Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight

Ferlin Husky was another Country singer well known to Country fans, but little heard of elsewhere. This CD collects most of his more uptempo tracks that he recorded mostly for the Capitol label during the whole of the fifties. The early fifties tracks were in a more hillbilly style, while the later tracks were in a mild Rock 'N' Roll style, occasionally resembling Pat Boone when HE was in a mood for Rocking and Rolling. The excellent Wang Dang Doo sounds very much uptempo Pat Boone. But, initially, Ferlin mysteriously recorded as Terry Preston, originally for the Four Star label, and when he first moved to Capitol. This CD contains one of his Four Star recordings which is a bit crackly, although this may have been the best master available, and two of his Terry Preston tracks for Capitol. He then reverted to his real name of Ferlin Huskey, but after about a year, dropped the e from his surname. But from the mid fifties to early sixties, he also recorded under the guise of Simon Crum, also for Capitol. He already had a CD on the U.S. Collectables label The Complete Simon Crum collecting all his recordings under that name. His six Simon Crum tracks here are duplicated from that CD. But another track I Feel Better All Over is a different version here to the one on that other CD. As Simon Crum, he recorded in a wider variety of styles, including harder edged Rock 'N' Roll such as Bop Cat Bop which is one of the tracks duplicated here, novelty in a Country, Hillbilly or complete comedy style, including a track on which he occasionally impersonates Johnny Cash, and a few parodies such as Don't Be Mad, his live reading of Elvis Presley's Don't Be Cruel, also duplicated here, and Enormity In Motion (Poetry In Motion). Also as Simon Crum, he usually sang deliberately in a higher pitched ropy voice, although with Don't Be Mad, he tried to impersonate Elvis, but he couldn't quite do it, although he did get a little better at it towards the end. A few other tracks from that Simon Crum compilation could have been included here as they were in the right style, but probably not without stretching it to two CDs, such as his excellent Simon Crum duet with Country singer Jean Shepard, It Tickles, a then unreleased 1955 recording, a parody of a U.S. hit for Country singer Tommy Collins. During the late fifties, Ferlin also recorded some nice Country Pop singles, which need to be compiled on a CD. But for Rock 'N'Roll fans, he was best known for his Simon Crum track Bop Cat Bop. This CD digipak also contains a detailed booklet with his career history, and a sessionography detailing the exact recording dates and sessions of these tracks. But once again, I bought this from one of Amazon's cheap sellers, but a great purchase.

Ferlin Husky... or Simon Crum... or Terry Preston... whatever you know him as, there's no doubt that this man had some serious talent and was a great all-around entertainer. This Bear Family CD gives you 32 original recordings on one disc ranging from pure country to underrated rockabilly.After trying to use the stage name of Tex Terry, Husky decided to adopt the new name of 'Terry Preston'. This CD brings a couple of those early recording on here before he went back to his original name of Ferlin Huskey (albeit eventually a slight change in spelling). However, Husky developed another alias along the way called Simon Crum, almost his 'comic' character. A few of those more 'novelty' recordings feature on here as well.This CD brings bring you 32 recordings and these are listed on the Amazon page, but to make things a bit clearer tracks 5 and 7 are recorded as 'Terry Preston', tracks 23, 24, 26, 27, 28 and 32 are recorded as 'Simon Crum' and the others are Ferlin Husky (or Huskey). What you do get is a varied mix of country, pop, rockabilly and rock 'n' roll, probably unintentional in its own way but quite iconic some 60 years after it was recorded and released. Tracks 14 and 23 were unreleased recordings, so there's appeal for the collectors as well.With good sleeve notes written too, this album also bring you a session by session look at who played on what as well a the recording date. There are plenty of rare photographs included in the notes too.For me, there are numerous highlights on here. The opening recording 'Black Sheep' is one to check out if you've not heard it before, but also the country music of 'Aladdin's Lamp' and rockabilly of 'Slow Down Brother' are other highlights on here. Be sure to also check out 'Bop Cat Bop' which although is a parody of rock 'n' roll at the time has become a favourite over the years itself, probably unintentionally.It's not a complete look at Ferlin Husky and there's several cheaper compilations around that will have a more thorough look into his career, however this is a good sample of Ferlin Husky's mix of genres with a few rockin' numbers to keep you satisfied. Other compilations as noted might have more on them, but this will have a few obscurities to balance it out. On the whole, a very interesting album and a good compilation.

Syrupy Ferlin is abit too cloying but boppin Simon Crum Ferlin is a joy still today to loosen up the knee joints ....