johnny jano

Johnny Jano – Rockin’ and Rollin’ (1956-1958)

El Toro ETCD 1038
Havin’ A Whole Lot Of Fun / I’d Make A Good Man For You / Mabel’s Gone / Pledging My Love To My Darling / Rock My Baby / Oh Baby / High Voltage / Mabel’s Gone / Rock Me Baby / You’re The Only Girl / Havin’ A Whole Lot Of Fun / Stop Look and Listen / She’s Mine She’s Mine / Have You Heard The Word? / Havin’ A Whole Lot Of Fun / I’d Make A Good Man For You / She’s My Baby / Some Other Time / Oh Baby / Rock and Roll Baby / She’s My Baby / Okie Dokie Stomp.

Congratulations to Eltoro for releasing this complete collection of Johnny Jano’s  rockabilly sides recorded between 1956 and 1958. Jano, like Al Ferrier (check out Al Ferrier – I’m The Man still on Eltoro) recorded for Goldband in Louisiana. It’s an awesome collection of strong rock’n’roll tunes with thumping bass, screaming sax and rockabilly vocals like High Voltage, Rock My Baby,  Oh Baby, Pledging My Love To My Darling or the wild Mabel’s Gone. There’s also, of course, a bunch of essential rockabillies that have nothing to envy to Sun or Meteor and belong in any decent collection like Some Other Time (great lyrics), I’d Make A Good Man, She’s My Baby and probably his best known song: Having A Whole Lotta Fun. They’re all here, 22 songs of first class Louisiana music featuring many alternate and demo takes and coming in a neat package with informative liner notes. Sadly Jano never really pushed his career and his success remained confidential. Johnny Jano died in 1984, aged 50, and never had the chance to be rediscovered on stage.