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The Lin & Kliff Story [Box]

Various Artists
4 discs

0. DISC 1:
1. Crazy Mind Plus a Foolish Heart, A - Wayne Jetton
2. Meadowlark Boogie - Buck Griffin
3. I'm Running For Your Heart - Bill Switzer
4. Too Fast, Too Wild - David Ray
5. Just Give Me Time - Louis Crabb/Larry Crabb
6. I Love You Just Because - Merle Shelton
7. Dirty Bird Song, The - Andy Starr
8. Lookin' For the Green - Buck Griffin
9. Pecosita (Freckle-Face) - Frank Dove/Gene Armstrong
10. All the Time, (Love You Baby) - David Ray
11. My Louisiana Home - Larry Crabb
12. Bawlin' and Squallin' (Over You) - Buck Griffin
13. Do You Remember? - Freddy Powers/Paul Buskirk
14. Loser - Freddy Powers/Paul Buskirk
15. Do It Right - Andy Starr
16. Richest Man Alive, The - John Gold
17. Somebody's Girl - Wayne Jetton
18. Chilena, My Dancing Girl - Merle Shelton
19. Why Can't You and I - David Ray
20. Cochise - Buck Griffin
21. You Are Still in My Heart - Larry Crabb
22. Little Red Bird - Bill Switzer
23. Wasted Love - Paul Buskirk
24. Let's Elope Baby - Buck Griffin
25. Lonely Hours - Gene Armstrong
26. Chapel of My Heart - Paul Buskirk
27. Because I Love You - John Gold
28. Please Pardon My Tears - Larry Crabb
29. Prisoner's Farewell, The - Woody Mitchell
30. It Don't Make No Never Mind - Buck Griffin
31. She's Somebody's Mother - Woody Mitchell
32. Lonesome Baby Blues - David Ray
0. DISC 2:
1. Rockin' Rollin' Stone - Andy Starr
2. Lonesome Baby Blues - David Ray
3. Guitar Smoke - J.B. Brinkley
4. Mother Goose at the Bandstand - Jerry Fuller
5. Stutterin' Papa - Buck Griffin
6. Busy Body Rock - The Four Mints
7. Where the Rio de Rosa Flows - Ken Copeland
8. Teenage Love - Jerry Fuller
9. I Took a Liking to You - Ray Ruff
10. If You Can't Rock Me - The Strikes (alternate take)
11. I Am a Fool - David Ray
12. Door Is Open, The - Jerry Fuller
13. Saccharin Sally - Tu-Tones
14. Angel Blue - Ray Ruff
15. I Want to Go Steady With You - Ken Copeland
16. Blue Memories - Jerry Fuller
17. Fickle Chicken, The - The Atmospheres
18. My Girlfriend's Car - Ray Ruff
19. Now I Know - Butch McClarey
20. Kabalo - The Atmospheres
21. Far and Distant Lands - Steve Wright
22. Little Mama Tree Top - The Four Mints
23. I'll Be Your Baby - J.B. Brinkley
24. Come Back to Me - The Strikes
25. Certain Smile, A - Jerry Fuller
26. Jelly Roll Man - Bill Simpson
27. Pledge of Love - Ray Ruff
28. Rockin' Hall - Butch McCleary
29. Alone, (Don't Leave Me) - The Four Mints
30. Wild, Wild Woman - Steve Wright
0. DISC 3:
1. Round and Round - Andy Starr
2. Rough Tough Man - Don Curtis
3. Jitterbugging Baby - David Ray
4. I Found a New Love - Jerry Fuller
5. Jessie Lee - Buck Griffin
6. Dogfight - Jokers
7. Night Air - The Four Mints
8. Through Eternity - Jerry Fuller
9. Fool Again, A - Ray Ruff
10. My Poor Heart - The Strikes
11. Still in Love With You - Tu-Tones
12. Lonesome Feeling - David Ray
13. Telegraph - The Atmospheres
14. Angel From Above - Jerry Fuller
15. Do You Know - Bill Peck
16. In Dreamland - Ray Ruff
17. Caravan - The Atmospheres
18. Special Kind of Loving - Don Alexander
19. Lipstick and Rouge - Jerry Fuller
20. Until You're Mine - The Four Mints
21. Knee Shakin' - Don Terry
22. I Do - The Strikes
23. Fanny Brown - Ken Copeland
24. My Little Girl - Don Curtis
25. Old Man Mose - Bill Simpson
26. Beatle Maniacs - Ray Ruff
27. Do You Love Me - Jerry Fuller
28. She Giggles - Don Terry
29. Blue Moonbeam - Jokers
30. Whistling Rock and Roll - Bill Stubblefield
0. DISC 4:
1. Disc Jockey Fever - The Chuck-A-Lucks
2. Pledge of Love - Ken Copeland
3. Dark Eyes - Bob Tanner
4. Music Box Lullaby - Nora Johnston
5. Rendezvous - Ramona Redd
6. Someone to Love Me - Ken Copeland
7. Late in the Evening - Doodle Duncan
8. You're Getting the Idea - Ken Copeland
9. Show Me the Way (To Your Heart) - Margee Robinson
10. Twist of Lemon, A - R. Wolfe Tanner
11. Devil's Train, The - The Chuck-A-Lucks
12. And So It Goes - Bill Peck
13. Give Me Your Heart - Ramona Redd
14. Somewhere Angels Are Smiling - Nora Johnston
15. Love Only Me - Ken Copeland
16. Lonely Rhapsody - Bob Tanner
17. Death Row - Doodle Duncan
18. Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt - Virginia Thompson
19. Suez - Bill Stubblefield
20. Who Am I? - The Chuck-A-Lucks
21. Hurt Me - Margee Robinson
22. Golden Grain - Dixon Holman
23. Magic of First Love, The - The Chuck-A-Lucks
24. Locked in the Arms of Love - Ken Copeland
25. Fools - Trella Hart
26. Going Home, All Alone - Trella Hart
27. Why Did She Leave - Honee Welch
28. It's Me Girl - Honee Welch
29. I'm Gonna Try (To Steal Her) - Honee Welch
30. Woman Child - Honee Welch
31. Angels Can Lie - Honee Welch
32. It Must Be Love - Honee Welch
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 15950
Credits

