Customer Reviews

The Golden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll, Volume 7: Hot 100 Hits From 1954-1963

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The Golden Age Of American Rock & Roll, Vol. 7 is a wonderful installment in a fine CD series looking back at great rock and roll music. The sound quality couldn't be better--and how's about that awesome artwork?

The Monotones kick things off with their rather famous hit entitled "Book Of Love." They harmonize very well and the percussion is strong but very useful at marking the major beats to this tune. I really like "Book Of Love." Dale Hawkins also performs his "Susie-Q;" this is one number that jams! "Susie-Q" also features Dale Hawkins singing with all his might and it works--this is another awesome tune. Listen also for Ernie K-Doe to playfully poke fun at the stereotypical mother-in-law with his hit simply called "Mother-In-Law." The melody is very cool and I always enjoyed "Mother-In-Law."

Frankie Ford lends his hands to this album with his tune "Sea Cruise." "Sea Cruise" is a fun, somewhat campy little number that always makes me smile. Frankie never sounded better either! "To Be Loved (Forever)" is a tender, passionate love ballad by The Pentagons; The Pentagons deliver this with great sensitivity and this impresses me a lot. Listen also for Vito & The Salutations to do a mighty fine rendition of "Unchained Melody." "Unchained Melody" is truly a highlight of this fine album.

The Viscounts perform an awesome instrumental called "Harlem Nocturne;" this is beautiful and it will haunt you with its bewitching melody. That's some horn solo on "Harlem Nocturne," too! The Flares also do an outstanding job on "Foot Stomping;" they never miss a beat and this is great music for dancing even today!

"Money (That's What I Want)" is an excellent tune by Barrett Strong; he sings this with a female backup chorus to bolster his performance; and the musical interlude really jams hard! I always enjoyed "Money (That's What I Want);" and this version by Barrett Strong has forever been my very favorite. The Bobbettes also do a fine rendition of "Mr. Lee;" this is yet another 1950s song that I always liked and The Bobbettes do this one up right! The melody is also very well written.

"Hushabye" by The Mystics is a beautiful number that gets a doo wop/rock and roll treatment to enhance the natural beauty of this ballad; and it all holds its own very well. The Miracles sing so well on the original release of "Shop Around;" this was later performed by Captain & Tennille in the 1970s. The album ends well with The Kendall Sisters performing their hit "Yea, Yea." This last tune has an incredible horn solo and it rocks well, too!

This is a must have for fans of early rock and roll. The thirty selections on this fine CD give you so much to enjoy; and that's wonderful. This is also one installment in a CD series that fans may want to explore by purchasing other CDs in this series.

Another eclectic--but terrific--collection of soul/pop/doo-wop/rockabilly that made up the pre-British Invasion (1954-1963) American rock and roll landscape. Like the previous volumes, ACE places the emphasis on the rare and obscure. In fact, many of these songs won't be found even in the most avid collector's music library. Of course there are the big hits like Ernie K-Doe's chart-topping "Mother-In-Law," the Monotones' doo-wop classic "Book of Love," Jimmy Clanton's lovely "Just a Dream" and the Miracles' first Motown hit "Shop Around."

But what sets this series apart from the rest, is its ability to rescue forgotten gems from obscurity. You get the Viscounts' haunting instrumental "Harlem Nocturne," which only made it to No. 52 in 1959. [It would be rereleased in 1966 and make the Top 40.] There's the doo-wop harmonies of the Five Keys' minor hit "Ling, Ting, Tong" and the Flares' "Foot Stomping, Part 1." Ritchie Valens' charged "Come On, Let's Go," which barely missed the Top 40 at No. 42. John Lennon cut his teeth on Barret Strong's "Money." Lennon also claims he used the riff from Bobby Parker's "Watch Your Step" for "Day Tripper."

And the 20-page booklet is full of photos and trivia on each of the artists and songs. Did you know that Chuck Willis's 1957 hit "C.C. Rider" was a 1925 hit for Ma Rainey as "See See Rider Blues"? "Sea Cruise" was recorded by Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns and then Smith's vocal was replaced with Frankie Ford's and it sold 30 million copies worldwide.

