Category Archives: Genre: Blues

1950s, 1960s, Article Type: Fan Edit, Country: United States, Genre: Blues, Genre: Blues rock, Genre: R&B, Genre: Rock, Media Type: Music

Bo Diddley (1955-1960) – Ten Fan Albums

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For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.

In my musical journey, I’ve caught many a-classic song. I’ve heard covers of tracks like “I’m A Man” and others by the Liverpool crowd. I was amused by how often the lyrics were self-congratulatory about its songwriter, Bo Diddley. Possibly the first time I ever heard the man himself was his cut, “Pills”, which instantly became one of my all time favorite songs. Amusingly, this post covers his music right before “Pills”. Ending in 1960 seemed especially clean and easy on my brain. It’s also nice that everything here is on Spotify. While the first 1961 album is, as well, afterwards things become much more spotty.

Some might say this is his “golden era”. However, some of the stuff here is a little too predictable, with Bo’s sexual prowess and playing style being worn a little too thin. Melodies are even reused a bit. Still, some of the music here is fantastic. The first I would consider a 10/10, being a better version of the actual debut. The one titled Bo Diddley’s Travelin’ West is the only one here I don’t really like. The rest bring a more consistent package. Roughly, each album here is weaker than the one before it. The goal here is to order things logically, with no repeats or missed tracks. The actual albums are the definition of a mess. Here, songs are sorted with other tracks recorded at the same time.

When I was reading the blog, Albums Back from the Dead, I thought it was fun that they did this same idea with a lot of similar artists to Bo Diddley, but not the man himself. Many of these guys got really weird album sequencing. Something the blog poster did was utilize the official album names and covers when possible. Thus, I’ve done the same thing. When that’s not possible, I’ve named the albums off a song, usually one that references Diddley by name.

For those interested, each album covers songs from the following time frame: The 1st is entirely 1955, the second is 1955-1957, the third 1957-1958, the fourth 1958-1959, the fifth and sixth are 1959, and the last four are all 1960. I’m not sure why he was so productive. Also, there’s a live recording I could not find from 1959. Thus, if we wanted we could add that in and say those two years yielded eight album releases. Still, I think that because of some of the lesser stuff here and there, some could’ve been cut. Most of these tracks are sourced from the three volume series of early tracks by Hip-O Select. Some of this stuff might be demos but pretty much everything sounds like a professional work, even if I don’t like it. I’ve also discovered many wonderful songs, some not as well known. One gem is the beautiful ballad, “Our Love Will Never Go”. Still, the famous first two songs from the first album here and the official first album might be the two finest tracks of Bo’s career, perfectly epitomizing his vibe.

Some of these covers I made, while others are official works or I found them online.

TRACKLIST & LINKS

Bo Diddley (1955) – Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. “Bo Diddley”
  2. “I’m A Man”
  3. “Little Girl”
  4. “You Don’t Love Me (You Don’t Care)”
  5. “Diddley Daddy”

SIDE B

  1. “She’s Fine, She’s Mine”
  2. “Pretty Thing”
  3. “Heart-O-Matic Love”
  4. “Bring It To Jerome”
  5. “Spanish Guitar”

Hey! Bo Diddley (1957) – Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. “Dancing Girl”
  2. “Diddy Wah Diddy”
  3. “I’m Looking For A Woman”
  4. “I’m Bad”
  5. “Love Is Strange”

SIDE B

  1. “Who Do You Love”
  2. “Cops And Robbers”
  3. “Down Home Special”
  4. “Hey! Bo Diddley”
  5. “Mona”

Go Bo Diddley (1958) – Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. “Say Boss Man”
  2. “Before You Accuse Me”
  3. “Say Man”
  4. “Hush Your Mouth”
  5. “Bo’s Guitar”

SIDE B

  1. “Dearest Darling”
  2. “The Clock Strikes Twelve”
  3. “Willie And Lillie”
  4. “Bo Meets The Monster”
  5. “Our Love Will Never Go”

