Genre: rock
Rating: 3 stars ***
Title: Shimmy She Roll, Shimmy She Shake
Company: United Artists
Catalog: UAS-5654
Year: 1973
Country/State: Oklahoma
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: gatefold sleeve; cut top right corner
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 5526
Price: $12.00
Not that I was a big fan of Southwind's mixture of country and rock idioms, but the only reason I picked up this LP up at a yard sale was that I happened to recall that along with John 'Moon' Martin, singer/bassist Jim Pulte had been a member of Southwind.
Following Southwind's collapse Pulte struck out in search of a solo career. He was initially signed by United Artists, releasing 1972's "Out the Window". I'd love to tell you about the LP, but I've never heard a copy.
I guess due to my preconceived notions about what this one was going to sound like, "Shimmy She Roll, Shimmy She Shake" sat in my ''to-listen-to" pile for over a year before I finally got around to slapping it on the turntable. Produced by Skip Taylor, I was expecting to hear a plodding mix of singer/songwriter woe and bland country-rock. My mistake ... Pulte's sophomore set was far more rocking than I anticipated. Mind, you this wasn't stuff Deep Purple would cover, but on tracks like It's 'All Comin' Down' and his cover of Randy Newman's 'You Can Leave Your Hat On' Pulte showed off some first-rate swamp-rock moves. Support from some first rate sidekicks including guitarist Tom Dewey and bassist Jim Pons didn't hurt. His voice was also far better than I remembered, exhibiting a husky edge that was well suited for most of the songs and quite enjoyable. Yeah, the album was still cluttered with occasional bursts of cutesy country-rock stuff ('Ten Miles East of Town'), but luckily it was far and few between. United Artists tapped the LP for a pair of singles, though in picking the non-Pulte original 'I Remember You' the grabbed one of weakest songs on the album.
- 1973's 'I Remember You' b/w '' (United Artists catalog number 50953)
- 1973's 'Shimmy She Roll, Shimmy She Shake' b/w 'The Best Years Since '28' (United Artists catalog number 50992)
"Shimmy
She Roll, Shimmy She Shake" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Shimmy She Roll, Shimmy She Shake (Jim Pulte - J. Martin) -
2.) Pocket Change (Jim Pulte - J. Herron) -
3.) Rags and Old Iron (O. Brown Jr. - N. Curtis) -
4.) Out In the Light (Jim Pulte) -
5.) It's All Comin' Down (Jim Pulte) -
(side
2)
1.) I Remember You (Johnny Mercer - V. Scheringer) -
2.) Beside the Mountain (Jim Pulte - Fontaine Brown) -
3.) Ten Miles East of Town (Jim Pulte) -
4.) Dancin' On a Mirror (Jim Pulte - Jim Pons - T.B. Dewey - C.H. Morgan) -
5.) You Can Leave Your Hat On (Randy Newman) -
6.) The Best Years Since '28 (Jim Pulte) -
And that was the end of Pulte's musical career for some three and a half decades. He apparently got into the financial planning business forming the James R. Pulte Investment Group (wonder how he did in the market collapse?).
He formed his own label (Sinkhole Records), in 2007 releasing a comeback collection entitled "The Norman Fishtackle Choir" (Windstorm Records catalog number 634479685330).
Pulte also has a MySpace site at:
http://www.myspace.com/jimpulte