FREDDY KING/VINYLE COULEUR

Description

Syd Nathan, impresario for Cincinnati's King Records, was the epitome of the old-school independent label owner. Always hustling, Nathan regularly found success releasing hit after hit in multiple genres. He'd do anything and everything if he thought it might work, or more accurately, if he thought it would make money. After Chess Records repeatedly passed on guitarist/vocalist Freddy King for sounding too much like B.B. King, Nathan thought the sound might actually be marketable and took a chance, signing Freddy to the label's Federal subsidiary. They struck gold with an instrumental titled "Hide Away," which charted at number five R&B and number twenty-nine Pop Singles Chart. Encouraged by the single's success, Nathan issued a full album of King's instrumentals, 'Let's Hide Away and Dance Away with Freddy King'. (See what Nathan did with the title, slipping in a reference to Freddy's hit single? Always be closing, folks, always be closing.) The album sold well and helped make Freddy a household name. While others might have been content to move on to the next project, Syd sensed untapped potential in the LP. Meanwhile, several West Coast artists were making noise on the brand new surf music scene (and by "making noise," I mean selling records). Syd had no surf music artists under contract, but he HAD Freddy King. Syd surely surmised that if kids were going bonkers for Dick Dale's instrumental guitar workouts, they might do the same for Freddy. All he needed was a little marketing magic... New cover featuring some young surfers! Sprinkle some crowd noise over the tracks to make it sound "live"! Call it... 'FREDDY KING GOES SURFIN'! Press it up and have it in the bins by next week!!!!!!! While it may not have EXACTLY gone down like that, King Records did release 'Freddy King Goes Surfin', an album featuring the same songs (in the same playing order) as 'Let's Hide Away'... with "dubbed in" crowd noise over the music. Did the gambit work? While it didn't sell as well as the original, 'Freddy King Goes Surfin' found an audience. Like 'Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger', the album's title is such an absurd idea that it surely drew many purchasers on that aspect alone. And no ersatz cheers and clinking cocktail glasses could obscure King's six-string genius and his almighty Texan tone. Need proof? Lone Star blues virtuoso Billy F. Gibbons chose 'Freddy King Goes Surfin' as one of his top ten favorite blues albums of all time. As for us at Sundazed, we know not to mess with a good thing. Sourced from the original King masters and pressed on 180 gram vinyl at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), Sundazed presents 'Freddy King Goes Surfin' in its original running order with original cover art. Somewhere, Syd is laughing, remembering the time he stole a hit out from under the Chess brothers' noses...