Thirteen volumes into
Ace
's seemingly endless series of R&B, soul, blues, and rock & roll culled from Louisiana and East Texas indies in the '50s and '60s, this is the second specializing in swamp pop. In some ways it bests its predecessor, because compiler/producer
Ian Saddler
keeps expanding his purview beyond the vaults of
J.D. Miller
and
Huey P. Meaux
.
Troubles, Tears & Trains
also has sides recorded by
Joe Ruffino
,
Murray Nash
Pappy Daily
Eddie Shuler
, and other record men, and it also has unreleased sides initially recorded for
Mercury
, which means this digs very deep into obscure corners of bayou rock & roll. Some of these names are regional stars --
Warren Storm
, who had a double-disc compilation released on
in 2015,
John Fred
Johnny Preston
Dale Houston
, and
Roy Perkins
-- but most of these names are obscure (and one is even unknown), but the selling point is not the acts themselves, but the sound. This stuff simply smokes: these bands kick out a
Fats Domino
-inspired beat, sometimes sticking pretty close to the rhumba boogie, sometimes turning up the heat and rocking with a sense of abandon. Occasionally, these cuts have a clever hook that help separate the 45 from the pack --
Preston
's "Satan in Satin,"
Houston
's "(Big Bad) City Police" -- but even if the side does nothing more than cook, it's still a gas. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine