Hop, Skip & Jump, Vol. 2

The Collins Kids were a brother-and-sister act that got real good real young and made it out of their native Oklahoma, settling out in California, where they landed a radio/TV hookup with Tex Ritter's Town Hall Party out of Compton. Older sister Lorrie handled the teenage-sensuality department with nylons rustling against cowgirl fringe, while little brother Larry was a hot-as-a-firecracker bundle of energy, bopping all over the place while laying down excitable, twangy guitar breaks learned first-hand from another Town Hall Party regular, the King of the double-neck Mosrite, Joe Maphis. With all that in mind, what we have here is another excellent CD box set from Bear Family, two discs with a booklet in an album-size format. Everything's here, from the great early sides like "Beetle Bug Bop," "The Cuckoo Rock," "I'm in My Teens," and "The Rockaway Rock" to the rockabilly classics "Just Because," "Hoy Hoy," "Mercy," "Sweet Talk," and "Party," through the Maphis/Collins guitar instrumentals to Larry and Lorrie's solo sides from the end of the trail. Joe Maphis' great guitar is sprayed all over the place and the master-tape transfer is as clear as you expect stuff out of the Columbia vaults produced by Don Law to be. A booklet crammed full of great live photos and excellent liners by Colin Escott rounds out the package.