Road Hawg! 33 Motorcycle Street Beats

by Various Artists

These 33 songs from 1953-1999, carefully selected, chronologically sequenced, on Bear Family Records, transmit the feeling of freedom and thrill - music and motorcycling simply belong together! -The album tells a unique story with several rare recordings and historical sound documents such as from the movie 'The Wild One' with Marlon Brando, with stars like Elvis Presley and Billy Idol, from rockabilly to punk and featuring musicians from the USA, Canada, Denmark, England, France and the Netherlands. -The 36-page full-color booklet provides liner notes by Chicago music historian Bill Dahl, along with rare photos and illustrations. The Wild One Once you've been on a bike, you will not want to give it up. Riding a motorcycle became a synonym for freedom already at the beginning of the 20th century. In those days you probably could feel that freedom even more than today, because there was neither the obligation to wear a safety gear nor a lot of traffic signs. In the early 1950s, music and film took up this phenomenon; in 1953, the first real motorcycle movie was made. 'The Wild One' starred Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin as legendary antagonists. This compilation provides excerpts from the film and, among others, the motorcycle sequence from 'Roustabout' with Elvis Presley! Motorbikin' Most of the songs on 'Road Hawg!' were recorded during the wild decades of greasers and bikers, the 1950s and '60s, including the legendary song Motorcycle by Tico & The Triumphs, an early recording with the collaboration of Simon & Garfunkel. Things get country-heavy at the end of the 1960s with Charlie Ryan and Johnny Bond, while France contributes psychedelic pop. The seventies also produced plenty of motorcycle classics, such as Motorbikin' by Chris Spedding, heard here in Billy Idol(!)'s version.