Neville Taylor - Rockaroo Almost Complete Recordings 1958-1961 Music CD

Following on from Jasmine's recent well-received compilation of tracks by pioneering 1950s UK-based Jamaicans the Southlanders, we now bring you the first ever CD collection of tracks from their fellow Caribbean expatriate - and like them, a popular turn on 50s British television and a pioneer of UK R&B - Neville Taylor. Guyana born Neville came to the UK in the 1940s, before the arrival of the 'Windrush Generation', but made his name in the 1950s after a few TV appearances led to a residency, with his group the Cutters, on Jack Good's pioneering weekly pop show "Oh Boy!" An integral part of Good's regular line up, the TV shows inevitably led to recording contracts and "Rockaroo" brings you as many of Neville's recordings from 1957-1962 as we were able to fit on one CD. Throughout his recording career Neville led a 'double life' on 45s, recording his own 45s for labels like Parlophone, Decca and Oriole and covering many hits of the day for Woolworth's label Embassy as 'Hal Munro' - a disguise that would have fooled nobody who knew his voice from his own records or from TV broadcasts. All of 'Hal's Embassy sides are also featured here to make this as complete a collection of his work as the finite running time of a compact disc permits. 'Hal's 45s were budget priced and never chart-aimed, but Neville's were and given the high overall quality of them as displayed here - particularly the rock 'n' roll sides like 'Mercy Mercy Percy' and 'Crazy Little Daisy' and his original recording of the highly popular 'House Of Bamboo' - it's surprising that he didn't chart a single one. Jasmine continues to explore corners of British popular music that are long overdue for re-appraisal, and further released are already planned on other artists who arrived from the West Indies in the 40s and 50s to seek musical fame and fortune.