Bo and Cookie return

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33655, 3 October 1974, Page 4

Bo and Cookie return

Only a few months after Bob Dylan’s contract with C.BB. Records expired and he left the company to Join Elelctra Records, the singer-song-writer has now re-signed with his old label —• for $8 million.

Bo Diddley, with Cookie Vee and Roadshow, will give one concert in the Christchurch Town Hall next Tuesday.

Bo and Cookie gave a concert here last year which was so successful that Prestige Promotions have persuaded them to return.

Many performers have become known for their song writing, identified by their phrasing, applauded for their vocal tricks. Few are known as originators of new rhythmic patterns. The Bo Diddley Beat, first Introduced on “Bo Diddley” and “Hey Bo Diddley” has such an identifiable sound that it is known to black musicians as the “tradesman’s knock.” The Rolling Stones stole it for “Not Fade Away,” Duane Eddy used it on

"Cannonball.” Dee Clark for “Hey Little Girl,” and John Otis copied it for “Willie and the Hand Jive,” a re-written version of “Bo Diddley.” Bo signed with Chess Records in June, 1955. His first record, “Bo Diddley” was a smash as were “Hey Bo Diddlev,” "Road Runner,” "Bo Diddley’s A Gunslinger,” “You Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover,” and “Say Man.” He set the alltime attendance record at New York's Apollo Theatre in 1956.

For years Bo Diddley was in great demand until the British invasion of the United States, spearheaded by the Beatles. He still kept playing and putting on a show and a couple of years ago there began a great revival. Bo Diddley "came back on the scene like ap ageing gunfighter blowing

the smoke from his fuming pistol,” as one writer put it. The clue to the success of Bo’s music is his compelling original handling of rhythm, which more than anything else immediately identifies his music. “It’s my rhythm that makes music penetrate,” he says. “You can be a good speaker and know what to say, but if you ain’t shooting it out right, it just ain’t gonna do right. “You almost gotta write it on a piece of paper and sing it at the same time, just so as to make sure people don’t misunderstand. You got to get it out

there, produce it, make the people feel it, and if they like it, well, you got something going.”