Crackin’ Up (1959) – Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. “The Great Grandfather”
  2. “Crackin’ Up”
  3. “Don’t Let It Go”
  4. “I’m Sorry”
  5. “Oh Yea”
  6. “Blues, Blues”

SIDE B

  1. “Mama Mia”
  2. “Bucket” (Take 5)
  3. “What Do You Know About Love”
  4. “Come On Baby” (Take 4)
  5. “Lazy Woman” (As released on Bo Diddley & Company)

Have Guitar Will Travel (1959) – Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. “Nursery Rhyme”
  2. “Mumblin’ Guitar”
  3. “James’ Instrumental”
  4. “Silly Willy”
  5. “I Love You So” aka “I Love You” aka “The Beat”

SIDE B

  1. “The Story Of Bo Diddley” aka “My Story”
  2. “She’s Alright”
  3. “Darling Tell Me”
  4. “Gonna Tell It Like It Is”
  5. “Say Man, Back Again”

Run Diddley Daddy (1959) – Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. “Road Runner”
  2. “Jungle”
  3. “Run Diddley Daddy” (Alternate Take)
  4. “Unknown Title” (Issued As Run Diddley Daddy)
  5. “Spend My Life With You”
  6. “Love You Baby”

SIDE B

  1. “Diddling” aka “Tash”
  2. “Cadillac”
  3. “Walking” (Alternate Take 2)
  4. “Limbo” (Single Version)
  5. “To Each His Own”

Bo Diddley in the Spotlight (1960) – Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. “Look At My Baby”
  2. “Willie Fell In Love” (Version 1)
  3. “Better Watch Yourself”
  4. “You Know I Love You So”
  5. “Let Me In”

SIDE B

  1. “Prisoner Of Love” (Slow Version)
  2. “Deed And Deed I Do”
  3. “My White Horse” (Take 4)
  4. “Live My Life”
  5. “Scuttle Bug”
  6. “Signifying Blues”

Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger (1960) – Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. “Gun Slinger”
  2. “Ride On Josephine”
  3. “Doing The Craw-Daddy”
  4. “Somewhere”
  5. “Cheyenne”
  6. “Sixteen Tons”

SIDE B

  1. “Working Man”
  2. “Do What I Say”
  3. “Googlia Moo”
  4. “Craw-Dad”
  5. “Whoa, Mule” aka “Shine”
  6. “No More Lovin’”

Bo Diddley’s Travelin’ West (1960) – Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. “Can You Shimmy?”
  2. “I’m Hungry”
  3. “Oh Yeah” aka “Oh Yes”
  4. “Huckleberry Bush” aka “Hully Hully Gully”
  5. “Come On Baby” aka “The Soup Maker”
  6. “Walkin’ And Talkin’” (From the official in the Spotlight album)

SIDE B

  1. “Travelin’ West” (From the official in the Spotlight album)
  2. “Merengue” aka “Limbo”
  3. “Say You Will”
  4. “Hey, Hey” aka “What Are You Going To Do?” aka “Sick And Tired” (Fast Version)
  5. “Hey Pretty Baby” (Fast Version)
  6. “Love Me”

Bo Diddley is an Outlaw (1960) – Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

  1. “Mess Around”
  2. “Doodlin’”
  3. “Bo Diddley Is An Outlaw” (Slow Version)
  4. “Aloha”
  5. “Funny Talk”
  6. “Instrumental”

SIDE B

  1. “Bring Them Back Alive” aka “Funny Talk”
  2. “When The Saints Go Marching In”
  3. “Shank”
  4. “The Twister”
  5. “All Together”
  6. “Watusi Bounce”

The 1959 live recording is called Spring Weekend 1959 Live.

For those interested in Albums Back from the Dead, Chuck Berry I think is a decent starting place, especially because he did collab with Bo: https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2018/02/chuck-berry-discography-1956-59.html

This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!