The Niblett Effect

This mix is inspired by and dedicated to a well loved Sydney identity Steven Niblett.
Niblett the finger snappin' daddy-o of cool, the surfer, the passionate record collector.
Steven appeared in my life for several years in the early 80's. We spent a crazy amount of time poring over garage punk, surf, hillbilly, Rhythm and Blues, Rock-a-billy 7"s till dawn. He opened my mind to a mammoth amount of sounds as well as movies and other cool beat shit. He was my Neal Cassidy, my Dean Moriarty.
The mix highlights just some of the sounds he introduced me to, in this case I'm featuring the white cats, the hillbilly swing, western swing, rock-a-billy, garage punk and then, contemporary cats like the Cramps, who's 'Sunglasses after Dark' I remember brought an extra snap and swing to his Maynard G Krebs, bongo cat demeanour, dancing around his tiny Alpha House room. He and I did regular trips to the Valhalla cinema to see our favourite flicks. There are snippets of The Last Picture Show, In Cold Blood, The Sweet Smell of Success and Diner sprinkled through the mix.

Steven showed me why Elvis was insanely cool, why the Delmore Brothers and Hillbilly bop music transcended corny and was risen to potently cool.
Alex Chilton, who I knew as producer of the Cramps, was brought into my world via this hell hot single 'Bangkok', regularly on his turntable. 

Scattered across the mix are singles and fave LP tracks, mostly sourced from our pilgrimages to Hound Dog's Bop Shop in Melbourne. These are in the variety of some of the most f#*ked up bent and rockin' back woods tunes we could find. There's tons of other stuff that he got me into, like the world of Nuggets and Pebbles compilations, when they were relatively new, with tunes like 'Psychotic Reaction' and 'I had Too Much to Dream Last Night' pumping out of the tiny speakers. Gods like Captain Beefheart, Suicide, Pere Ubu (I can see him singing "The girls all like it cos I've got a misdirection") were there. Anything that had that fire hit the turntable.

As I've only touched the surface of the white cats it was nigh impossible to include the hugeness of the Black American side of things R&B, blues, soul, jump blues, doo wop, gospel and so on and on. You can check my previous mix 'Create a Disturbance' for some of that gear.

Here's to Steven - Here's the LINK

1. Doug Pointdexter and the Starlight Wranglers (the band that Elvis was said to have worked up his chops with) - My Kind of Carryin On - Sun Records
2. Alvis Wayne - Swing Bop Boogie - Westport
3. Charlie Feathers - All Tore Up - King
4. Johnny Burnette Trio - Honey Hush - Coral
5. Alex Chilton - Bangkok - Fan Club
6. Billy Praeger and his Caravans - Do It Bop - Crystal
7. Marvin Rainwater - Hot and Cold - MGM
8. Micky Hawks and the Night Raiders - Bip Bop Boom - Profile / Dee-Jay Jamboree
9. Billy Riley and His Little Green Men - Red Hot - Sun Records
10. George Jones - How Come It - Starday ACE
11. Milard Presley and his Presleys - Denominations - Blue Hen
12. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys - Steel Guitar Rag - Columbia
13. Delmore Brothers - Red Ball to Natchez - King
14. Harmonica Frank Floyd - Howlin Tomcat - Chess
15. Bobby Helms - Hangin Around - Speed / Redita 'Hillbillies on Speed'
16. Nervous Norvus - Transfusion - Dot
17. The Cramps - Sunglasses After Dark - IRS
18. Barbarians - Moulty - Sire 'Nuggets'
19. Richard and the Young Lions - You Can Make It - Phillips Records / Satan Records
20. Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band - Zig Zag Wanderer - Buddah
21. Ron Hargrave - Drive-In Movie - MGM
22. Moon Mullican - Rocket To The Moon - King
23. Ralph Pruitt - Hey Mr Porter - Meridian
24. Zeb Turner - I Got Loaded - King
25. J R Cash - Leave That Junk Alone - Redita
26. Tony and Jackie Lamie with the Swing Kings - Wore To a Frazzle - Sunset
27. Elvis Presley - Let's Play House - Sun