Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story (2019) Book Review

It must have been something to be a part of the early rock and roll scene, or even to have been present for it, feeling the excitement at purchasing a new record from Little Richard and hearing those wild, raw vocals for the first time. Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story, the latest volume in the RPM Series, gives us a taste of that period, documenting one of the important independent labels in rhythm and blues and the emerging rock and roll scene. It was written by Billy Vera. If you are in your forties or fifties, you most likely remember watching Family Ties and hearing his beautiful song “At This Moment,” which was a huge hit. Based on that song, I purchased By Request: The Best Of Billy Vera & The Beaters, and was pleasantly surprised to hear some rock and roll tunes. Billy Vera, in addition to being a songwriter and musician, is a music historian, and actually worked for the Specialty label for a time, organizing compilations of early recordings. So he is exactly the right person to tell this story. And Art Rupe, the founder of Specialty Records, wrote the book’s foreword (he is now over a hundred years old).

Art Rupe is quite an interesting character. It is wild that when he started, he researched music, using what little money he had to purchase every record he could find and then analyzing each one to determine what would make up a hit record. Wouldn’t we all love to do that? And it worked. Through his research, he figured out certain key elements that seemed to guarantee sales, and the label’s first record, “Boogie #1,” sold nearly 70,000 copies (that label being Juke Box Records, the precursor to Specialty). Interestingly, Art produced most of the records on Specialty, and also did the mastering. There is also information on Specialty’s famous yellow, black and white label.

The book contains information and anecdotes on many of the artists who recorded for the label, people like Roy Milton, Lloyd Price and Sam Cooke. This is early Sam Cooke, during his time fronting the Soul Stirrers, when he sang gospel music and wanted to move into pop territory. The story of his leaving the label is documented here, with Art Rupe saying that letting him go was his biggest mistake. There is also some interesting information on Lloyd Price and the song “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” Also, throughout the book, there are little nuggets about the music business in general, like that records did not need to sell many copies in order to reach a high position on the charts in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The book also includes some of the typed advice that Art Rupe gave John Vincent, who ran the Mississippi office, advice record producers today might still find useful. And of course there is a lot about Little Richard, Specialty’s star, including some delicious anecdotes about the start of his career, such as one about the composition of “Long Tall Sally.”

This book makes me eager to hunt down certain recordings, such as those by Swan Silvertones. Billy Vera’s description of those records (“as emotionally wild and out of control as anything ever heard on record”) makes me want to own them. By the way, Billy Vera’s passion for the material is clear early on, and it is that passion – as much as the information – which makes this book so enjoyable. Also, he doesn’t hold back in his descriptions of a song or musician he doesn’t care for, which makes for a fun read. He does talk a bit about his own work for the label, particularly the collections and compilations, following in the footsteps of Barret “Dr. Demento” Hansen. The book also contains a sections of photos.

Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story was published on November 5, 2019. It is the fourth book in the RPM Series, following World Domination: The Sub Pop Records Story, Shake Your Hips: The Excello Records Story, and Goin’ Off: The Story Of The Juice Crew & Cold Chillin’ Records.