May 2024

Declaring “Let’s Have Some Fun” is the newest collection to album series Black Pearls. With this being album number nine, Koko Mojo continues to provide coverage for more blues, and rhythm and blues compiled by Ronni Boysen, a multi-award winning blues guitarist from Denmark and, for those in the know, the founding member of The Kokomo Kings (See Rhythm Bomb Records for the band’s albums because they are worth checking out!), in addition to performing with Mud Morganfield Band (son of Muddy Waters) for the past thirteen years. With such talent and knowledge given by the accompanying information regarding Ronni Boysen’s record buying habits and therefore ever-expanding collection, the giveaway are the many delightful records found in this album series so far. Volume Nine, “Let’s Have Some Fun”, features another twenty-eight tracks for your listening and/or dancing pleasures, and mixes some well-known artists with a considerable amount of lesserknown names as well. Such combinations often make for an interesting listen, and it’s safe to say that Black Pearls Vol.9 “Let’s Have Some Fun” continues the winning formula. Evidence for such an announcement can be heard during the latest album whether it’s opening song ‘Let’s Have Some Fun’ by Jesse Thomas & Orchestra, and then continuing with fine selection from Johnny Sellers ‘Heavyweight Mama’, Blanche Thomas and tongue-tied title ‘You Ain’t So Such A Much’, or later on Peppermint Harris with ‘Hey Little Schoolgirl’, Bobby Elvin (‘The Blind Boy’), and Mary Ann Fisher ‘Wild As You Can Be’. Finishing Volume 9, “Let’s Have Some Fun” with two different numbers; the first a mighty fine slice of rhythm & blues from Sticks Herman and track ‘Long Gone Baby’, and then following this with the instrumental ‘Too Hot To Trot’ by Joe Weaver, will leave the listener craving more but, rest assured, any such desires will soon be satisfied once the next instalment of this album series is released. Nathan Olsen-Haines (Koko Mojo)

The first recordings of Sweden's Kings of Lo-Fi Blues. Raw, unpolished & primitive Blues reprinted on 12inch vinyl. Limited to 500 copies, be quick!

is a 10 track 10inch record that comes with a CD with bonus songs. Its the first release that will be out on Rockstar to celebrate 50 years of Rockstar Records in 2024. Due to legal issues it wont hit the USA. Limited to 500 copies and of course no reprints. "Max Merritt and The Meteors were New Zealand's first and hottest rockin' band who during the vibrant years 1959 through to 1963 championed the new music in their birth land and Australia. Rockstar Records collection Get A Haircut showcases the trailblazing sound of rock 'n' roll music in the Eastern and Southern Hemispheres." The Rockstar Records anthology is shone upon Max Merritt and The Meteors who were the longest-lived and the most popular band from New Zealand in the early rock 'n' roll era. The ten-song, ten-inch vinyl album with recordings from the years 1959 to 1963 is entitled Max Merritt and The Meteors, Get A Haircut, and it additionally has a free chronologically arranged twenty-four-song CD, which will also have a commercial release. Their legacy which is re-issued on this Rockstar Records LP and CD comprises; four 45 RPMs and the songs from their LP C'mon Let's Go. Dee Jay Mark Armstrong Bühl, Germany

Shake It! Rhythm And Blues Gone Caribbean (Koko Mojo) A compilation with a slightly different flavour comes by way of Shake It! Rhythm And Blues Gone Caribbean from Koko Mojo. Twenty-eight songs featuring various artists from the genre of rhythm and blues stemming predominantly from the 1940s, and leading up to the early 1960s. The research is certainly thorough given its track list because one inclusion, Benny Moten & his Orchestra, reaches as far back as the late twenties with, no doubt, the dust removed from the grooves of this particular record before adding it to Shake It! Rhythm And Blues Gone Caribbean. What is different about the rhythm and blues tracks selected by complier Sven T. Uhrmann, who also designed the artwork and wrote the liner notes for this album, is the decision to feature songs from the Caribbean or with a heavy Caribbean influence. It’s the instrumental ‘Ojai’ by Joe Lutcher & his Orchestra that begins this album and then followed by ‘Geechie Goomie’ from Marga Benitez, and real classy ‘Cat Music’ performed by Dave Bartholomew & his Orchestra. There are names here that will be familiar to many, but also plenty of obscurer titles and artists that will no doubt cause a few surprises and lead to further investigations from those with a penchant for traditional rhythm and blues and strong Caribbean flavours. This collection is music to enjoy and certainly share with others in the dancehalls where further instrumentals as ‘Harlem Rhumbain’ The Blues’ gives out some hot brass via Oran ‘Hot Lips’ Page, to a lively ‘Bongo Blues’ supplied by Dee Williams drive this album on further. A fascinating collection of songs that oozes class and will delight many with a passion for traditional rhythm & blues with a Caribbean influence. Nathan Olsen-Haines (Koko Mojo)

The Nut Jumpers - Generation Rock n Roll 10inch LIMITED