B
ill Haley’s been airbrushed out
of the history of rock’n’roll and
I don’t quite understand why,”
Darrel Higham says emphatically. “It’s
a travesty because his influence was, and
is, profound. There’s nothing wrong with
rock’n’roll just being happy music, but
people today seem to think there has to be
some hidden meaning in lyrics for songs
to be taken seriously. Throughout his life,Haley thought that rock’n’roll was a very
positive source for youngsters, never saw
the harm in it and defended it until the
day he died. And the musicianship on
those recordings he made at the Pythian
Temple in New York was outstanding. Very
few bands, even with all the technology
available today, get close to replicating that
sound, even if the likes of The Stargazers,
The Jive Romeros and Phil Haley And The
Comments do a great job.”
Rockin’ Through The Rye, on
which Franny Beecher makes
his guitar drone like a pair of
bagpipes in the opening bars,
was one of those Pythian Temple
recordings, from an early 1956
session. It got to No.3 in the UK
that year, perfectly encapsulating
the jaunty, party time feel of
Haley And His Comets, just
before the earthier sounds of the
likes of Elvis Presley and Gene
Vincent took over.
Higham admits he didn’t
spend time trying to replicate
the Haley sound, even though
his delight in performing thenumber is conveyed in his vocal. “We’re
just a trio and I knew we could never get
that sound, but it’s always been one of my
absolute favourite records. The thing about
Haley’s music is it never lets me down.
I get the same feeling from listening to him
now as when I first heard him in what must
have been the late 1970s or early 1980s. In
fact, I probably listen to him more than I
listen to anybody, even Eddie Cochran. And
it’s easy to see why. I have a six-year-old
daughter Violet [by his marriage to Imelda
May] and when I put on a Bill Haley CD she
gets it straight away. There’s no explanation
needed. Her foot starts tapping, she
immediately loves it.” Through the mouths
of children comes the truth they say, but
maybe that should be through their ears.
Bop Machine is a lot more upbeat
compared to Higham’s last album of mainly
self-penned material, One For The Road, and
very different to his 2016 album Hell’s Hotel,
the tracks for which were recorded in the
immediate aftermath of the break-up of his
marriage to Imelda May. He still speaks with
great warmth and admiration for the talent
of his former partner. You’ll get no words
from him of her betrayal of the rockabillyFans of Bill Haley And His Comets are treated to a revival of
Rockin’ Through The Rye on the new Darrel Higham And The
Enforcers album Bop Machine. That shouldn’t come as a
surprise. Higham may be more associated with his championing
of Eddie Cochran and, thanks to last year’s meticulous and
excellent Believe What You Hear album, Ricky Nelson, but he’s
long been one of Haley’s staunchest advocates...
WORDS BY JACK WATKINS
RoLL oUT THE
DARREL
“
Darrel Higham