Ian Saddler

It’s impossible to do a Top Ten so 10 here are my best recent acquisitions (45s), in no particular order;

Charlie Feathers - Defrost Your Heart - Sun
Jimmy M Crosby - Mighty Mean Daddy  - Manco
Kent Parchman - Treat Me Right - Jaxon
Jay Chevalier - Cuttin’ Cane - Montel
Jessie Lee King - Nervous Wreck - Pine
Lonesome Long John Roller - Hay Momma - Flag Pole
Sleepy King - One Leg Woman - Sue
Charlie Huff - Baby, Baby, Baby - Hut
Julia Lee - Bop And Rock Lullaby - Foremost
The Valiants - Frieda, Frieda, Frieda - Keen

Rock’n’Roll’n’me – I was born on 3 July 1942 and was destined to become a first generation rocker. The first 45 I ever bought was Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around The Clock’ with two weeks’ pocket money. I heard ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ by way of an older boy singing it out on a boating lake whilst I was fishing; the following Friday I took my paper round money to the record shop and asked for the song. From then on I bought every Elvis 45 as soon as it came out until he went into the army, but the record that got just about worn out from the moment I bought it was Chuck Berry’s ’Johnny B. Goode’ – still one of the greatest songs ever written, sung or played.

I’ve remained a vinyl junkie (originals only) ever since. I first bought Sun records direct from Sam’s brother, Tom Phillips, in the early 60s. We were buying them unheard and every one was a winner – What a fantastic time. My first contact with Ace people was with Ted Carroll when he had his record stall in thePortobello Rd, Roger when he manned the record stall in Soho and Bob Dunham when he worked in Rock On inCamden. My first work for Ace was actually before it was Ace - sorting thousandss of 78s that Ted had acquired, stored in two lock-up garages in Tottenham.

I became a record dealer to fund my collecting habit in the 70s and in the 80s, with fellow enthusiast Phil Tricker, ran the record collector magazine “Roll Street Journal”. Somewhere along the line I contributed a little assistance to various LP and then CD compilers, before compiling my first CDs for Ace; “Blues Belles With Attitude” and “Bandera Doo-wop”. I got serious in compiling with the idea for the “By The Bayou” series which resulted in me spending many months inLouisiana, spread over four years, unearthing tapes, tracking down artists and signing small record labels. Although you can’t please all of the people all of the time, this has been a fantastic experience as well as a learning curve and with number 14 in the series compiled and due to hit the streets in April, I’m pretty happy with the result. 

Photo caption - Ian Saddler with some of the stars whose early recordings have graced the “By The Bayou” series. L-R Ian Saddler, Jiving Gene, Johnny Bersin, Ronnie Bennett & Gene Terry