Customer Reviews

The Golden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll, Volume 5: Hot 100 Hits From 1954-1963

5 star:		(7)
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The Golden Age Of American Rock & Roll, Volume 5 gives us thirty hits that made the airwaves sizzle back in the day! The sound quality couldn't be better; and we get a nice mix on this album of tunes both famous and somewhat more obscure. I love the artwork as well.

The Accents kick off the track set with their hit, "Wiggle Wiggle." This has an excellent `50s rockin' beat and they harmonize to perfection. The Accents really ace this number and it deserves a place on this CD. The Clovers also weigh in with their "Love Potion No. 9;" this classic rock hit sounds fresh and new--the sound is very good. The Clovers wee able to harmonize particularly well and the horn solo work is very impressive. Excellent! Listen also for Dale & Grace on their "I'm Leaving It Up To You;" this is a special type of love song in which they wonder if their partners will choose them--or leave them. Dale & Grace sound strong together and they sing this with all their hearts and souls. "I'm Leaving It Up To You" is a major highlight of this album.

"You Cheated" by The Shields played a lot on the radio back in the day; and The Shields were really very talented. The Tune Weavers also throw in their "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby;" this was a huge hit for The Tune Weavers and I still enjoy this ballad after all these years! Don & Juan also sound their best on `What's Your Name;" this has a touch of doo wop to it that enhances the beauty of this love song.

"Over The Mountain, Across The Sea" by Johnnie & Joe has a distinct doo wop flavor to this early rock and roll ballad; Johnnie & Joe were especially talented and I don't know why I don't see too many of their songs selling these days. Jay & The Americans also perform the song entitled "She Cried." "She Cried" has interesting minor keys but this makes it work well--it's a very memorable tune.

"Hey Little Girl" by Dee Clark is an excellent tune that is both playful and relentlessly optimistic at once. Dee Clark sings this with all his might; he really belts this one out! The music that goes with his vocals fits perfectly, too. The Valiants also sound great on their tune "This Is The Nite;" the drums and percussion enhance the musical arrangement and The Valiants really open up and let this one straight out of the ballpark! I'm very impressed.

Gene Chandler's "Duke Of Earl" is one of my very favorite tunes from this era; Gene possessed a rare talent for singing and just one listen proves it! The album also ends very nicely with The Spaniels performing their hit "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight." "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight" shines like gold even today and I'm sure you'll enjoy this ballad.

This CD is an excellent installment in the CD series of "The Golden Age Of Rock & Roll." I highly recommend this album for fans of this genre of music.

Volume five in ACE Records exhaustive survey of the early rock 'n' roll years (1954-1963) in America suffers from the same problem that volume four did in that the song selection gets a bit too obscure at times. A third of these songs barely dented Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart. Songs like the Accents' "Wiggle Wiggle," the Knockouts "Darling Lorraine" or the Ribbons' "Ain't Gonna Kiss Ya" didn't exactly burn up the charts and even the most ardent fan of the period will not recognize many of these. That is not to dismiss these minor hits entirely. For example, the Showmen's "It Will Stand," which only reached No. 62, is a classic song that lyrically proclaims the longevity of rock 'n' roll because it has something important to say. [And forty years later rock 'n' roll DOES still stand!]

Also, keep in mind that with ACE's generous 30 tracks, they can afford to give the listener an extensive sampling of the minor hits of the period and still provide plenty of the more popular hits. "I'm Leaving It All Up To You," "Sleep Walk" and "Duke of Earl" all topped the charts, and an additional eight songs hit the Top Ten, including such treasures as Don and Juan's "What's Your Name," Jimmy McCracklin's "The Walk" and Travis and Bob's "Tell Him No."

But what makes this whole series such a treat are those Top 40 hits that were fairly big hits when initially released, but radio and record labels have since completely forgotten. It's probably been years (if not decades) since most people have heard the Clovers' original version of "Love Potion No. 9" (as opposed to the Searchers'), or the Belmonts' (sans Dion) "Tell Me Why," the G-Cleffs' "Ka-Ding Dong," or the Jayhawks' "Stranded in the Jungle." When taken as a whole, this entire series (eight volumes so far) does a stellar job of recapturing the era with the big hits and lost gems. If you were a teenager in the Fifties, or simply love the music, you will find much to enjoy here. RECOMMENDED

I am a enthousiastic collector, and have almost all the Time Life rock n roll stuff, as well as Eric Records cds of this era. Although they are essential to any 50s 60s collection, nothing can top ACE series.
I could comment like this on all the 50s remasters of this fabulous record label, not only their other editions, but especially the Golden Age of American Rock n roll. I can not add anything to the positive reviews than simply summing up my personal view:
30 tracks per cd! (Time life is also excellent, but you get 15 per cd!)
excellent booklets with background info (not surpassed by any label).
not the same old songs over again, but many rare and still excellent tracks!
last but not least amazing sound quality.
So although you might have some songs there on other collections, it is for above mentioned points alone worth it to always have an ACE copy as well.

Ace unleashes the fifth installment in their magnificent "Golden Age..." series with this CD. Of the massive 30 tracks here, eleven were top-10 and a further ten were top-40 leaving a third of the tracks to songs that only managed to dent the lower reaches of the pop charts. While many of these lesser-selling tunes may be unfamiliar to some listeners, their inclusion is much of what makes this series of compilations so spectacular. For those who fondly remember or even only vaguely recognize some of these more obscure tunes, some of which did have big local, if not national, impact, their appearance in high-quality sound is totally welcome.

Two standouts that fall into this category are the Ribbons' "Ain't Gonna Kiss Ya" and the Knockouts' "Darling Lorraine". Those from other parts of the country may find a personal favorite of theirs from within the wealth of sides seldom found elsewhere in any decent quality. As found in other volumes, there are many sides that were big hits but have seen little reissue activity - Everly Brothers sound-alikes Bob and Travis' "Tell Him No" and the Belmonts sans Dion with "Tell Me Why" to cite a couple.

