Dead! The Grim Reaper's Greatest Hits [Import]

Dead! The Grim Reaper's Greatest Hits (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 3, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Ace Records UK
• ASIN: B000E6ENYE
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,055 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Terry - Twinkle

2. Give Us Your Blessings - The Shangri-Las

3. Endless Sleep - Jody Reynolds & The Storms

4. Death Of An Angel - Donald Woods & The Vel-Aires

5. Condition Red - The Goodees

6. I Want My Baby Back - Jimmy Cross

7. Dead Man’s Curve - Jan & Dean

8. The Drunken Driver - Ferlin Husky

9. Johnny Remember Me - John Leyton

10. Last Kiss - J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers

11. Patches - Dickey Lee

12. Once You Understand - Think

13. The Death Of A Surfer - The Riviares

14. Dead! - Carolyn Sullivan

15. Psycho - Jack Kittel

16. Ebony Eyes - The Everly Brothers

17. Requiem (For A Girl Born Of The Wrong Times) - Betty Barnes

18. A Beginning From An End - Jan & Dean

19. Tell Laura I Love Her - Ray Peterson

20. The Dream - The Fox

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

This Collection Brings the Fan who Likes their Black Humour on the Lighter Side, the First of a Planned 2-volume Set of "Death Discs" from the Classic Era of the Late 50s Through to the End of the 60s. Included Are Huge Pop Hits Like 'terry' by Twinkle and 'give Us Your Blessings' by the Shangri-las, Both of which Straddle the Death Disc and Girl Group Sounds. The Joe Meek Production 'johnny Remember Me' Shares Digital Space with 'tell Laura I Love Her'. The Hit-makers on this Set also Include the Everly Brothers, Jan and Dean and Bob Luman. In Fact, the Compilation is So Radio-friendly that It's Almost Impossible to Believe that Most of the Tracks were Banned During the Less-enlightened Time of their Release!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Different Kind of Dead, March 27, 2006

By 

Dennis Matthews (Portland OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead! The Grim Reaper's Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

When I found this cd just days ago, I picked it up for 2 songs: "I Want My Baby Back" by Jimmy Cross and to once again own a copy of Jack Kittel's "Psycho".

The real psychodrama occured in the record store while I listened to the disc when I got to track #12, "Once You Understand" by Think. Suddenly it was 1972 & I was 12 again and hearing this tragic song of The Generation Gap playing over & over again from my sister's bedroom. I (literally) screamed aloud in the store, startling the guy at the listening station next to me.

I had completely forgotten about this wonderful/wretched li'l morality play in the vein of Diane & Art Linkletter's "We Love You, Call Collect". Parents yelling at kids, kids whining at parents, tragic death & remorse; it's all here, served up with a big dollop of nausea.

Buy this disc & help raise the standards of Listening Quality instead of racing to plunge to the bottom of the turd-barrel with everyone else & fighting over the loose change down there.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dead!-The Grim Reaper's Jukebox, September 22, 2009

By 

Denis B. Johnston (Long Island,NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dead! The Grim Reaper's Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

All your favorite tragedy songs on one nifty CD!!!--It should be noted that this disc has the only CD appearence of "Once You Understand" by Think,which was a Top 40 hit in both 1971 & 1974.As well as the 1965 classic "I Want My Baby Back" by Jimmy Cross--the death song to end all death songs!!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ace Visits The Grave, October 29, 2008

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead! The Grim Reaper's Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

This first of a brief two-volume release from Ace of London which focuses on the dead and the dying has been done before, most notably by Varese-Sarabande in their September 2000 release Last Kiss: Songs Of Teen Tragedy, but it has never been done with Ace's usual detailed liner notes, discographies, and photos. And while seven of the tracks here (3, 6,10,11, 16, 19, and 21) were also in the Varese-Sarabande volume (a few others are in volume 2 of this set), and each was a hit, some huge some minor, Ace not only gives you 24 cuts to their 14 but has also dug a bit deeper into the dusty vaults to come up with a few that, while perhaps never hits for the artists concerned, are nevertheless sought after by certain collectors.

They also provide a few more of the genre that were hits, including some very hard to find in CD format. Readily obtainable in many other releases are the # 29 Hot 100 Give Us Your Blessings by The Shangri-Las in June 1965, Jan & Deans's spring 1964 # 8 Hot 100 Dead Man's Curve, and Bob Luman's fall 1960 # 7 Hot 100/# 9 Country parody, Let's Think About Living. Not readily available elsewhere are Condition Red, a # 46 Hot 100 in late 1968/early 1969 by the Memphis female trio The Goodees on the small Hip label (and sought after by collectors of The Girl Group Sound), Once You Understand by the studio group Think, put together by producers Lou Stallman and Bobby Susser and a # 23 Hot 100 in late 1971/early 1972 on the Laurie label, and a # 53 in April1974 when re-released by Big Tree under the billing Think (featuring Lou Stallman).

The rest, all non charters (at least in North America), will evoke memories only among fans of the individual artists, such as Terry by Twinkle, actually Lynn Annette Ripley of Surrey, England whose 1964 cut laments the death of a cycle-riding boyfriend, and memorable mainly for the involvement of Jimmy Page as a studio musician. Death Of An Angel was a 1955 release on Flip 45-306 by a group that started out as The Bel-Aires, then became the Vel-Aires, and ultimately wound up being billed as Donald Wood & The Velaires. While their version went nowhere, a cover by The Kingsmen (of Louie, Louie fame), hit # 42 Hot 100 in the fall of 1964.

A really creepy one is Psycho by Jack Kittel, a 1974 release which contains the lines "Seems I was holding a wrench, momma, And then my mind just walked away." Wee-ooo wee-ooo-wee-ooo.

As I mentioned above, with Ace you can always count on detailed background notes which will fill you in on the recording dates, label numbers, and information on each artist, and the sound is always excellent.