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Bo Diddley

The Black Gladiator
CD $12
  • Original tapes transfered at legendary Sterling Sound in NYC
  • Re-mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters
  • In-depth liner notes by Scott Schnider
  • Original LP art faithfully reproduced

Description

Originally lost amidst a new decade and changing soundscapes, Bo Diddley’s The Black Gladiator never really registered upon its release in June 1970. The album proved to be a modernization of his blues-rock sound with a rugged funk edge, while retaining the spirit and humor of his finest work.

As a key player in bridging the gap between blues and rock and roll, Bo Diddley released his debut single in 1955 on Chess Records’ Checker subsidiary, the self-mythologizing “Bo Diddley” (b/w “I’m A Man”). The tune was an instant smash on the R&B charts and eventually covered by no less than Buddy Holly, Bob Seger, and The Grateful Dead. Countless hits followed, but by the mid-60s, a new breed of rock and roll rebels from the UK and US had taken over the charts, artists ironically raised on the blues/R&B/rock and roll sounds of Diddley and his pioneering peers of the 1950s.

While the sixties came to a close, Diddley may have been working at a less prolific pace than during his earlier heyday, but the man was certainly charged up and ready to drop a full-blown musical bomb. In an attempt...

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Preview Tracklist

  • 1 Elephant Man
  • 2 You, Bo Diddley
  • 3 Black Soul
  • 4 Power House
  • 5 If The Bible's Right
  • 6 I've Got A Feeling
  • 7 Shut Up, Woman
  • 8 Hot Buttered Blues
  • 9 Funky Fly
  • 10 I Don't Like You