The Preludin Canon - OPEN for 1955-65

[Stacy Heydon]

THE PRELUDIN CANON

1955
Bo Diddley- Bo Diddley
Little Richard - Tutti Frutti
Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing
Elvis Presley - Mystery Train
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall in Love?
Nat King Cole -A Blossom Fell
Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
Elvis Presley - I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone
The El Dorados - At My Front Door
Chuck Berry - Maybelline
The Robins - Smokey Joe's Cafe
Gigi Gryce - Brakes Sake
Erroll Garner - Mambo Carmel
Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours
The Platters - The Great Pretender
Little Walter - I Hate To See You Go

1956

Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning
The Johnny Burnette Trio - The Train Kept A-Rollin'
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters - Open Up Your Back Door
Frank Sinatra - I've Got You Under My Skin
Screaming Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell On You
Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel
Mickey & Sylvia - No Good Lover
Elvis Presley - Blue Moon
The Five Satins - In the Still of the Nite
Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love?
Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps - Be-Bop-a-Lula
The Drifters - Ruby Baby
Chuck Berry - Havana Moon
Ray Charles - Drown in my Tears
Willie Joe and his Unitar - Unitar Rock
Little Richard - Long Tall Sally

1957

Dale Hawkins - Susie Q
Slim Harpo - I'm a King Bee
Buddy Holly & The Crickets - That'll Be The Day
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin'
Little Richard - Keep a Knockin'
Miles Davis - Round Midnight
The Charts - Desiree
Fats Domino - I'm Walkin'
Thelonious Monk - Epistrophy
Sam Cooke - You Send Me
Jimmie Rodgers - Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Everyday
Yusef Lateef - Metaphor
Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock
Buddy Holly & His Crickets - Words of Love
The Chantels - He's Gone
The Everly Brothers - Maybe Tomorrow
Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Workin'

1958

The Coasters - Yakety Yak 
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Alligator Wine
Jimmy Reed - Baby What You Want Me To Do
Link Wray - Rumble
Chuck Berry - Johnny B Goode
Chuck Berry - Carol
Peggy Lee - Fever
Don and Dewey - Justine
John Coltrane - Blue Train
Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues
The Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream
The Skyliners - Since I don't Have You
The Shields - You've Cheated
The Platters - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
The Olympics - Western Movies


1959

Miles Davis - So What
Ray Charles - What I'd Say
Jacques Brel - Ne me quitte pas
Santo & Johnny - Sleep Walk
The Flamingos - I Only Have Eyes For You
Eddie Cochran - Something Else
The Fleetwoods - Come Softly To Me
Ritchie Valens - La Bamba
Charlie Mingus - Better Get It In Your Soul
Vince Taylor - Brand New Cadillac
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Moanin'
Ornette Coleman - Lonely Woman
The Viscounts - Harlem Nocturne
Horace Silver - Sister Sadie
The Louvin Brothers - The Drunkard's Doom
1960

Johnny Kidd & The Pirates - Shakin' All Over
The Miracles - Shop Around 
The Drifters - This Magic Moment
Ornette Coleman - Ramblin'
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
John Coltrane - Naima
Elmore James - Rollin' and Tumblin'
Etta James - At Last
The Shirelles - Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
The Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown
Roy Orbison - Only The Lonely
Maxine Brown - All In My Mind
The Everly Brothers - When Will I Be Loved?
The Drifters - I Count the Tears
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Dat Dere
Sam Cooke - Chain Gang

1961

John Coltrane - Ole
Roy Orbison - Crying
John Coltrane - My Favourite Things
Ben E. King - Stand By Me
Ray Charles - I Believe to my Soul
Del Shannon - Runaway
Timi Yuro - Hurt
Patsy Cline - Crazy
Dion - Runaround Sue
The Marcels - Blue Moon
Otis Redding - Shout Bamalama

Doctor Ross - Cat Squirrel
Bobby Parker - Watch Your Step
Patsy Cline - I Fall To Pieces

1962

James Brown - Night Train
Little Eva - Locomotion
Davey Graham - Angi
Sam Cooke - Bring it on Home to Me
Rivingtons - Papa Oom Mow Mow
Skeeter Davis - The End of the World
Booker T & the MGs - Green Onions
Dionne Warwick - Don't Make Me Over
Miracles - You Really Got a Hold On Me
The Ventures - 200 Pound Bee
Arthur Alexander - Anna
Irma Thomas - It's Raining
Link Wray - Big City After Dark
Lou Christie - The Gypsy Cried
The Coasters - Up On The Roof

1963

Ronettes - Be My Baby

Roy Orbson - In Dreams

Trashmen - Surfing Bird

Kingsmen - Louie Louie

Beatles - She Loves You

Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please come Home)

Jaynettes - Sally Go Round the Roses

Bob & Earl - Harlem Shuffle

Surfaris - Wipeout

Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder

Beach Boys - In My Room

Dionne Warwick - Anyone Who Had a Heart

Betty Everett - It's in His Kiss (the Shoop Shoop Song)

Lesley Gore - You Don't Own Me
Martha & The Vandellas - Heatwave
Mongo Santamaria - Watermelon Man
Bob Dylan - Masters of War
The Crystals - De Doo Ron Ron

