B."
To think such an incredible and revolutionary piece of music could have been lost to history: Sticks McGhee played this song frequently while in the military, and in 1947, he recorded the song for a single on Harlem Records, a label that went out of business in 1948. The disappearance of the label easily could have been the demise of the tune from the public conscience, but thankfully, a New Orleans distributor contacted Ahmet Ertegun (the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records) asking if he possessed copies of the original single, and Ertegun, knowing Stick's brother Brownie, got Stick to re-record the song for his label. The single that resulted would become a major landmark commercially and artistically. Commercially, because the single ended up hitting #2 on the R&B charts and ushered in the beginning of major financial fortunes for the label that would culminate in the '50s and beyond. Artistically, because it was unquestionably one of the first rock 'n' roll songs ever recorded, and few songs recorded earlier could claim such a title so firmly.
I understand those who note that the melody is still too strongly rooted in the jump-blues tradition to be truly rock 'n' roll, and there were even two other songs released in 1949 that were written and performed understanding what "rocking out" entailed as a philosophy, Jimmy Preston's "Rock This Joint" and Wynonie Harris's "All She Wants To Do Is Rock." "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee," a drinking tune through and through, lyrically still doesn't stray far away from most rhythm and blues music of the time. Yet, if we focus on the performance itself and less on those minor details, this song is absolutely rock 'n' roll and miles ahead of its time, bringing us closer to the era of Chuck Berry and Scotty Moore that was soon to come.
The most important distinguishing element of the song is the (excellent) guitar playing: like any great rock 'n' roll recording, it sounds like a raggedy, rebellious, but fun-loving guy with his trusty guitar trying to take on the world by kicking its ass, and Stick accordingly delivers inspired and fluent guitar work in each verse until it erupts into a punchy, marvelous guitar solo. Moreover, Stick delivers such a perfect rock vocal performance, balancing the humor and lightweight fun of a drinking party with the grit and toughness of the blues. It is this incredible artistic presence that makes this song such a delight even today, where you can laugh along to the "spo-dee-o-dees" (which Stick used to say "motherfucker" in place of "spo-dee-o-dee" when performing it in the army) while smashing wine bottles to the groove of those guitar solos. No wonder it was so widely covered in the future, most notably by Johnny Burnette's gruff and aggressive Rock 'n' Roll trio, by Jerry Lee Lewis with pounding piano showcases (both in the '50s for Sun and the '70s in London), and by Wynonie Harris, maybe the most perfect person to cover the song (after all, wouldn't this song fit perfectly with a guy who sung about quiet whiskies on the shelf and making love to lovin' machines?). Yet, nobody captured all of the dynamic sides of the song better than Stick did here, so do yourself a favor and hear this absolute classic of wild rock 'n' roll fun as soon as possible.
Sonically, this is not nearly as huge as Joe Morris's "The Applejack" but hardly any less enjoyable. Culley's sax riff builds a catchy and cozy little groove that gives him room to show off his tone and improvisational skills...which are obviously not that great but they are entertaining and add to the instrumental's low-key boogie spirit nonetheless. As far as easy-listening jazz/R&B instrumentals go, this is certainly above average (hey, I haven't heard this song in almost a year and I still mostly remember how it goes!), but on the overall scale, you're better off making your way to the era of The Clovers, Ruth Brown, and Big Joe Turner if you want your dose of Atlantic R&B. Besides, Frank Culley's role would stake his small but notable place in this story by being the label's first major bandleader (along with providing some excellent sax work for the Clovers' classic "Don't You Know I Love You").
This already sounds so more confident and more Atlantic-true than "Lowe Groovin'". The band cranks out quite a catchy riff and pretty much rides upon that groove until the very end, and it definitely works. It has a huge, booming sound that feels much more tough and demanding compared to the previous instrumentals on the label. Add in the really nice piano and sax soloing that boosts the excitement level, and you can already tell Atlantic would be ready in less than 2 years to unleash the brassy and sassy glory of Ruth Brown's "Teardrops From My Eyes" upon the world. On its own, it is still less exciting than the future rave-up fun of Tommy Ridgley's "Jam Up" and the Mar-Kays' "Last Night", but if you listen to this while following the chronology of the label, it will surely provide some rock 'n' roll refreshment for your soul.
I really like the smokey, late-night-in-the-city sound of this song, where the horn section, Tiny Grimes's guitar, and Jimmy Saunders's piano have a bit of that relaxed nighttime energy while sounding low-key enough in spirit to not break the atmospheric consistency. This is also the only Tiny Grimes recording of the three instrumentals here where the piano work leads rather than Grimes himself, mainly due to that nice looping piano along with some fine licks and soloing throughout the track. Again, this is just a pleasant piece of R&B, nothing here will shake your foundations, but it really works if you are listening to it on repeat late in the evening, trust me.
Another very pleasant jazzy R&B instrumental that may not amount to much but sounds quite nice. Here, Tiny Grimes offers some bouncy melodic playing and pretty tones that make for an enjoyable listen, and piano player George Kelly even gives a wonderful piano solo from 0:43-0:57. Not much else to say here: the band sounds fluent and competent, and the song still makes for some tasteful background listening today.
Verdict: Decent
NOTE: For some reason, a song marked as Tiny Grimes's "Annie Laurie" on Apple Music is actually Cliff Richard's cover of the traditional pop standard "As Time Goes By". I have absolutely no idea how that happened, but that means that this song is neither on Apple Music nor Spotify. So, check out the link above if you want to hear it.
I enjoy Tiny Grimes's "Midnight Special" and Joe Morris's "The Applejack" a lot, but if I had to pick one of Atlantic's early instrumentals, it would be this one. Grimes manages to extract some beautiful tones out of his guitar to provide a dream-like atmosphere along with some great horn-guitar dialog throughout the song. Yet, the best part is how it nicely balances that cool, soothing sound of the horns/guitar with the simple but tough hammering of the piano riff throughout the song, allowing it to have quite a kickass bottom to boot while making its general point. A very enjoyable instrumental as a whole: it may sound a bit dated, but there is at least some real magic to the elegant rhythmic simplicity of this song that I find very enduring.
