Track first appeared on: Tommy Blake – Koolit - The Sun Years, Plus Label: Bear Family Records – BCD 16797 AH Series: The Sun Years, Plus – Format: CD, Compilation Country: Germany Released: 2007 Style: Rockabilly, Rock & Roll
Tommy Blake was one of the more curious characters of the Big Beat era. He was a man with talent, but seemed unable to channel his talent in the right direction. Instead of harvesting the rewards he should have received for his genuine songwriting ability, he burnt too many fingers and rubbed too many people the wrong way. Bill Millar has said of Blake, "The records of Tommy Blake afford a glimpse of a man of considerable imagination as well as flights of indiscipline". He continued, saying Blake was a "headlong troublemaker" and concluded with the lugubrious summary of his life being "-a psychodrama far cheaper than any he wrote about". Noted musicologist Colin Escott similarly opined, "Tommy Blake's life was a How-Not-To-Do-It manual", elaborating with the unfavorable retrospection ... "He was one of the guys who never really made it but got close enough to know what 'making it' was all about. Close enough to know that he wanted it badly. Some guys can give it a shot, accept that the public doesn't want to buy what they have to sell, then move on, happy that they at least tried. Not Tommy Blake. He couldn't accept the public's verdict with good grace".
Tommy Blake - Cool Alligator recorded in 1958.
ReplyDeleteTrack first appeared on:
Tommy Blake – Koolit - The Sun Years, Plus
Label: Bear Family Records – BCD 16797 AH
Series: The Sun Years, Plus –
Format: CD, Compilation
Country: Germany
Released: 2007
Style: Rockabilly, Rock & Roll
https://www.discogs.com/Tommy-Blake-Koolit-The-Sun-Years-Plus/release/9236013
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Tommy Blake was one of the more curious characters of the Big Beat era. He was a man with talent, but seemed unable to channel his talent in the right direction. Instead of harvesting the rewards he should have received for his genuine songwriting ability, he burnt too many fingers and rubbed too many people the wrong way. Bill Millar has said of Blake, "The records of Tommy Blake afford a glimpse of a man of considerable imagination as well as flights of indiscipline". He continued, saying Blake was a "headlong troublemaker" and concluded with the lugubrious summary of his life being "-a psychodrama far cheaper than any he wrote about". Noted musicologist Colin Escott similarly opined, "Tommy Blake's life was a How-Not-To-Do-It manual", elaborating with the unfavorable retrospection ...
"He was one of the guys who never really made it but got close enough to know what 'making it' was all about. Close enough to know that he wanted it badly. Some guys can give it a shot, accept that the public doesn't want to buy what they have to sell, then move on, happy that they at least tried. Not Tommy Blake. He couldn't accept the public's verdict with good grace".
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