1964

The Four Tops - Baby I Need Your Loving

Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Kinks - You Really Got Me

Sonics - The Witch

Zombies - She's Not There

Beach Boys - I Get Around

Beatles - Hard Day's Night

Bob Dylan - With God On Our Side

Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come

Beach Boys - Don't Worry Baby (ernie)
Them - Baby, Please Don't Go
Tommy Tucker - Hi-Heel Sneakers
The Kinks - All Day and All Of the Night
The Shangri -Las - Leader of the Pack
The Righteous Brothers - You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling


1965

The Who - Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (adam)
James Brown- Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag (freap)
Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs - Wooly Bully (snee)
Beach Boys - California Girls (loveless)
Rolling Stones - Satisfaction (hatz)
Wilson Pickett - In the Midnight Hour (dayodead)
Byrds - Turn, Turn Turn (davey)
Phil Ochs - Here's to the State of Mississippi (DF)
Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone (osgood)
The Who - My Generation (goatboy)
Miracles - The Tracks of My Tears (ernie)
Bob Dylan - It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
The Lovin' Spoonful - Do You Believe in Magic?
The Beatles - Day Tripper
Len Barry - 1-2-3
Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

[Stacy Heydon]

I've an idea for producing a great list of the greatest tracks, in our opinion, over the decades.
How it will work is this: We will go through each year beginning in 1955 and Preludin posters will nominate one track that they consider to be a great track from the year. I'm not sure where we'll finish, I was thinking 2010, but happy to hear any thoughts.
I will post a couple of years per week.
A couple of points - you can go well known or obscure, but you should get into a different mindset to the one you might have when picking cup tracks. We're not looking for 'different' or 'interesting', but the best so don't be scared of the obvious. I don't want multiple selections either, restrict your choice to one nomination per year.
I'll kick it off in a few days to give you a chance to think about things. Questions welcome.

[fonz]

Why finish in 2010? Let’s stretch ourselves a bit

[Stacy Heydon]

Nov 12, 2022 13:13:30 GMT fonz said:

Why finish in 2010? Let’s stretch ourselves a bit

I suppose my fear is the quality will fall too much. I think you need a certain amount of distance to assess what really stands up. But if people want to do it we can*

* One idea might be to have one nomination for a post 2010 track (putting all the years together rather than go through each one).

[fonz]

It could be an opportunity to learn about some ‘new’ music - I don’t have much of a clue what could be considered canonical, and my taste is usually non-standard Preludin, but I’m happy to give stuff a try…

One track from each year could be a challenge, especially in those peak years of 65-75 and 78-82

[Stacy Heydon]

Nov 12, 2022 14:17:50 GMT fonz said:

It could be an opportunity to learn about some ‘new’ music - I don’t have much of a clue what could be considered canonical, and my taste is usually non-standard Preludin, but I’m happy to give stuff a try…

One track from each year could be a challenge, especially in those peak years of 65-75 and 78-82

Indeed, best to not overthink it..obviously great stuff will get excluded. But if every Preludin poster (and I'll also open a thread on SS to bring in their nominations) joins in we'll still get a pretty awesome list I hope.

[Reactionary Rage]

Bump

[DarknessFish]

This is a bit like a conference call, my silence was not a lack of interest but an implicit agreement that this is a good idea.

1955 though, fuck me, I'll be struggling to pick out a banger there. I guess the research might be part of the fun.

[Stacy Heydon]

Well let's open it.
It might take a while for some to research, but there'll be no close off date for nominations.
So please post your nomination for 1955.
Here is mine:

Bo Diddley- Bo Diddley


Right off the bat there was someone taking things in new,unexpected directions. The swampy, shuffling sound of this track must have sounded like it'd come from another planet.

[oh oooh]

It has to be this



It's wildly exuberant, irresistible nonsense and it must have caused some jaws to drop in 1955. You can still feel it now, I think.

It's not just one of the best songs from that year, it's one of the great man's (and of course his incredible band's) greatest moments and it's one of my favourite songs by anybody.

If for some unfathomable reason you were given the job of 'architect of rock and roll', and you had to put some foundation stones in place, I don't think you could even imagine anything better.

God bless Richard Penniman!

[rayge]

There's also Maybellene and Thirty Days, Cry Me a River, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Only You, The Great Pretender, Mystery Train (and other Sun Elvis double-siders) and a whole slew of great doowop.

Not to mention

[oh oooh]

oh Ray

[rayge]

Nov 16, 2022 12:15:08 GMT oh oooh said:

oh Ray

Just trying to point out what riches there are. And that's just the top 40 in RYM's list.

It's pointless for me to me to pick one and eulogise about it. I love them all. No arguments with Tutti Frutti or Bo Diddley either - although in the latter case, Pretty Thing was also 1955, and a better stand-alone record than Bo Diddley, I think, although I concede that the latter came first and had more of an impact.

[Reactionary Rage]

I win

[Stacy Heydon]

Nov 16, 2022 12:23:07 GMT rayge said:

Nov 16, 2022 12:15:08 GMT oh oooh said:

oh Ray

Just trying to point out what riches there are. And that's just the top 40 in RYM's list.

It's pointless for me to me to pick one and eulogise about it. I love them all. No arguments with Tutti Frutti or Bo Diddley either - although in the latter case, Pretty Thing was also 1955, and a better stand-alone record than Bo Diddley, I think, although I concede that the latter came first and had more of an impact.

If you don't mind, I'll pick one from your nominations to go into the official list.