By dvdmike (68.72.165.239) on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 12:43 am:

Can anyone give any technical info on this classic? I mean who produced the song, did the arrangement and at what studio was it cut? Thanks y'all

By Eli (152.163.252.68) on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 09:46 am:

I believe the record was produced in conjunction with Harold Battiste and was record at Cosimos on Rampart and Dumaine in N.O.L.A.

By Ritchie (62.254.0.9) on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 03:27 pm:

Great record. Incidentally, Joe Jones also discovered the Dixie Cups of Red Bird/Black Cat success, and the song was covered by Frankie Ford, of Sea Cruise fame. Joe's original remains the definitive version though. There's something about New Orleans R&B that's just unique, and quite irresistible. Now, if somebody were to mention Lee Dorsey, I'd be in Crescent City heaven :o)

By Ritchie (62.254.0.9) on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 03:29 pm:

Sorry - I meant to say Blue Cat, of course.

By LG Nilsson (213.89.29.129) on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 05:28 pm:

Hi folks,

After Detroit, New Orleans is my favorite soul town� Ernie K-Doe, Fats Domino, Lee Dorsey, Johnny Adams, Clarence �Frogman� Henry, Little Richard, Barbara Lynn, Lloyd Price, Irma Thomas and lots of others� I first heard �You Talk Too Much� on Radio Luxembourg when they played the US top ten� and fell in love with the sound�

Joe Jones (born in New Orleans 1926) recorded �You Talk Too Much� three times! He recorded the song as early as 1958 for Roulette. That version was never released. Then was the song recorded for a label called Flame. I don�t know if that recording was released either. The third time it was recorded for Joe Ruffino�s RIC label in New Orleans. The first three weeks on Billboard the record was listed as RIC 972. The people at Roulette Records went wild and claimed the master. The forth week in Billboard it was listed as Roulette 4304. It went to no 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and no 9 on the Billboard R&B chart 1960.

The song was written by local pianist Reggie Hall and given to Joe Jones. Harold Battiste produced the record. Joe Jones also made the original version of �California Sun� 1961. That song was later a top ten pop hit by The Rivieras 1964.

Joe Jones� band 1960 was Joe Jones vocal, Harold Battiste tenor sax, Theodore Riley trumpet, Reggie Hall piano, Roy Montrell guitar, Acy Fairman bass and Leo Morris drums. I don�t know if they all were on the RIC recording session� but Clarence Ford played baritone sax�

Lars

By Eli (64.12.97.7) on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 08:29 pm:

Years ago, when I was on tour with len Barry on the heels of 123, we were on the first Sonny and Cher tour where Harold Battiste was musical director.
He was a very nice man and we used to spend hours on those long bus rides talking about New Orleans
musical history.

On another note, for all of you drummers out there, one of the interesting idiosyncracies of N.O.L.A. music was the fact that the typical
N.O.L.A. drum groove as in Sea Cruise or Rockin Pneumonia, was that it was a straight eighth feel played against a shuffle...played both at the same time!!!

By Sioux (67.249.57.136) on Sunday, July 13, 2003 - 09:26 pm:

Frankie Ford, as mentioned previously, cut "You Talk Too Much" for Imperial Records, the same Hollywood, Calif.-based label that sold 65 million copies of Fats Domino records. Huey "Piano" Smith, another Imperial act at the time, is on Ford's version of "You Talk Too Much."
In the truest sense of the term, Ford and Imperial Records hoped to "cover" the Joe Jones version up -- cover it to the point that radio and record buyers would buy the Ford version rather than Jones' version. As Huey explains it, the term "cover," as it's used today, isn't really a cover, but more of a remake. In other words, how can you cover a song that's already been a hit? You're doing a remake, not a cover.

By Marc Forrest (145.243.194.67) on Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 11:31 am:

HI LG Nilson, sorry to correct you, but there is a release of that song on Roulette, which i do have at home. There is also a nice version by Barbara George on AFO Records.

By Eli (152.163.252.68) on Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 02:19 pm:

I thought that Huey and Frankie were on Ace records(US)

By LG Nilsson (213.89.29.190) on Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 02:59 pm:

Marc,

Thanks for the update. On what number was it released and how does it sound? Is it very different from the "hit" version?

Lars

By No expert (209.215.117.4) on Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 04:26 pm:

Eli:
Huey Smith and Frankie were Ace acts, but they as well as the late Earl King left Ace for Imperial around 1960. Neither Huey nor Frankie got hits at Imperial, which is why you might not be familiar with their Imperial years. Earl King, however, got his biggests hits at Imperial. His Imperial sides include "Come On" (later cut by Jimi Hendrix and Steve Ray Vaughan) and "Trick Bag," which became staples of classic New Orleans R&B.

By FrankM (81.152.61.80) on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 06:26 am:

Trick Bag as recorded by The Excuses was a recent big play on the Northern Soul scene but Earl King's version was gaining plays in the mod clubs

By Im no expert, but... (152.163.252.68) on Saturday, July 19, 2003 - 08:34 pm:

Earl King's Imperial recording of "Trick Bag," from 1962, is a great example of what might be called early New Orleans funk. A new collection of his Imperial recordings includes "Trick Bag" and "Come On," both of which he composed. Earl also wrote the Professor Longhair record, "Big Chief." Curiously, it features Earl singing lead rather than Professor Longhair.