Customer Reviews

The Golden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll, Volume 6: Hot 100 Hits From 1954-1963

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The UK's leading reissue label ACE Records maintains its high standards with its sixth volume chronicling the early pop/rock scene in America from 1954-1963. As always, top-notch sound, an unheard of 30 tracks on a single disc compilation, and an informative 20-page booklet. Once again, ACE focuses on small, independent labels which means you aren't going to be getting the same old songs that have been recycled for the Baby Boomer generation for the past 30 years. In fact, only six of these songs were Top Ten and nearly half (13) didn't even reach the Top 40. What you get is a thoughtful blend of the familiar along with some forgotten treasures.

The album kicks off with the Crescent City sound of John Fred's "Shirley." If the name sounds familiar, it should. While his first single flopped in 1958 (as did his next 14 singles), he topped the charts ten years later in 1968 with "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)." Another terrific New Orleans R&B song from 1958 is Huey "Piano" Smith & the Clowns' "Don't You Just Know It."

There are a couple terrific rockabilly songs--the Sparkletones' 1957 hit "Black Slacks" and Jimmy Edwards' "Love Bug Crawl" that came out the same year (although it stalled at No. 78).

"Come Go With Me" was a million-seller by one of the first integrated doo-wop groups in 1957. The Quotations weren't as successful with their doo-wop version of the pop standard "Imagination," which didn't crack the Top 40. The most successful doo-wop song included here was the Elegant's "Little Star," which topped the charts in 1958. [Note: Unlike volumes 1-5, which struck more of a balance between the late-Fifties and early-Sixties songs, all but a handful of these were released in the fifties on volume 6.]

Other hits include the Royal Teens' "Short Shorts," perhaps best known for featuring future Four Season's member Bob Gaudio, who wrote their first hit "Sherry" and co-wrote many of their biggest hits of the Sixties.

A surprise is the inclusion of Ricky Nelson's second hit, the Fats Domino cover of "I'm Walkin'." The surprise is that ACE tends to include only artists with one or two hits (two dozen of these acts didn't have more than one Top 40 hit), and Nelson charted 36 times, making him the most chart active artist on the first six volumes of this series.

Highlights (and there are many) include Johnny Ace's "Pledging My Love," a song that charted in 1955 two months after Ace tragically died on Christmas Eve while playing Russian Roulette. Then there's former Domino and Drifter Clyde McPhatter's plaintive "Lover Please." And the Rivington's original version of "Papa-oom-mow-mow" from 1962. It would do no better than No. 48, but two years later, the Trashment would take this song and the Rivington's other most memorable song, "The Bird Is the Word," rename it "Surfin' Bird" and take it to No. 4.

By itself, this volume is not as strong as the first three, but as a total series package it's unbeatable. If you love early rock and roll, be sure to add this volume to your collection. RECOMMENDED

(I want to get the set before it's out of print!) I've been buying oldies compilations for ten years, and haven't seen a series with this much tough-to-find music in decent sound. It almost seems Ace reverse-engineered the series by researching old chart info looking for hits that nobody else was offering. These guys also did a LOT of homework, digging up everything you'd ever care to know about every track. "Tall Cool One", "Itchy Twichy Feeling", and (the original) "Lollipop" sold me on this CD, and "Hard Times(The Slop)", "I Wonder (If Your Love Will Ever Belong To Me", and "Hide And Go Seek (part 1)" were nice surprises for someone who's never heard them before. The only dim spot (they admit it themselves!) is "The Shape I'm In", which is a textbook example of what happens when marketing experts at big record companies are allowed to make decisions for the A&R department. File under Teen Idol/Payola. Listen once through and not again. But the twenty-nine tracks I don't skip were definitely worth the price. Keep 'em coming!

I love it! One of the selections here, "Real Wild Child" by Ivan, is very hard to find on a 45 -- and hence expensive. But here it is -- along with "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow", by the Rivingtons; "Priscilla", by Eddie Cooley and the Dimples; "At My Front Door", by the El Dorados -- and many more! All original recordings. A great addition to any rock 'n' roll collection!