Ace's attention to sound quality is evident and while there is only one track (18) in stereo, these mono masters are as good as you'll find. Though virtually imperceptible, one track (10) is acknowledged as having been dubbed from disc. The info-packed 20-page liner notes booklet is interspersed with pics and dups of promo items.

With this superb new entry, Ace continues to raise the bar in the reissue realm.

Kida of neat to hear some the silly songs we listened to. Rather interesting to be in the car listening to the cd and getting comments. "You gotta be kiddin' you actually listened to that!!!!

This is another very good CD that continues the excellence of this series of "Golden Oldies". All songs except for one are recorded in mono rather than stereo, but the sound quality is excellent. The enclosed brochure could be improved if the information about the artists was listed in the same order as the songs on the CD; some other CD's in this series have brochures with the information in the correct order, so I don't know why the brochures are so inconsistent in this regard.

Some of the other reviews of this 5th installment of Ace of London's classic "The Golden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll" series, call some of the selections "obscure." And, I suppose, for the casual fan of music of the era covered in the series (1954 - 1963], that is true. But for those of us who grew up in that time period they all bring back fond memories. Every single one of them.

What you have to keep in mind is that, for every song that made it into the Billboard Top/Hot 100 Pop charts in any given year back then, there were upwards of four that did not. Indeed, Billboard even introduced, in the summer of 1959, an adjunct listing called the Hot 100 "Bubbling Under" charts which chronicled those that were calculated (using their unique formula involving record sales, air and jukebox play) to have ranked from # 101 to # 125. All of the songs in here, then, were major hits when compared to those.

It's also important to remember that, in those days of the small independent labels, most of these were shoe-string operations which did not have the funds available to the giants like Columbia, Capitol, RCA Victor, Decca, MGM, United Artists and Mercury for purposes of publicity/advertising. It was, therefore, quite an accomplishment when tunes such as Ain't Gonna Kiss Ya by The Ribbons on Marsh 202, It Will Stand by The Showmen on Minit 632, and This Is The Nite by The Valiants on Keen 34004 got to #s 81 in 1962, 61 in 1961, and 69 in 1959 respectively.

Which, of course, makes these Top 10 entries all the more remarkable, since the labels concerned were just as small, for the most part, as those just mentioned: I'm Leaving It Up To You by Dale & Grace (# 1 Hot 100/# 1 Adult Contemporary (AC)/# 6 R&B in 1963 on Montel 921); Sleep Walk by Santo & Johnny (# 1 Hot 100/# 4 R&B in 1959 on Canadian-American 103); What's Your Name by Don & Juan (# 7 Hot 100 in 1962 on Big Top 3079); and Tell Him No by Travis & Bob (# 8 Hot 100/# 21 R&B in 1959 on Sandy 1017). Some, as you can see, also crossed over to the R&B charts, which had been around since being introduced in 1942 as The Harlem Hit Parade, and the Adult Contemporary (or Easy Listening) charts, which first appeared in late 1961.

A few of the small independents had, of course, become major players in the game back then, such as Vee-Jay Checker/Chess, Dot and Swan, and so did have the wherewithal to promote their releases. This is reflected in the success of such entries as You Cheated by The Shields (# 11 R&B/# 12 Top 100 in 1958 on Dot 15804); Happy, Happy Birthday Baby by The Tune Weavers (# 4 R&B/# 5 Top 100 on Checker 872 in 1957); and Duke Of Earl by Gene Chandler (# 1 Hot 100 and R&B in 1962 on Vee-Jay 416.

All this is detailed in the 17 pages of liner notes written in 1995 by the U.K. music historian Rob Finnis, which also contains photos of Gene Thomas, Santo & Johnny, The Shields, Johnnie & Joe; Thurston Harris, The Jayhawks, The Tune Weavers, Jay & The Americans, Dale & Grace, Gene Chandler and The Valiants, along with reproductions of numerous posters/45 rpm records/publicity notices.

A 5-star release in every respect, including their nostalgic cover art which, by the way, shows an AMi Continental 2-200 Jukebox (circa 1962) for this release.

This one is as good as all the others in the Golden Age series. My only negative about it is that there are more obscure songs I hadn't heard before, but are worth listening to. Don't let this stop you. There are good hard to find oldies on this one; Tell Him No, by Travis and Bob, Hey Little Girl, by Dee Clark, What's Your Name, by Don and Juan, You Cheated, by the Shields, and many more.

I have been a music collector since the mid 1950's, having accumulated a fair selection of LP's, 45's and CD's. Sometimes you get stung and sometimes you hit paydirt. For that reason I tend to place a great deal of trust in these reviews. I don't like to send for a CD without first reading what other collectors have to say about it. Rather than simply repeat all the other acclaims submitted by other reviewers, I would just like to mention what really impresses me about this CD and others in this series. I think I can speak for most bonefide collectors when I say "Thanks for the original recordings". This is what perspective buyers want to hear, this is The Real McCoy! There is nothing more frustrating than buying a CD believing that you are getting original hit material only to find that it's a re-make, probably some 20 or 30 years after the song was popular. Ace, along with Eric Records and several others, give us the original product (as far as I've been able to determine). That is most important, at least to me. The information booklet that Ace supplies is superb. One other point that is worthy of mention is the information Ace supplies on the back cover. Both US and UK labels, chart positions attained and the year are all great information to have at your fingertips. And like everyone else, I don't mind getting 30 selections on a disc either. Bearing in mind that they are working with master tapes produced many years ago, the sound is exceptional. This is money well spent!