call of the wildest, the (1957) - louis prima: capitol records, T-836

By the late 50’s music was undergoing one of those major revolutions that would change things permanently. Rock and Roll had started to make it almost socially acceptable for white people to listen to and enjoy the so-called “black” music.

Almost.

Guys like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis were bringing upbeat, blues-based, jazzy-jive styles into homes where only Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, and Glenn Miller were heard before. Parents genuinely feared that the new sound would corrupt their pure daughters, resulting in miscegenation, the collapse of morality, and a communist takeover of America.

The only problem was that guys like Elvis, Buddy, and Jerry weren’t the first guys to bring so-called “colored” music into the mainstream. Far from it. In fact, Louis Prima was coloring up music with his version of New Orleans Jump-Blues and Ragtime Jazz since the 1930’s. It was just that it took white America about 20 years to catch up to him.

But, by the mid-50’s and the inevitable emergence of rock, Louis Prima finally got his place in the sun.

Side 1: When You’re Smiling / Sheik of Araby (Medley) Autumn Leaves I’ve Got The World On A String Blow, Red, Blow The Pump Song There’ll Be No Next Time
Side 2: Pennies From Heaven Birth Of The Blues Closest To The Bone Sentimental Journey When The Saints Go Marching In

Call of the Wildest is a follow-up to his wildly successful 1956 release, The Wildest, and features the same frenetic energy and infectious nature that made The Wildest such a hit.

Louis Prima’s music can be summed up in a single three-letter word: Fun. That’s really all you need to say. The dude is just a big, gregarious, loud, enthusiastic, bombastic, energetic, hectic, frenetic bundle of fun. Fun on a bun. Big Fun. Everything about this album is fun, starting with the ridiculous cover featuring a crudely Photoshopped (or what passed for Photoshop back in the late 50's) Prima bellowing at a collection of stuffed wildlife and ending with the controlled chaos of the horns on Saints.

The joy simply permeate the songs on the album – even the more restrained cuts like Autumn Leaves and Sentimental Journey have an good-time quality to them. The fun starts with the tempo and distinct Dixieland-Boogie Woogie style of the music and is punctuated with Prima’s raucous singing and interaction with the other band members, best heard on the last cut of side one. There’ll Be No More Next Time is a wonderfully amusing song about some poor slob who has to face a judge because he pissed off his vindictive lady friend. The back and forth between sax player Sam Butera (the beleaguered sap) and Prima (his empathizing buddy) has the familiarity of a conversation men have had while commiserating over a couple of drinks going back to caveman days.

Getting a chance to sit back and listen to this record again was a genuine pleasure, and had me singing along and having a couple of drinks because that just seemed right. And I’m glad I did.

Up next: Sisters rocking in the free world