Description

BILL HALEY – Rockin Around Europe 1958
How Rock & Roll came to Europe
Hydra Records – Book + CD (English Edition)

Bill Haley rocked the musical world with his songs when the term Rock & Roll did not yet exist officially. With « Rock Around The Clock » in 1954, he sang not only the hymn of this new music genre, but also the best-selling rock song of all time. Bill Haley And His Comets were the most successful rock & roll band in the world for half a decade.

He was also the first to bring this new music across the ocean to Europe, on record, in film and live. His much anticipated two-month European tour in 1958 caused a stir in countries such as Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, Italy, etc. The worldwide headlines about the riots and riots, for years the touring business with this music almost came to a halt.

Only with the Beatles, who were also fans of Bill Haley, things got better again. Even in later decades, there were hardly any concerts where hundreds of police, water cannons and tear gas bombs were used. Despite the opposition of the parent generation, the establishment and politics, Bill Haley has paved the way for this music that is now an integral part of pop culture.

The book traces in detail, on the basis of Bill Haley’s Europe Tour 1958, how life « On The Road » looked in the early years of rock music and how the post-war youth, often shamed as half-powerful, tried to break free from the constraints of society and parents, and how their clumsy reactions still fueled the whole.

In addition to hundreds of mostly unpublished photos and documents, contemporary witnesses and musicians also speak. A chapter is extensively devoted to the ambivalent relationship between Bill Haley and Elvis, who began as an unsuspecting musician in Haley’s foreplay, only to eventually push him off the throne.

The enclosed CD contains the following songs:
TV Show BRT, Bruxelles

1 The Saints Rock And Roll
2 Shake, Rattle And Roll
3 Rudy´s Rock (instrumental)
4 Giddy Up A Ding Dong (vocal Al Pompilli)
5 Tequila (instrumental)
6 Rock The Joint (vocal Joe Olivier)
7 See You Later, Alligator
8 Rock Around The Clock
9 Mambo Rock

German Newsweek October / November 1958
10 The Saints Rock And Roll
11 Corrine, Corrina
12 Razzle Dazzle
13 Rip It Up (Fragment)

Movie: Hier bin ich – hier bleib ich November 12, 1958
14 Vive La Rock And Roll (duett Caterina Valente)
15 Hot Dog Buddy Buddy

LP Rockin Around The World (Decca Records DL 8692)
16 Pretty Alouette
17 Piccadilly Rock
18 Rockin´ Rollin´ Schnitzelbank
19 Vive La Rock And Roll
20 Come Rock With Me
21 Wooden Shoe Rock
22 Me Rock A Hula
23 Oriental Rock
24 Rockin´ Matilda
25 El Rocko
26 Rockin´ Rita
27 Jamaica D.J. (vocal Billy Williams)