Johnny And The Hurricanes occupy a unique and distinctive niche in pop music as creators of a very particular strand in the boom in rock ‘n’ roll instrumentals in the late 1950s and early ‘60s. Hailing from Toledo, Ohio, they specialised in adapting traditional tunes into the rock idiom, using their unusual Hammond chord organ sound alongside a saxophone on their hit sides, but also featuring guitar on B sides and albums. This 51-track 2-CD collection comprises the A&B sides of their singles on the Warwick and Big Top labels, plus the tracks from their Warwick albums “Johnny & The Hurricanes” and “Stormsville”, and their Big Top album “The Big Sound Of Johnny & The Hurricanes”, not otherwise released on singles. It features their career hits “Crossfire”, “Red River Rock”, “Reveille Rock”, “Beatnik Fly”, “Down Yonder”, “Revival”, “Rockin Goose”, “You Are My Sunshine”, “Ja-Da”, “Old Smokie” and “High Voltage”. They immediately became hugely popular in Europe, and The Beatles were the support act when they played the Star Club in Hamburg in 1962. This is a thorough overview of their key early career and a fun showcase for their unmistakable sound.