Producer
Engineer
Performers include: Jerry Fuller, Ray Ruff, David Ray, Ken Copeland, The Strikes, The Four Mints, J.B. Brinkley.
This is a dazzlingly great and maddeningly confusing four-CD set -- maybe the best box of its kind that Bear Family has ever issued -- and also one hot collection of country-based rock & roll, laced with some cool Western swing and dance numbers, plus some well-played ballads. All of the 120+ songs from the Lin Records vaults (nearly half previously unissued) were cut in Texas and Oklahoma, featuring some extraordinary local and regional talent that might otherwise never have been recorded. The contents are uniformly good, which is extraordinary in itself for an indie label that most listeners outside of Texas and Oklahama scarcely remember -- what makes it maddening, but also very listenable, is that the songs have not been arranged in chronological order. Track order jumps across years, but the mix of sounds makes this one of the most listenable of all Bear Family boxes; indeed, it's like tuning in on an incredible country-rock retrospective on radio. The one concession to chronology is on disc one, which opens with the very first record ever cut for Lin Records, Wayne Jetton's "A Crazy Mind Plus a Foolish Heart." Jetton wasn't even out of high school when he wrote and cut this great, lost should-have-been-a-hit in December 1953. Disc one gets better from there, with Western swing, straight country, and proto-rock & roll. Most of this material was released in 1954, showing just how far out in front of a lot of other country labels Lin Records was in reaching out to teen audiences -- these sides all rock to some degree, and some pretty hard at that. There are a couple of sentimental country ballads in the midst of this, but a considerable amount of what's here is a branch of regional rock & roll evolving in the studio, country music changing into something harder and more aggressive. Disc two is all rock & roll, all the way, with some R&B influences as well. The disc kicks off in high gear, and the pace never really slows; there are also one or two above-average novelty rockers. Disc three is even better, made up mostly of some of the hottest White country-blues-based rock, solid dance tunes, and exquisitely sung Elvis-style ballads this side of Sun Records. Even the more romantic numbers that fill out the side don't break the spell -- this disc would have made a magnificent hour of rock & roll radio. Disc four is somewhat more uneven, running the gamut from elegant, passionate pop to novelty tracks, plus lots of romantic pop-rock from Ken Copeland, including "Pledge of Love," the biggest single that Lin ever had. The book is utterly engrossing, presenting a vivid picture of what running a small label was like the in years that Lin Records started, as well as biographical information on all of the label's artists. It's also profusely illustrated. ~ Bruce Eder