In 1959, Wilbert Harrison entered the Billboard singles chart with “Kansas City,” a rock ‘n’ roll civic salute in which the singer, who recently died at age 65, declared his intention to travel to K.C. by plane, by train or, if it proved absolutely necessary, on foot.
In the song, easily one of the best remembered from the early days of rock, the reason for Harrison’s Kansas City travel plans seemed pretty straightforward. “They got some crazy little women there/And I’m gonna get me one,” he sang, picturing himself standing at 12th Street and Vine “with my Kansas City baby and a bottle of Kansas City wine.”
Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, “Kansas City” was recorded in 1952 by Little Willie Littlefield as “K.C. Loving.” There were other recordings of “Kansas City” on the market in 1959, but it was Harrison’s Fury Records single that had the momentum, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard chart and no doubt inspiring in large part the raft of subsequent recordings of the song by other performers.
Today you can find the hit version by Harrison-a Charlotte, N.C., native who died Oct. 26 after a stroke-on various oldies compilations and on “The Best of Kansas City” (K-tel), a recent release that collects Harrison’s recording and nine other versions of the song.
Included on the K-tel release are Little Willie Littlefield’s R&B version, plus renditions by Peggy Lee (whose full-band recording omits any mention of wine and street corners and changes “crazy little women” to “swingin’ little fellows”), Trini Lopez, the Everly Brothers, Bill Haley, Little Milton and Lou Rawls.
Some of these are decent, some are cut-and-dried; none ever quite finds the jaunty groove that propelled Harrison’s hit.
Other recent releases:
Adam Ant, “B-Side Babies” (Epic/Legacy)-A 16-track collection of B-sides from U.K. and American singles, plus a couple of obscure cassette and album selections, none of them in the “neglected gem” category. Anyone looking for tribal, double-drummer “Antmusic” should look elsewhere: Some of the songs here are ’80s recordings of material that dates back to Adam Ant’s ’70s days, and the compilation is a stylistic hodgepodge that flirts with punk, power pop and other styles.
Michael Doucet and Beausoleil, “The Mad Reel” (Arhoolie)-A mixed bag that includes some of Cajun fiddler Doucet’s early-’80s recordings with his band Beausoleil, three duets with his guitarist-brother David and a section of Doucet/Beausoleil soundtrack music from the film “Belizaire the Cajun.”
Go-Go’s, “Return to the Valley of the Go-Go’s” (I.R.S.)-A double-disc, 36-track conglomeration of hits, B-sides, album tracks, rehearsal recordings from 1979 and 1980, live recordings and three new selections. The band’s best material-found on its first two albums, “Beauty and the Beat” and “Vacation”-accounts for about a quarter of the tracks here. The appeal of the other recordings probably depends on how big a Go-Go’s fan you were; some certainly will require a high degree of devotion.
Various artists, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fever: The Wildest From Specialty” (Specialty)-The absence of any Little Richard tracks on this 25-song foray into the late-’50s section of the Specialty Records vaults makes the “wildest” tag in the title debatable. But there are certainly examples of the raw, the driven and the unhinged here, among them Don & Dewey’s “Justine,” Bob Landers and Willie Joe’s “Cherokee Dance” and Jerry Byrne’s “Lights Out.” Other tracks, while solid bits of R&B, are decidedly tamer-the Titans’ ultra-faithful version of Huey Smith’s “Don’t You Just Know It,” for example.
Various artists, “Sunday Matinee: The Best of NY Hardcore” (Another Planet)-Bad Brains, Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Reagan Youth, Sick of It All and 12 other bands storm through your consciousness.
