Friday, June 08, 2007

Bo Diddley - "Back To School"


This week, an upbeat rocker for a Friday. I'm sure everyone is aware that Bo Diddley suffered a stroke last month and is continuing to recover. Before the stroke, Bo, who's 78 years old, was still performing on a regular basis. One of the true icons of rock and roll, here's hoping that he's able to make a complete recovery.

Today's record is a recent discovery for me, "Back To School". It's a 1966 release, meaning that Bo Diddley had already been recording for Chess for a decade by the time this record came about. Listening to it, you gotta give Bo a lot of credit for staying current. The song was self-penned but certainly has an updated sound. In fact, it's updated to the point it sounds like Bo had been playing Rolling Stones records for several days just before writing this.

"Back To School" begins with a short guitar riff and then dives right in, with a pounding drum beat and Bo's vocal. It has the accented beats that were common in Stones numbers and a short spoken part in the middle that sounds a little like something Mick Jagger would have done. Hell, it sounds more like the Stones than the Stones, if that's possible.

Get well Bo!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, get well Mr. McDaniel... Nice record as always. The "Stones" influence is probably due to Phil's son taking over on the production, but that's just my educated guess.

I've been meaning to drop by and say thanks for the link to The Snack Bar. I am on my way over there today to post a bunch of goodies before the heat gets too unbearable.

Peace and blessings.