Bob Taylor & the Counts, El Paso

BOB TAYLOR AND THE COUNTS - Thunder b/w Taylor's Rock (Yucca 102)

Rock n' Roll instros from the 1950s don't get much wilder. Usually they're nowhere nearly as wild and often wind up feeling more like an afterthought. Or they seem to be some throwaway riding piggy back to mid-tempo rocker or a slow lip lockin' smoocher. Nothing like that here. Pick a side... any side.

If you've read the excellent Miriam Linna penned shakedown on Bobby Fuller in KICKS #6 then you will recall Jim Reese's talk of joining the brand new Counts combo right after getting turned down for a guitar job in the top dog El Paso combo the Rock Kings. Just getting off the ground the group included local tough guy Bobby Taylor on lead guitar, his brother Glenn on acoustic guitar, Willie Wilson on drums, and Jim plinking away on piano. In the beginning there was no bass player.

In 1958 the Counts headed north for Alamogordo, New Mexico and radio station KALG where they recorded "Thunder" and "Taylor's Rock" for Calvin Boles' brand new record label Yucca.

"Thunder" opens with a crashing cymbal before giving way to the a near hypnotic pummeling from the other Counts. Jim hammers out the bass line on the piano while Bobby Taylor just rips right on through on guitar and Willie Wilson pounds away on drums. And just about 3 minutes later a crashing cymbal shuts "Thunder" back down.

Rather than put a radio-ready slow number of the flip the band up'd the jump just a little bit for "Taylor's Rock". Cut from the same cloth as "Thunder" the number is again anchored by a slight chuka-chuka rhythm from Glenn Taylor on guitar and Reese's rolling piano bass line. Bob's lead guitar stings just a bit more. And Willie does a fine job with the beat.

Yucca 102 is GREAT 45 and one of the best two-siders to come from the city known as El Chuco and it no doubt gave the foursome a bit of local clout. They added a couple of vocalists (Jerry Bright and Googie Dermeyer) and a bassist to the lineup. And in the spring of 1959 they recorded a second 45 for Yucca featuring a great Bob Taylor vocal on "Don't Be Unfair". The city of El Paso also began to help the Counts set up shows to kinda corral local teens and keep them off the streets on weekend nights.

After a short while Reese, Googie, and Bright (sounds like a swell name for a law firm) left the Counts, morphing into a combo called the Embers. Billed as Jerry Bright and the Embers the group cut a pair of 45s for Yucca and included Dalton Powell on piano and Bobby Fuller on drums. With Jim on guitar it was two steps and a shake away from the greatest rock n' roll combo to come from West Texas in the 1960s. (a little Stomp HERE.)

"Thunder" would reappear as "Thunder Reef" on the first Bobby Fuller Four release on Mustang in 1965. But as the Shindigs. Dig???
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BUY BUY BUY issue 6 of KICKS. The rundown on Bobby Fuller is great. And Miriam is working on a full blown Bobby bio as well. Keep up to date with her Bobby Fuller blog.