1-CD (Digipak) with 32-page booklet, 38 tracks. Total playing time approx. 79 min.

With this CD album ’What The Heck!’ by Joe Bennett & The Sparkletones, Bear Family Records® presents the complete recordings of the early rockers from Spartanburg, South Carolina, a decade later one of the strongholds of Southern Rock.
They were all young teenagers when they made rock ’n’ roll history in 1957 with Black Slacks, a true rock smash and chart success!

Bennett played a rousing lead guitar and sang in tandem with rhythm guitarist Howard ’Sparky’ Childress; bassist Wayne Arthur and drummer Jimmy ’Sticks’ Denton formed the powerful rhythm section.
The previously released 10″LP on Bear Family (BAF14013) features a selection of Joe Bennett & The Sparkletones’ rockers – this CD now delivers everything, from their earliest recordings through the rare ’65 ABC single and the recordings released on Spanish EPs in 1964, to an appearance on Nat ’King’ Cole’s TV program.
Carefully restored recordings; extensive liner notes by Chicago music journalist and historian Bill Dahl tell the story of this young band.

Only in their mid-teens and full of fire, Joe Bennett and The Sparkletones roared out of Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1957 with a rocking ditty extolling the classy virtues of Black Slacks. Bennett played sizzling lead guitar and sang in tandem with rhythm guitarist Howard ‘Sparky’ Childress, while bassist Wayne Arthur and drummer Jimmy ‘Sticks’ Denton laid down a mighty commotion behind the pair. Bear Family Records® pays tribute with new collections that underscore just how savage these cats’ rhythms were on Boppin’ Rock Boogie, their second hit Penny Loafers And Bobby Socks, Rocket, Cotton Pickin’ Rocker, and We’ve Had It.

The 10-inch LP collects the very best of the group’s ABC-Paramount and Paris sides, while the CD follows Joe and the Sparkletones from their debut single through everything they ever cut and then some, including their hard-to-find ’65 ‘comeback’ single on ABC, the contents of several 1964 EPs that Joe waxed in Spain while he was in the Air Force, The Sparkletones’ historic ’57 appearance on Nat ‘King’ Cole’s TV program, and Billy and Eddie’s The King Is Coming Back, a 1959 rarity that Bennett co-wrote about Elvis’ impending return from the Army but didn’t sing. Curiosity on the side: the 1964 recordings feature drummer Mickey Hart, later one of the percussionists of the cult band The Grateful Dead.

Pull on your Black Slacks and commence to dancing with Joe Bennett and The Sparkletones!