Exteneded Play: Original Ep Series

Bill Haley signed to Decca on the back a 1953 hit 'Crazy, Man Crazy' (U.S. top 20 hit on Essex Records), and thanks to the persistence of Jimmy Myers, publisher of 'Rock Around The Clock', and under a pen name of Jimmy DeKnight recipient of half the royalties. At two of the sessions following 'Crazy Man Crazy' Bill Haley presented a song called 'Rock Around The Clock', but Dave Miller (Essex label) refused to cut it because of an on-going dispute with James Myers. Haley was snapped up by Decca and significantly placed with Milt Gabler in New York rather than Paul Cohen in Nashville. In exchange for landing the contract with Decca, Myers made an agreement with Haley that one side of every record would be a composition drawn from Myers's catalogue. The first would be 'Rock Around The Clock'. On April 12, 1954 Haley went to New York to cut his first Decca session. He brought his partners, Billy Williamson and Johnny Grande, together with the salaried members of the Comets, Joey D'Ambrosio on tenor sax, Danny Cedrone on guitar and Marshall Lytle on bass. Gabler supplied a New York session drummer, Billy Gussack. The session commenced at 2:15pm, but by 5:40 they had only cut two songs instead on the Union standard four. Those two songs were 'Rock Around The Clock' and 'Thirteen Women'. Myers later took credit for achieving the unique sound that Haley forged on the session, a claim that Gabler disputes. Decca initially put 'Rock Around The Clock' as the 'b' side to the undistinguished 'Thirteen Women', it was finally to break through in 1955, thanks to it's inclusion on the M-G-M soundtrack of 'The Blackboard Jungle' an upcoming movie about juvenile delinquency. After 'Blackboard Jungle' was released in the Spring of 1955, it quickly became a teenage cult movie like 'The Wild One' and 'East of Eden'. However, it was distinct from those in that it featured Rock 'n' Roll music the first full length movie to do so. The impact of the song played at full volume in theatres coupled with images of teen-age disaffection on the screen made an indelible imprint on a generation. The success of 'Blackboard Jungle' encouraged Decca to re-sample and re-promote 'Rock Around The Clock'. This and the fact it was one of the best records ever made it became a number one hit on both sides of the Atlantic and went on to sell millions. Because Decca in the United States and Decca in Britain were separately owned companies, Haley's recordings were issued in England on the Brunswick label and prior to 'Rock Around The Clock' becoming a huge hit, the first Brunswick EP 'Dim. Dim The Lights' emerged in July 1955 with four tracks re-corded in 1954. 'Rock Around The Clock' duly appeared on an EP of the same title in June 1956 also include was 'See You Later Alligator ' recorded in a great hurry in December 1955 at Decca's own studio. Haley's 1956 schedule had reached epic proportions. On three dates in March The Comets recorded the Rock 'n' Roll Stage Show LP. The schedule had left little time to write material for the album and some of the numbers were composed at the session. During April and May they toured the entire United States with Irving Fields 'Biggest Rock 'n' Roll Show of 1956' and after Stage Show he managed to squeeze another two recording sessions in 1956. He began to lose ground to (among other) Elvis Presley. In the UK however the charts had gone Haley mad in 1956. The year had started with 'Rock Around The Clock' still in the No. 1 slot. 'Rock-a-Beatin