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 Records of England can't be beat when it comes to these compilations. Continuing their stride with another massive 30-track gathering of top-100 American pre-British invasion charters, volume six presents enough familiar tunes to keep the casual listener engaged while providing another chunk of rarely, if ever found on CD, minor hits from the era, all in the best possible sound.

A whole batch of new-on-CD tunes crops up here providing discovery for the casual listener and great finds for the more avid collector. Here you find the Crickets' drummer, Jerry Ivan Allison's "Real Wild Child", the Quotations' quasi-novelty "Imagination" (tough to sing along with but fun when you master it), the "Broken Hearted Melody"-sounding "I Wonder" from the Pentagons and Coasters wanna-bes the Sevelles' "Charlena". Some fairly successful 45's that have been totally ignored by other compilers see the digital light of day here - Eddie Cooley's "Priscilla" and Ronald and Ruby's demo version of "Lollipop", overshadowed by the Chordettes' polished version.

As with other volumes in the series, Ace only commits to these tracks when they can secure solid sound sources for them. While most are in mono (10,14,16,30 are in stereo), the sound is clean and unsupressed giving new life to many of these tracks. Besides the usual massive track info, this volume's liner notes are introduced by a fascinating glimpse into the musical attitude of the time by way of an extract from a 1957 Time Magazine article debating the demise of rock and roll as the teenager's music du jour.

With this sixth volume in their outstanding series, Ace continues to prove who's the boss when it comes to mining the vaults of early American rock and roll.

If you've read the reviews of the first couple of volumes in this series from Ace Of London you can see that its held in very high esteem by all concerned.

The liner notes, which includes an article from the November 4, 1957 edition of Time Magazine debunking the theory that R&R was dead, provide some fascinating insight into the times. When, for example, the Ronald & Ruby version of Lollipop became a hit, RCA had a problem on their hands when it came to live promotion. Ronald Gumbs was a young black man and "Ruby" was really Beverly Ross, co-author of the tune and a white 19-year-old. A black girl was quickly recruited. Ross also wrote Dim Dim The Lights for Bill Haley, Judy's Turn To Cry for Leslie Gore, and Candy Man for Roy Orbison.

When Jerry Ivan Allison, the drummer in The Crickets, cut Real Wild Child he claimed he was trying to sound like Jimmy Cagney. Instead he comes off like a demented Elmer Fudd - but it worked as the record made it to # 68 in September 1958 with Buddy Holly on lead guitar and The Roses providing backing vocals. Buddy, in fact, was aghast that they even released it.

John Fred's 1959 hit [# 82] with Shirley would be it for eight long years until he scored in 1967 with Judy In Disguise (With Glasses), by which time he was billed as John Fred & His Playboy Band.

This is the kind of information you get in the insert to go along with some of the most difficult to find hits of that era - such as tracks 1], 4], 8], 9], 10], 13], 17], 21], 22], 23], 24], 27], and 29].

Ace puts all but a few to shame with their attention to detail and meticulous sound reproduction. Truly a golden series.

This one is as good as any of the others in the whole Golden Age series from ACE.

Scene: Prompted by the cover photograph, the memory cover photograph, which grace each CD in this The Golden Age Of American Rock `n' Roll series. The golden age of the automobile meets the golden age of <em>al fresco</em> dining, okay, okay pre-Big Mac dining. Sorry, I got carried away. And once I have put automobile and teen dining out together all that needs to be added is that Eddie is out, out once again, with his ever lovin' Ginny in the Clintondale 1950s be-bop teen night, having a little something to eat after a hard teen dance and a bout of down in the Adamsville beach "submarine race" watching night.

