You may know him as Petey Wheatstraw, the Human Tornado, or most commonly, Dolomite. Many consider him the godfather of rap, due to the widely sampled rhyming he used on his party albums. But how about Prince DuMarr, Mr. Wiggles, or the Harlem Hillbilly?

As is evidenced here, with top notch backup players, great songwriting and blistering in-your-face vocals à la Richard Berry, Rudy had just as much talent and unique genius in the rock ‘n’ roll/rhythm & blues arena as in the comedy field, where he, of course, made his mark.

This watershed of classic, rockin’ R&B is truly a revelation for rock ‘n’ roll fans everywhere. Moore’s cuts for Federal feature the incredible guitar slingin’ of Jimmy Nolan (of Johnny Otis and James Brown fame) and tunes like “I’m Mad With You,” (popularized by label mate Moon Mullican), just BURN!! Here, as well as on “Ring A Ling Dong” and others, Rudy masters the classic rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic. But his emotionally-wrenching embrace of minor-keyed blues really nails it with “My Little Angel” and especially “Let Me Come Home” and “Hurts To My Heart.” Then there’s “Don’t Go No Further,” a hunk of gutbucket L.A. blues, early ’60 style. Who’s playing that string-mangling guitar?

The disc is rounded out with doo-wop, a duet and the brilliant “Angels On Earth,” (later performed in Rudy’s film “Human Tornado” in a rock/funk style!!) It’s vintage R.R.M. all the way: “Well I’m callin’ all girls from near and far/ Cause I wanna tell you just what you are/ You’re peaches and pears and everything rare (!!)/You’re angels.. .sweet little angels…walkin’ round on earth.”

Rudy’s self-penned liner notes documenting his pre-Dolomite career belong in the Smithsonian Institution. Together with an array of mind blowing photographs, they paint a fascinating picture of mid-20th-century black show business.

If there’s a diamond in this box of jewels, it has to be the multi-faceted kit-bashing of talent taken from a 1963 club appearance where Rudy skillfully weaves the spoken part of his buddy Bobby Marchan’s “There Is Something On Your Mind” into his own comedy routine and pads the whole thing with a killer rendition of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home To Me” and his own “Hurts Me To My Heart.” The audience is wild, the band’s on fire and the recording is so good it’s like being there.

Basically, this album deserves a Grammy award.