Customer Reviews

Bubbling Under 1: 32 Tracks That Bubbled Under The Billboard Charts 1961-1964

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Oldies junkies and even those not all that interested in blasts from the past will recognize many of the artists in this new collection of songs that bubbled under the Billboard music charts in the 1960s. That these tracks didn't earn a coveted spot in the hot 100 is no reflection on the artists themselves or these songs. As Mike Edwards points out in the liner notes,100 spots clearly wasn't enough to contain all the great tunes from that era. Take "Let me get close to you" for example. Written by the hallowed songwriting team of Goffin and King and performed by Skeeter Davis, the song just missed the hot 100 in 1964. It's a great tune and a worthy follow up to Skeeter's earlier smash "I can't stay mad at you" and features the crack production of Chet Atkins. Hindsight is invariably 20/20, but my bet would be that the British invasion that year changed the rules for music, and even worthy songs like this simply fell by the wayside. The 4-Evers "Say you love me" is another stellar track; produced by Bob Crewe and sounding an awful lot like Crewe's other vocal group The Four Seasons, this record just leaps out of the speakers at you-it's that strong. Changing musical tastes, poor promotion, laclustre distirbution; whatever the reason,these songs didn't make the hot 100 and with few exceptions have probably never been anthologized. Don't let that put you off this anthology. The songs, many in stereo and sounding great, deserve a second chance to be heard.

I love early 60's music because I grew up with it as a teenager and have
been collecting everything available that I couldn't get then or didn't know
of. Most of these R&R compilations are wonderful and I call them "New Oldies"
because some are new to me but the sound is truly like the rest of the well-
known hits of those days. This particular Bubbling Under is an absolute knockout
compilation because it holds mostly unknown songs of real popular teenage idols
like Ricky Nelson, Dion, Johnny Burnette, Curtis Lee, Conway Twitty before he
went country, Jackie Wilson, Ray Peterson etc. Most of them had several top ten
hits but these, on this Cd, didn't make it for who knows what reason because here
you can listen to excellent songs that could have been top ten hits as well.
I'm sure I will repeat purchases of these "Rare Rockin' Records" label. Thirty-
two songs is a real treat! As good as all the wonderful ACE issues on American
Rock & Roll.

Throughout my reviews I have given mostly rave reviews to anything I have from Ace of London, especially their Golden Age Of American Rock 'N' Roll series, pointing to the consistent excellence in sound reproduction and their copious liner notes. Well, if my first experience with Rare Rockin' Records of Sydney, Australia is any indication, Ace now has a competitor.

The AAD sound is fantastic and the insert contains 31 pages of artist-by-artist comments, sprinkled throughout with record/poster/album cover reproductions and vintage photos of Rick(y) Nelson, Bernadette Castro, Curtis Lee, Del Shannon, Teresa Brewer, Johnny Burnette, The Murmaids, Dion, Tommy Boyce, Annette, The Cascades, Conway Twitty, Skeeter Davis, The Tokens, Eddie Hodges, The Elektras, Johnny Crawford, The Four-Evers, Timi Yuro, The Fleetwoods, Johnny Nash, The Majors, Doris Troy, The Five Satins, Ray Peterson, The Roomates, Jackie Wilson, and Linda Brannon.

Rick Nelson's selection originally came out in 1962 as part of the Imperial album Seven By Rick. The Teresa Brewer song, arranged by Bill Justis, takes on an almost identical melody as Ponchielli's Dance Of The Hours, also used in Allan Sherman's Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh! The selections by The Murmaids and The Elektras, whose song was produced by Bert Berns, are much sought-after tracks by Girl Group collectors.

The Skeeter Davis track was also a # 45 Country hit for her, while the Ray Peterson side was a cover of the big 1957 Country hit by Webb Pierce. Jackie Wilson's Baby, That's It was the flip of his # 82 Hot 100 single Forever And A Day, both backed by the Dick Jacobs orchestra. And the full label title for the Linda Brannon track was Don't Cross Over (To My Side Of The Street).

As with Ace products, they show on the reverse of the jewel case the label numbers and highest Bubble Under position reached by year for each track.

As another reviewer points out, most of these cuts were certainly capable of finishing higher in the Hot 100 and. in most cases, their failure to do so was simply a question of the hundreds upon hundreds of songs released as singles each year. To use 1964 as an example, the six songs that finished at # 100 ranked from 709 to 714 for a year dominated by the British Invasion which alone made it difficult for North American artists to achieve decent chart success. But for the entire period covered, 700 to 800 songs ranked in the Hot 100 was the norm, This, in fact, is what led to the creation of the Billboard Bubble Under charts.

This release is shown as Volume One. I for one can't wait to see Volume Two.

Just because a song may have been only "Bubbling Under" nationally doesn't mean that some of these weren't bigger regional hits.
Almost all the artists are well-known, and many of these cuts SHOULD have been bigger hits. Very listenable album!