Customer Reviews

The Golden Age of American Rock 'N' Roll: Special Novelty Edition

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After ten outstanding volumes in their "Golden Age Of American Rock and Roll" series, much to the chagrin of collectors, Ace pulled the plug on the series. However, they have continued to please us die-hard collectors and casual listeners alike with the likes of their "Country Edition" based on the "Golden Age" discs and now, with this "Novelty Edition".

Novelty compilations abound in the CD reissue marketplace but in Ace's true fashion, while including some of the ubiquitous tunes, here are found several rarely-seen ones along with some first-timers to legitimate CD such as Spencer and Spencer's "Russian Band Stand" and the Dyna-Sores' version of "Alley Oop". All told, within the massive 30 tracks total, there are 12 tunes from the top-ten, six from the top-20 and the remaining 12 coming from the lower reaches of the top-100 charts. With this kind of mix, the appeal here is to both the casual listener and avid collector alike.

And, as we have come to expect from Ace, these tracks have been mastered from the best sources available, so sound quality is as good as you'll find for these vintage tunes. Nine of the tracks (2-4,16,17,20-22,30) appear in stereo with the remainder in mono. Finishing off the piece is a massive 32-page booklet with lots of interesting and eye-opening tidbits on each of the included tracks.

Ace has once again proved who is king of the reissue when it comes to golden-age American rock 'n' roll. No real collection should be without this. In a word, outstanding.

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! This is especially true for this collection with many cheerful, sometimes ironic tracks! Amazing!
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.

The series of "Golden Age of American Rock & Roll" released by
ACE couldn't have a better end. During the past 15 years they
have delighted us with a series of 10 CD's with 30 songs each
remembering the Rock & Roll era mostly with minor top hits between 1954 and 1963. One reason for their tremendous success
is the superb quality of all the recordings no matter from
what year the original song was. Now besides these series of 10
CD's from the R&R era they have launched another 2 special
editions with the same title: one with the special novelty
edition and another with the special country edition. Both
deserve more than 5 stars.
The song selection on the novelty edition is just out of sight!
Most of the songs brought back memories from a long long time
ago since these weren't available after the time they were
top hits. I never found them back on what compilation so ever
until ACE put them all together 45 years later. And with a
sound quality better than in their original version on 45rpm.
Therefore don't hesitate. Buy it together with the country
edition and you will have 60 songs for utmost pleasure; 60
songs we grew up with and now with no scratches on them.

HERE A VERY FUNNY ALBUM.YES SOME SONGS ARE ON OTHER ALBUMS,BUT THE BULK ARE OBSCURE AND WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH HISTERICALLY.YOU HAVE 30 TRACKS.ALL ARE ORIGINAL HITS.YOU CAN FIND THE TRACK LISTING AND SOUND CLIPS IF AVAIABLE,IN THE PRODUCT IMFORMATION SECTION.BUY THIS DISC, YOU CANNOT GO WRONG. !!!ENJOY!!!

This is a valuable compilation for those of us who grew up in the golden age of pop music. Some of these numbers are still clever,but others seem downright foolish nowadays. Funny how novelties were once so hot. This is a wonderful overview of this kind of item. Some of the numbers are real finds. I think those of us who are "of a certain age" will laugh, cry, and groan ! It would be fun to play this for younger people and get their reactions !

This is a great nostalgia item. There are songs here from when I was a kid and it was fun to hear them again

This album from Ace of London presents many of the same novelty tunes found on the CD "A Novelty Experience," but in this case you also get their usual copious liner notes [none in the other CD] and a discography of the contents.

Many of the selections are readily available on numerous other compilations [e.g, Mr. Bass Man, Baby Sittin' Boogie, Mr. Custer, Beep Beep, Purple People Eater, and Witch Doctor], but even in those cases you have to be careful as often they are not the original versions. All of the tracks in this set are originals, and the sound quality is, as usual, excellent.

A full 12 of the tracks [1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 18, 19, 26, 28, and 30] are by bona-fide "one-hit wonders" [not more than one on the Billboard Hot 100], and mixed in are some rarities like I Want My Baby Back by Jimmy Cross. Once voted as the most gross record of its time, this was a take-off on the teen disaster songs of the day like Teen Angel and Tell Laura I Love Her by the host of the syndicated radio series Country Concert, and tells how the "hero" gathers up the pieces of his girlfriend after an auto accident. It made it to # 92 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in 1965.

Another is Ambrose (Part 5) (there never were Parts 1 to 4) by Linda Laurie about a pair strolling through the New York City subway system while she jabbers incessantly. In reality Linda Gertz, she is better remembered as the author of the songs Delta Dawn and Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress), both hits for Helen Reddy.

Two more rarities are Psycho and Alley Oop by The Dyna-Sores. The former is a duet with Bobby Hendricks (Itchy Twitchy Feeling) and New York DJ Dr. Jive, who portrays a psychiatrist analyzing a whacko, while The Dyna-Sores' rendition of Alley Oop is the hardest to find of the three hit versions from 1960. Most of the time you will see either the one by The Hollywood Argyles (# 1) or Dante & The Evergreens (# 15), and so it's nice to see this # 59 hit re-released at last. The group included H.B. Barnum (Lost Love from 1961) and Jimmy Norman (I Don't Love You No More from 1962).

Jim Backus {Mr. Magoo) and Friend will get you to chuckling on Delicious as they indulge in some booze, as will Bob McFadden & Dor (Rod McKuen) with The Mummy - "eee eee eee eee eee eee ... I'm a mummy - aaaahhhhh" - but you'll be left wondering how Russian Band Stand ever made the charts [# 91 in 1959). In reality Spencer & Spencer were Dickie Goodman [who, with Bill Buchanan, also does The Flying Saucer] and Mickey Shorr, and this one is just plain idiotic. A better choice would have been Part 2 of The Flying Saucer.

Even so, a volume worth having if only for the liner notes and reproductions.

this cd is excellent. ape call by nervous norvor is funny. so is delicious by jim backus.and kookie kookie lend me your comb by edd byrnes and connie stevens.not to mention baby sittin boogie by buzz clifford. and the flying saucer by buchanan and goodman even though they only had part one. there was also witch doctor by david seville and the purple people eater by sheb wooley.and of course theyre coming to take me away ha ha by napoleonxiv. i could go on. as i said this is an excellent cd.

If your growing-up, school-years are between 1955 and 1965 this is a "must have" CD. There isn't a selection on this CD that I don't remember and which brought back many memories of walking to school and singing these "fun" songs with my friends. Get ready...get set...RETRO!

I came across this product because I was tracking down one particular song. I found it in this collection, (Ambrose Part 5). I might have bought this CD for that reason alone, but the fact is that there are many other tracks that are fun and memorable. Yes, some songs I could live without, but with so many to choose from, (30 in all), it's easy to overlook the duds. What constitutes a dud? With a collection like this, it's all subjective.

The highlights for me are "Beep Beep", "The Leader of the Laundromat", and "Ambrose Part 5". About the latter: There were no Ambroses parts 1-4. It came out in 1958; I vaguely remember it being performed on American Bandstand. It's an odd piece, bordering on the existential, definitely ahead of its time.

A major selling point for this collection is the accompanying booklet which is loaded with surprising factoids. Did you know that Dave Seville appeared in "Rear Window" and "Stalag 17"? Overall, there is much to recommend the collection.