Carlo Little's cd "Never Stop Rockin'" was finally released on 12 January 2009 by Angel Air Records (www.angelair.co.uk) . This official release features nine tracks, whereas the demo Carlo burnt for me had 14 songs. It recreates the uncut electric Chicago blues as pioneerd by the Cyril Davies All Stars in 1962.

HOT DOG MAN

In 1998, the hot dog seller outside Wembley Stadium where The Rolling Stones were appearing that night,   turned out to be one Carlo Little: in the sixties drummer extraordinaire with Lord Sutch and the Savages, but also with thefirst electric blues band outside the USA -  The Cyril Davies All Stars. To top it all, the media found out that Carlo Little had lent a helping hand to a rehearsal band led by  Brian Jones when they were desperate for a real drummer. He was the guy Brian Jones wanted but couldn’t afford – Carlo Little being a well-respected and well-paid musician. A sympathetic Carlo then advised Jones to check out one… Charlie Watts. And oh, he was Keith Moon’s first teacher.

NEW BAND

This new-found recognition – not in the least by The Rolling Stones themselves, who quickly acknowledged Carlo’s role  – opened new opportunities. . Carlo went back to music and in 1999 he formed a band – the Carlo Little All Stars, of course referring to The Cyril Davies All Stars. They were sufficiently successful to book studio time. Carlo checked his phone register and so Ron Wood, Art Wood, J. the Yardbird (who must remain unknown!), Long John Baldry and Geraint Watkins joined the All Stars in the making of “Never Stop Rockin’”  Sadly, Carlo Little became ill soon afterwards and despite the quality of the work (including original songs by Carlo himself) and an impressive guest list,  no-one was interested in releasing his material. I spoke to him twice for my Rolling Stones series and he burnt a one-off copy of the demo recordings, saying any publicity would be welcome. A review of this unique copy appeared in It's Only Rock and Roll ussie 52, IORR online (www.iorr.org) and www.keysandchords.com. [REVIEW OF DEMO BELOW].

To no avail. Carlo lost his battle with cancer in 2005, but his widow, Iris, didn’t give up and eventually secured a deal with Angel Air Records. Angel Air left out five songs: Stormy Monday, My Babe, Going Down Slow and two of the three rock’n’roll numbers recorded with a totally different  featuring Nick Simper (early Deep Purple, bass),  Peter Parks (guitar) and Alex Barrett (vocals).

ORIGINAL ALL STARS

NEVER STOP ROCKIN' is special for several reasons.

1 - First of all, there’s Carlo’s impressive career as summarised in the intro (you should read his “Confessions” onwww.carlolittle.com). Rolling Stones fans must of course keep in mind that,  being the drummer with the first-ever electric blues band outside the USA (this is 1962) Carlo is also responsible for the blues boom to come. In fact, The Cyril Davies All Stars were the unpaid PR-men of p Chicago blues: pure, uncut, no flavours added.

2 - Second, Carlo’s CD also showcases his talent as asongwriter – a gift he hid well for most of his life.

3 - Third, the line-up. Carlo succeeded in recruiting bass-player Rick Brown, thus reconstituting Cyril Davies’ original rhythm section. Moreover, Cyril Davies’ lead-singer by the name of Long John Baldry happily obliged as well. Finally, one time keyboardist with Cyril Davies, Mathew Fisher (later of Procol Harum fame) flew in too. In short, everything was set for the re-creation of the early 60s blues sound as pioneered by Cyril Davies is. Now, how does that grab you in 2009?

4 - And, of course, the guest list. (details at bottom)

CHICAGO RULES

Whereas the demo version (see "it's only Rock and Roll", issue 52 and www.iorr.org) featured four straight rock’n’rollsongs – Carlo’s favourite genre when all is said and done -  the official version offers us exactly one: Carlo’s own composition and title track “Never Stop Rockin’”. Quite straightforward, there’s pumping Jerry Lee piano, a riff nod to Chuck Berry and tons of Carlo.

There are surprises too, like “Iko Iko” with Long John’s unsurpassed voice in command. And there’s “Born In the Country”, another Carlo original. Also lend your ears to “It’s All Over Now” , immortalised by the Stones of course. This convincing, rather pop-oriented version with wonderful guitar work by a former guitarist who prefers not to be mentioned but shaped the sound of the Yardbirds. I am also charmed by “Mississippi”, written by singer and guitarist Alex Chanter. It owes this and that to CCR (but CCR didn’t come out of the sky either…), but Chanter’s voice does give it a nice twist.

Of course, there’s 100% pure electric Chicago, Cyril Davies’ trademark. We must pay special attention to twoDavies originals, also because he hardly recorded. Carlo was very proud of the faithful rendering of the instrumental “Country Line Special” – a kind of wall of sound where it is difficult to say which instrument is doing what exactly – apart from Eddie Armer’s great harmonica work.  Matthew Fisher delivers keyboards and Ronnie Wood, well, um, guitar! “Chicago Calling”, another Davies composition, is sung by Art Wood, Ron’s late brother and a blues pioneer in his own right, e.g. with The Artwoods. “Midnight Special” (Art Wood singing) doesn’t knock me off my feet, but hey, there’s Long John shooting vocal chords into “Mystery Train”, being seconded by howlin’-with-wolves guitar maestro J. The Yardbird.

IN SHORT...

In short, this is a very enjoyable, most professional record. Being 2009, it’s a trifle strange as well. When commenting on these recordings, Carlo told me he considered himself a bit old-fashioned, a fifties rock’n’roller deep inside. Consequently, this record doesn’t call for a revolution, but it is honest, professional and without flaws. Apart from Carlo’s mates from his Cyril Davies days and the stars, a very nice job is done by low-profile artistes Alex Chanter (voice, guitar, song-writing) and Eddie Armer (harmonica). Come on guys, where are you? Fans of  J. the Yardbird, Ronnie Wood, Art Wood  and Long John Baldry will be pleased to hear their unique contributions – each a hat off to Carlo.  Sadly, both Long John and Art have left us too in the meanwhile.   

© Text Eddy Bonte. CD cover all rights reserved.

First publication on this website 19Jan2009. Also publsihed by Stones fanzine It's Only Rock and Roll, check out www.iorr.org

REFERENCE: Carlo Little All Stars: Never Stop Rockin’. Angel Air Records, SJPCD283, 2009,  www.angelair.co.uk

The band: Carlo Little (drums), Rick Brown (bass), Eddie Armer (harmonica), Alex Chanter (guitaar, voice, brother of the Chanter Sisters), & Geraint Watkins (piano).

Guest List: Long John Baldry (voice), Ron Wood (guitar), Art Wood (voice), Matthew Fisher (keyboards), Johnny Casanova (piano) &  J. the Yardbird.

Background Vocals: The Chanter Sisters.

MORE INFORMATION www.carlolittle.com