Rock 'n' Roll Trio / Tear It Up

back in stock. elvis was not the only rocker in 1954-55. the rock 'n' roll trio was the legendary group that during 1955-57 recorded 2 album's worth of material. their pioneer rockabilly / rhythm 'n' blues music has been higly influential on bands like the yardbirds, johnny kid and the pirates and the downliners sect. the band consisted of the two burnette brothers johnny and dorsey and their friend, lead guitarist paul burlison. both brothers wrote a lot of great songs, some of which were hits for acts like ricky nelson. their first album, simply called 'the rock 'n' roll trio' was released as a 10 inch lp on coral records in early 1957. the album caused considerably excitement among rockabilly fans, but was soon deleted. the album curiously did not include their 1956 single 'tear it up' which soon became a real collector's item. in 1966 the album was rereleased on the ace of hearts label, at a time when the trio had been disbanded for years. singer johnny burnette had died in a drowning accident in 1964. their material was mixture of burnette originals and tunes borrowed from other rock 'n' roll pioneers like fats domino and joe turner. the first albums opens with the great rocker 'honey hush' with the great distorted guitar-riff. more rockers of the same type follows; best of which are 'all by myself', 'the train kept a rollin' and 'drinkin' wine spo-dee-o dee, drinking'. a few buddy holly-type ballads can also be found - 'i just found out' and 'i love you so', a little bit of country on 'lonesome train' and sheer blues on 'chains of love'. their second album called 'tear it up', released after their split shows a greater variety of styles. highlights are the rocking single-track 'tear it up', 'you're undecided' and 'midnight train' - all burnette originals. the playing and singing is terrific and overall there's a lot of energy in these recordings.