Customer Reviews

Cruisin 1964

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The beauty of this series for British Fans of pop music is that in 1964, in particular, the songs of this year,s Cruisin, cd were almost all non-hits in the UK. "Remember Walking in the Sand" and "Chapel of Love" were hits but the rest were not known to the masses.British pop was the in thing of course. We had no such thing as the radio stations reprised on this series at home but l964 saw the beginning of the off-shore "pirate stations" which were based on American Top 40 Radio. You discovered The Beatles, we discovered Rock and Roll Radio. Oh, I almost forgot - this cd is 45minutes of great sounds, commercials and excellent quality. I feel nostalgic for WHX Radio - and I never heard it! That,s how good it is. There,s not a duff album in the series. Brilliant.

To the person who was shocked that there was a news bulletin about an armed robbery while the music played...You must be too young to remember "real radio". That is the beauty of the Cruisin' series - you get to hear the innocense, the newness of pop radio and rock 'n' roll. What you hear on this (and other CDs in the series) is what radio of the 50's and 60's was like. Yes, they talked over the intro but they played the entire song - they didn't cut if off 15 seconds from the end! You can't find radio like this anymore! Look at the mixture of songs on this CD - they are from many genre.

If you listend to Top 40 radio in the 50's or 60's this is the series to get. You can't explain to anyone what Top 40 radio was like in those times; you have to hear it. This is great! Now my kids know what real radio sounded like. The series is all good!

For the guy from England, yeah i never heard of WHX either, but I heard of WHK in Cleveland, but in defference to the other reviewier, WKYC was the station to listen to from Cleveland in those days. You both are probably too young to temember when this stuff was new. And yes, Johnny Holiday is still around. Having lived in Washington, as I said in my Cruising 1969 reveiw, he was on WWDC in the morning, opposite old Harve. Basically changed the dial back and forth. He still is heard regionally, in the DC area doing football play by play and pregame shows; as well as nattionally on ABC radio doing sports news.

As the case with the entire Cruisin' series; this one is just as excellent as all the others.

Boy, is this CD fun! It combines patter from a radio station as well as some cool songs from 1964. One can surely quibble as to the selection of why this set of songs (some are surely not among the greatest hits of all time). Still, there are some solid hits here, and the context of weaving radio station chatter with songs works for me. It adds a nice sense of the times.

Some enjoyable hits. . . . Bob and Earl sing "Harlem Shuffle." This is a nice animated version of the song. This version is a toe tapper.

"Dang Me" by Roger Miller. One of Miller's bigger hits. A Budweiser commercial plays just before the song (if you're curious).

"Dang me,
Take a rope and hang me
From the highest tree."

"Chapel of Love" by the Dixie Cups. What a classic! One of the great tunes of the early 1960s.

"The Girl from Ipanema." This is a classic version. Absolutely delightful! I first heard this several decades ago, and the song still brings a smile.

Then, there's the "Shoop Shoop Song," by Patty Everitt. I do NOT remember ever having heard this song, but it's a cool little bon-bon. Everitt has a nice, rich voice.

A mixed set of songs, but--in the end--quite a bit of fun. Interspersing radio bits with songs is a nice touch.

Another stellar installment for the Cruisin'Series---The Series re-creates the sound and feel of radio's Golden Years--1955-1969--Good ole Top 40 Rock'N'Roll, with the great tunes of the period plus the DJ chatter, old station ID's, famous ad spots from local and national advertisers--This series has it all and it helps give today's listeners an idea of what "goodtime" radio was all about---For us older listeners, it is is a great trip down memory lane.
This needs to be a part of your collection--

The remarkable Cruisin' series...first on LP records then CD's
was designed for people who enjoy hearing 50's and 60's DJ patter and the nostalgia of the commercials of the day as much or more than the music. If you are interested in just music look elsewhere. I'll bet George Lucas designed the well known
American Graffiti soundtrack after the Cruisin' series.
The reviewer from Memphis is worth a chuckle. Memphis...home to Elvis and great AM radio itself 40 plus years ago...obviously
this review is by someone who grew up with MTV not AM Top 40.

I bought this CD when I was a teenager, I think I was 16, which was 12 years ago and loved it great songs and the dj is fun, I think hearing those oldies as they were back then is very awesome. Great Songs and the commercials are fun too. Recommend to all.

This CD has some excellent music on it but the tracks are interspersed with a DJ named Johnny Holiday (Cleveland, OH), I think and some quaint 1964 commercials. This is exactly what you would hear on a radio if your were cruising in Cleveland. Unfortunately, the commercials and DJ speak intercede into the music (how typical) and no cuts are unaffected. My favorites include Shirly Ellis' NITTY GRITTY which is funky and very danceable, also Betty Everett's the SHOOP SHOOP SONG (It's in His Kiss) which CHER did a great job on her cover of the song some years later and Roger Miller's DANG Me which follows a beer commercial (how appropriate, although CHUG-a-LUG would have been better). Overall, the atmosphere is great but if you want untainted tracks, you will need to look elsewhere. Three stars means its both good and bad, the selections are good but the DJ and commercials taint the CD. There is even an interruption of one song to announce in a news bulletin that there had been an armed robbery!!!!!!! I am shocked.