"Two hamburgers, all the trimmings, two fries, two Cokes, Sissy," rasped half-whispering Eddie Connell to Adventure Car Hop primo car hop (and ex-Eddie girlfriend back in junior high days when he learned a thing or two about girls, about girl charms and girl bewilderments), Sissy Jordan. For those who know not of Adventure Car Hops or car hops in general here is a quick primer. Adventure Car Hop is nothing but a old time drive-in restaurant where the car hop takes your order from you while you are sitting in your "boss" car (hopefully boss car, although the lot this night is filled with dads' borrowed cars, strictly not boss, not boss at all) with your "boss" girl ( you had better call her that or next week she will be somebody else's boss honey) personally and returns after, well, depends on how busy it is, and right now this in Adventure Car Hop busy time, with your order.

Now Sissy, a little older than most Clintondale car hops at twenty-two, is really nothing but a career waitress, a foxy one still, but a career waitress which is all a car hop really is. Except most are "slumming" through senior-hood at Clintondale High or some local college and are just trying to make some extra money for this and that while being beautiful. Because, and there is no scientific proof for this, but none is needed in any case, at Adventure Car Hop in the year 1962 every car hop is a fox (that beautiful just mentioned), a double fox on some nights, in their short shorts, tight blouses, and funny-shaped box hats.

And in the 1962 teen be-bop night, the teen be-bop Friday or Saturday night those foxes are magnets for every guy with a car, fathers' car or not, without girls hoping against hope for a moment with one said car hop, and guys with girls who are looking to show off their girls, foxier even than the car hops if that is possible and usually isn't although do not under any conditions let them know that, and, more importantly, their boss cars. And playing, playing loudly for all to hear their souped-up car radio complexes, turned nightly in rock heaven's WJDA, the radio station choice of every teen under the age of twenty-one. And right now on Eddie's super-duplex speaker combo The Dell-Vikings are singing their hit, Black Slacks and some walkers (yes, some guys and girls, some lame guys and girls, walk to Adventure to grab something to eat after the Clintondale Majestic Theater lets out. They, of course, eat at the thoughtfully provided picnic tables although their orders are still taken by Sissy's brigade) are crooning along to the tune. Nicely, although they are still nothing but lamos in the teen night social order.

But, getting back to Eddie and Ginny, see Sissy knows something that you and I don't know just by the way Eddie placed his order as The Falcon's doo wop serenade, Your So Fine, blares away from his radio in the Clintondale teen night. Sissy knows because, being a fox she has had plenty of experience (including with Eddie in the days, the junior high days when she and Eddie were nothing but walkers) that Eddie and Ginny (who was nothing but a stick when Eddie and she were an item, a stick being a girl, a twelve or thirteen year old junior high school girl with no shape, unlike say Sissy who did have a shape, although no question, no question even to Sissy Ginny has a shape now, not as good as her's but a shape good enough to keep Eddie snagged) have been "doing it" after the spending the early evening at the Surf, the lock rock dance hall for those over twenty-one (and where is liquor is served). The tip-off: Eddie's request for all the trimmings on his hamburgers. All the trimmings in this case being mustard, ketchup, pickles, lettuce, and here is the clincher, onions. Yes, Eddie and Ginny are done with love's chores for the evening and can now revert to primal culinary needs without rancor, or concern.

Sissy had to laugh at how ritualized (although she would never use such a word herself to describe what was going on) the teen night life was in Clintondale (and really just slightly older teens like the clients of the Surf rock club, Eddie and Ginny, who learned the ropes at Adventure Car Hop way back when). If a couple came early, say eight o'clock they never ordered onions, no way, the night still held too much promise. The walkers, well, the walkers you couldn't tell, especially the young walkers like she and Eddie in the old days, but usually they didn't have enough sense to say "no onions." And then there were the Eddies and Ginnys floating in around two, or three in the morning, done (and you know what done is now), starving, maybe a little drunk and ready to devour Benny's (the owner of Adventure) cardboard hamburgers, deep-fried, fat-saturated French fries, and diluted soda (known locally as tonic, go figure) as long as those burgers had onions, many onions on them. And as we turn off this scene to the strains of Johnny Ace crooning Pledging My Love on Eddie's car radio competing just now with a car further over with The Elegants' Little Star Sissy has just place the car tray on Eddie's side of the car and brought the order and placed it on the tray, with all the trimmings.