JOHNNY BURNETTE – Sings – (Liberty) – 1960

Of all the native Memphis singers to follow the Elvis tsunami out of Memphis Johnny Burnette probably had the most talent.

And he wasn’t even signed to Sun.

Johnny, like a lot of early rock n rollers has an interesting bio ….see links.

Also, no doubt as a result of the time and place Burnette’s music has a similar structure and outlook to that of Elvis. Allmusic:  A contemporary of Elvis Presley in the Memphis scene of the mid-’50s, Johnny Burnette played a similar brand of fiery, spare wildman rockabilly. With his brother Dorsey (on bass) and guitarist Paul Burlison forming his Rock ‘n’ Roll Trio, he recorded a clutch of singles for Decca in 1956 and 1957 that achieved nothing more than regional success. Featuring the groundbreaking fuzzy tone of Burlison’s guitar, Johnny’s energetic vocals, and Dorsey’s slapping bass, these recordings — highlighted by the first rock & roll version of "Train Kept A-Rollin’" — compare well to the classic Sun rockabilly of the same era.

By the time of this recording Johnny had toned down his rockabilly and rock n roll impulses in the search for pop fame.

Rock n Roll was already going through a crisis of sorts. Between 1959 and 1960 rocks hard regional accents and jagged edges were smoothed out : perhaps it was a conspiracy or perhaps it was a series of natural occurring events all unfortunately occurring at the same time.

• Elvis was drafted;
• Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens were killed in a plane crash;
• Chuck Berry went to jail;
• Jerry Lee Lewis was banned;
• Eddie Cochran was killed in a car crash;
• Gene Vincent was substantially injured and disfigured in the same accident;
• Johnny Cash turned to a more traditional country sound;
• Bobby Darin turned to traditional pop;
• Jack Scott was in the army;
• Bill Haley, financially mismanaged, was broke;
• Little Richard gave up rock n roll and turned to God (admittedly he vacillated back and forth).

Whatever the reason for the change, the traditional pop machine took over and a more pop flavoured rock n roll took control of the airwaves. That’s not to say this music was bad. From New York you had Dion and the Belmonts, out on the west coast you had Ricky Nelson (who Johnny Burnette wrote for) and down south you had Johnny Burnette and Roy Orbison. And in any event Elvis wasn’t adverse to pop and had that in his mix from his earliest recordings. He would come back from the army and release even more pop (and r&b, and pop operatics) culminating in the first great rock album of the 60s “Elvis is Back” (1960), which in some ways was a template for the music to come in that decade.

Unlike Elvis though, Burnette, like others, was seduced into or compelled to add strings and trad pop vocal choruses to his rock n roll music. There were two ways to approach the trend to softer rock music:

• record it within a rock setting (which Elvis did), that is with small combos and rock musicians or sympathetic ones;
• approach it from a traditional popular session as Burnette does here. ie : as if you were doing a paired down Dean Martin session.

Ultimately the sounds are different, slightly, but the former has stood the test of time better and is more well regarded. Either way, Burnette’s change in direction worked well for him and he had one top 10 and three top 20s in 1960/61.

Burnette’s trouble, however, was, always, his albums. He was more of a singles artist and found it difficult to put out a unpadded album.

But what carries everything is Burnette’s great vocals.

It is interesting to speculate on where he may have gone had he not been killed in a boating accident in 1964.

Tracks (best in italics)

• Little Boy Sad – Good word play. Captures the right amount of teen heartbreak that is needed to appeal to the teen girls.
• Mona Lisa – the Nat King Cole song sped up.
• I’m Still Dreamin’ – an excellent song and a sort of sequel to his “Dreamin” hit.
• In the Chapel in the Moonlight – a good standard done well … though a little too sweet.  Dean Martin later covered this.
• Red Sails in the Sunset – great song but here it is filler.
• Big Big World – a excellent big dramatic ballad. There is syrupy backing but that does not detract to much from the song
• Ballad of One-Eyed Jacks   – the sung western film theme song was incredibly popular in the 50s and 60s. The film cash-in song was also popular. These songs weren’t in the films but tend to outline the narrative or themes of the film. Think Pitney’s “Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”, Claude King’s “The Comancheros” etc. This tune based on the Brando western is a good one.
• The Treasure of Love- filler, very much of its era.
• The Fool – a hit for rockabilly star Sanford Clark in 1955 and covered by Elvis in the 70s.
• Blue Blue Morning – not too bad. Written by Gene Pitney.
• Memories Are Made of This – Dean martin had done this song in the 50s. A cute, catchy song.
• Pledge of Love- filler

And …

I love this era of music and this album despite it’s shortcomings has enough rock n pop to keep me entertained…. I’m keeping it.

Chart Action

US

Singles

1961  Big Big World  The Billboard Hot 100 #58

1961  Little Boy Sad  The Billboard Hot 100 #17

Album

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England

Singles

1961  Little Boy Sad  #12

Album

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Sounds

Little Boy Sad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIRv8r1hwC4

Mona Lisa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8KcNS0C1VY

I’m Still Dreamin’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idG6Jgp7hAo

In the Chapel in the Moonlight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y6YOR5ruiY

Red Sails in the Sunset

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFs5TGgXEBQ

Big Big World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn8OXsJF3A4

Ballad of One-Eyed Jacks  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj28IAXqed4

and attached

Johnny Burnette – One Eyed Jacks

The Treasure of Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=599_IwbyYZQ

The Fool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuDdMdlZefA

Blue Blue Morning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsrb6Aj4qso

Memories Are Made of This

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVf5LApMmYc

Pledge of Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhCvSCiZdRY

Others

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5GBk77Pb5o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD8siCNo7b4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufzRV3xspYA

Review

http://www.allmusic.com/album/johnny-burnette-sings-r31931

Bio

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/johnny-burnette-p61004

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Burnette

Website

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Trivia

• Johnny is the father of 1980s rockabilly singer Rocky Burnette.
• "My brother Dorsey and I first got to know Elvis Presley when he went to Humes High and we went to the Catholic High… Elvis would tote his guitar on his back when he rode past on his motor-cycle on his way to school. He would see us and always wave". Johnny Burnette, 1961.