When they weren’t raising a riot of their own, Criminal Damages Howlin’ Horror Denny Mills and his brother Dave used to do an impromptu set as the Fabulous Mills Brothers in any bar that would have them. The one tune I remember them murdering was ‘Who Slapped John’ at a time when the only other Gene Vincent song I knew was ‘Be Bop A Lula’. And I wasn’t the only one. Written with a fellow patient while recovering from his infamous motorcycle accident, ‘Be Bop A Lula’ is all most folks knew of him. Oh, that and the fact that he survived the car crash that killed his best bud Eddie Cochran on 17th April 1960.

   I guess it’s understandable because Gene Vincent was never a true King of Rock’n’Roll like Elvis or Little Richard or Jerry Lee. His moments of rockabilly genius may have been hyped up distillations of slavering lust but they were few and far between. In fact, in many ways Gene Vincent’s a better legend than he ever was an artist although who could deny the spirit of tunes like ‘Race With The Devil’, ‘Woman Love’ or ‘B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Boo’. They sure do rock and in a way no-one ever got so right again.       

 

1. Race With The Devil / Single A Side 4th May 1956

2. Be Bop A Lula / Single A Side 4th May 1956

3. Woman Love / Single B Side 4th May 1956

4. Jezebel / Blue Jean Bop LP 24th June 1956

5. Crazy Legs / Single A Side 24th June 1956

6. Gonna Back Up Baby / Single B Side 25th June 1956

7. Who Slapped John? / Single B Side 26th June 1956

8. Jumps Giggles And Shouts / Blue Jean Bop LP 26th June 1956

9. Blue Jean Bop / Single A Side 26th June 1956

10. I Flipped / Blue Jean Bop LP 26th June 1956

11. Bop Street / Blue Jean Bop LP 27th June 1956

12. Jump Back Honey / Blue Jean Bop LP 27th June 1956

13. Catman / Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps LP 15th October 1956                

14. Double Talkin’ Baby / Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps LP 15th October 1956

15. B-I-Bickey Bi Bo-Bo-Boo / Single A Side 17th October 1956

16. Pink Thunderbird / Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps LP 17th October 1956

17. Cruisin’ / Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps LP 17th October 1956

18. Red Blue Jeans And A Pony Tail / Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps LP 18th October 1956

19. Five Days / Single A Side 18th October 1956

20. Lotta Lovin’ / Single A Side 19th October 1956

21. Rollin’ Danny / Gene Vincent Rocks LP 19th June 1957

22. Dance To The Bop / Single A Side 20th June 1956

23. Baby Blue / Single A Side 6th December 1957

24. Brand New Beat / Gene Vincent Rocks LP 9th December 1957

25. Frankie And Johnny / Gene Vincent Rocks LP 9th December 1957

26. Right Now / Single A Side 15th December 1956

27. Dance In The Street / Hot Rod Gang EP 25th March 1958

28. Git It / Gene Vincent Record Date LP 25th March 1958

29. Rocky Road Blues / Single A Side 27th March 1958

30. Five Feet Of Lovin’ / Gene Vincent Record Date LP 27th March 1958

31. Say Mama / Single A Side 16th October 1958

32. I Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave / Sounds Like Gene Vincent LP 16th October 1958

33. Anna-Annabelle / Single A Side 19th October 1958

34. Vincent’s Blues / Sounds Like Gene Vincent LP 21st October 1958