This is the most consistently solid early rock and roll series available and ACE continues to find strong material for each new volume. Don't be put off by your unfamiliarity with some of these tracks. In many cases I've found myself enjoying them just as much, if not more than the big hits. And where most labels would make this a two-disc set and charge you double the price, this is an amazing bargain. My advice? Buy this while you still can. RECOMMENDED

Every recording on this fabulous cd sounds better than they did when they were new. ACE is known for top quality recordings. This cd excells all other oldies packages. This is a must for any collector of early rock'n roll.

Ace Records of the U.K. triumphs with another exceptional issue in their "Golden Age of American Rock and Roll" series. Here are more hard-to-find gems of late 50's and early 60's American top-100 singles.

As usual, Ace has dug up the best tape sources for these tunes and the sound quality is exceptional for the vintage of these recordings. Tracks 18 and 25 appear in stereo with the remainder in mono. A 24-page booklet with pics, promo shots and lots of background on the included tracks accompanies the CD.

Ace continues to prove that they're on top when it comes to providing reissues/compilations of early American rock and roll.

Still another excellent CD in this series. This one has a couple of songs (I Like It Like That, Part 1, and Hushabye) recorded in stereo; the rest are mono recordings. As usual, the audio quality is excellent. The only minor complaint I have is that the enclosed booklet does not have the artist descriptions in the same order as the songs on the CD. (The booklet for Volume 8, for example, has the descriptions in order, so I don't understand why all of the volumes in this series don't have booklets printed in a similar fashion.)

Here I was thinking I had all 11 volumes (so far) of Ace's wonderful Golden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll, only to discover that volume 7 was not among them. At first I thought perhaps someone had "borrowed" it from my extensive collection, but then I found I had not submitted a review - so it's quite possible I simply overlooked it from the outset.

Well, I have it now and while, after reading Steve Vrana's review, there isn't a whole lot I can add to his excellent comments, I can offer up some personal observations that might interest someone. First off, the cover photo. That's from Joe Houston's 1956 Combo Records LP Rockin' At The Drivein, showing the Wild Man of the tenor sax himself wailing away in front of Scrivners Drive-In in L.A., while to his left, as you look at the photo, dances radio station K-Pop DJ Art Laboe. Unfortunately, Joe's only hit single came way back in 1952 - two years before the period covered in this series - when Worry, Worry, Worry reached # 10 R&B on Mercury 8248 (originally on Sphinx 122) b/w Hard Time Baby.

Steve Vrana also mentions some of the rare, hard-to-find cuts in this release to which I would add these (many of which would undoubtedly have gone higher on the charts had they been released by the larger labels - as the small companies had neither the necessary advertising/promotion funds at their disposal, nor the cash with which to grease certain palms during the height of Payola): Caterpillar Crawl by The Strangers on Titan; Unchained Melody by Vito & The Salutations on Herald; Clap Your Hands by the Montreal-based Beau-Marks on Shad; Sugar Bee by Cleveland Crochet & Band on Goldband with vocal by Jesse "Jay" Stutes; Daughter by The Blenders on Witch, and Yea Yea by The Kendall Sisters on Argo - and one much sought after by those whose collections center around the "Girl-Group" sound.

Steve and other reviewers also point out the excellent multi-page insert with liner notes written by Rob Finnis in 1998. As I say in another volume review in this series, having all 11 inserts to this point (along with those accompanying the many off-shoot releases such as the Folk Music, Bubbling Under, and Country volumes) is like having a book detailing the musical history of the era. Always fascinating and informative. Included are pictures of The Strangers, Ritchie Valens, The Flares, Viscounts, Bobbettes, Chuck Willis, The Mystics, Eugene Church, The Cascades, Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Ford, The Pentagons, Dale Hawkins, The Beau-Marks, Ernie K-Doe, The Emotions, The Miracles, Sonny Knight and Cleveland Crochet - some in studio, some from LP cover reproductions, and some from poster reproductions.

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.

This one is just as good as all the others in the Golden Age series from ACE.

What a wonderful collection of early rock & roll!! I am pleased with the quality and condition of the CD. It was delivered on time as promised

It was an okay compilation of oldies. I actually purchased it because of one song on it I had not been able to find on CDs' before hand. Some excellent music to dance to.