By Tom Tourville
Welcome to 2020 and “Rock & Roll Memories.” It’s going to be a fun year with some exciting stories on the roots of the Pipestone area’s rock and roll. Let’s get 2020 started.
If you were to think about it, during the ‘60s and ’70s if you were living in the Pipestone area you could drive any direction and find amazing music. Either at the Hollyhock Ballroom in Hatfield, the Showboat Ballroom in Lake Benton or the Valhalla Ballroom at Lake Shetek outside of Slayton.
To start off 2020, I’m going to go back and look at an amazing show at the Valhalla Ballroom from 1967. I don’t usually look back at the Valhalla, but they had a legendary Midwest band that needs to be remembered.
Every Midwest state during the decades of the ‘60s and early ‘70s can lay claim to who were the “kings” of their music scene. In Minnesota, it was The Trashmen; in Kansas, the Fabulous Flippers; in Iowa, the Pete Klint Quintet; and in Nebraska, no questions asked, it had to be The Rumbles Ltd.
Many could make the case that not only were The Rumbles Ltd. the best band Nebraska had to offer but maybe the best band that the entire Upper Midwest ever produced. I for one, wouldn’t argue that position, as these guys were at the top of their game.
It’s quite unique to see a band from the decades of the ‘60s and ‘70s like The Rumbles Ltd. to still be making their mark in the ‘80s, ‘90s, ‘2000s and all the way up to 2015 when the band finally hung up their rock and roll shoes for retirement.
The band got its humble start as a typical high school “garage band” in 1963 in Omaha. The original lineup included Rich Clayton-guitar, Steve Hough-drums, Bud Phillips-bass, and Joe Bunworth-guitar. Soon, guitar and keyboard ace Bob Ford would replace Clayton. They all possessed one other key element to make them an amazing live band: they were ALL incredible singers. It has been said many times that absolutely no Midwest band ever came together with such a strong vocal package like The Rumbles Ltd. I’d have to add amen to that.
Their vocal and musical process was so advanced in the late ‘60s they were known to duplicate exactly the Beatles Abbey Road LP and preform the entire LP live at their shows, track by track. Most bands would have been intimidated just to have thought about such a feat.
When it came to making records on national labels, the Rumbles Ltd. were the leaders in this category, too, with releases nationally on the Mercury, Capitol, GNP Crescendo, and Sire Records labels. In addition, they recorded for such Midwest labels as Soma, Dad’s, Dawn Corey, Magic and Lemon Records. They were one of the most widely successful recording groups to make the Midwest their home for over two decades.
Their standout recording effort has to be their 1967 release of Frankie Lane’s “Jezebel/The Music In Me,” Mercury Records 72723. Without question, this has to be one of the hottest versions of this song ever made. The song was recorded in Chicago by Dunwich Productions, the same people that brought us “Gloria” by the Shadows Of Knight. The vocals were amazing on their “Jezebel” release along with the layered in-studio horn arrangements by Dunwich. The running bass line by Bud Phillips has to put him in the “Bass Playing Hall Of Fame” alone, if it existed. It’s a stellar effort.
They also recorded “Fourteen Years,” “Out Of Harmony,” and “99% Sure” for Mercury Records; “Hey Lenora” for Capitol Records; “California My Way” on GNP Crescendo Records; and “Push Push” for Sire Records.
The Rumbles Ltd. would stay together as a group until the mid ’70s, take a short break from performing, and return in the late ‘70s to stay together up until their retirement in 2015.
In the fall of 1967, the Valhalla Ballroom did the next to impossible when they brought the Rumbles out of Omaha up to Lake Shetek to what I have been told was one of the best shows that Ballroom ever presented.
They came out of retirement this last summer for the grand opening of the new Roof Garden Ballroom at Lake Okoboji, Iowa and co-headlined a show with….the Fabulous Flippers. Simply, it was Midwest rock and roll history!
“Ladies & Gentlemen, Here They Are One More Time, Mercury Records Recording Artists, From Omaha to the Valhalla, The Rumbles!”
Until next month,
Take care & remember the music
Tom Tourville has been writing about Midwest rock & roll for close to 30 years and has published over 25 books based on Midwest rock music history, including his latest releases on the Hollyhock Ballroom in Hatfield. He lives in Lake Okoboji, Iowa, and can be reached at tourvillea@aol.com.