The Early Years 1947-1954

Description

Bill Haley has been described as the founding father of Rock 'n' Roll. However, those teenagers who in the middle 1950s avidly purchased the latest Bill Haley & His Comets records would fairly certainly have had no idea that the man was already a seasoned performer who had appeared in the studios as early as 1946. This collection presents recordings Bill Haley made between 1948 and 1954, when he was honing his style and transforming himself from cowboy performer to Rock 'n' Roll star. With the exception of a few proto-rockers such as "Rocket 88", "Rock The Joint" and "Crazy, Man, Crazy", strictly speaking the majority of the recordings here are Western Swing, Hillbilly Boogie and straight Country performances but we've categorized the set as Rock 'n' Roll because that's where everyone would expect to find a Bill Haley album. Included in this collection are four numbers by fellow label artist, Ray Whitley; Bill's versions of three of these pieces also appear here.