Customer Reviews

The Golden Age of American Popular Music: Hits with Strings and Things - Hot 100 Instrumentals from 1956-1967

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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I ordered this CD based on just a handful of the songs it contained; however, upon playing it, I found that almost all of these are not only familiar, but near and dear to my heart. Growing up in the 60s, and listening to MOR radio, I became acquainted with popular music through these songs. Having so many of them available on one CD is a real treat. I was pleasantly surprised by the thick booklet and extensive, informative liner notes, not to mention the great sound - a restoration expert is listed in the credits. A great deal of care obviously went into the preparation of this package, and I can recommend it without reservation.

Ace Records' (of the U.K.!) Golden Age of American Popular/Rock 'n' Roll Music series remains unchallenged as the best compilation series of early rock-era American pop music! With the addition of this new family member of orchestral and pop instrumental hits, the lead over the competition grows even wider.

By the late 50's, the advent of rock and roll turned the music recording business upside down. The new music-buying generation traded in, en masse, the hand-me-down veteran performers and their label companies of the post-war era for the new kids in town - the Presleys, the Lymons, the Platters and all their wanna-bes. All was not lost by the establishment however, as the orchestral instrumental format held onto their audience, helped in part by the advent of stereo, a new technology requiring more than just a juke box or portable record player. In a nod to the considerable presence of these tracks on the top-100 charts of the era, Ace gathers up an extraordinary collection of these iconic tunes on one CD.

Many like-minded compilation CD's have come and gone during the CD era but one is very hard pressed to find a finer accomplishment than that found here. A massive 28 tracks are included, with many well-known top-10 charting tunes spanning the decade from Hugo Winterhalter's "Canadian Sunset" in 1956 to 1967's chart-topping "Love Is Blue", courtesy of Paul Mauriat. Though one may be inclined to pigeon-hole the tunes that would make up a collection such as this one, these are not merely a bunch of elevator music sound-alikes. Musical styles run the gamut from the Village Stompers' Dixielandesque "Washington Square" to Henry Mancini's "Moon River". The Bossa Nova-styled "Fly Me to the Moon", the quirky "Dis-Advantages of You", the bouncy "Java" and the ethereal "Enchanted Sea" all keep company with the epitomical "Theme from a Summer Place". While the many familiar tunes here broaden the appeal of this collection, it reaches across the table, as has all the entries in the "Golden Age" series, to the hard-nosed collector of the hard-to-find singles yet to be available on legitimate CD. Rare and new-to-CD gems come by way of Frank Slay's "Flying Circle", "Beautiful Obsession from Sir Chauncey (Ernie Freeman, actually), Monty Kelly's "Summer Set" and H. B. Barnum's one-off modest hit "Lost Love".

Beyond the incredible track selection, Ace lives up to its reputation with outstanding production efforts. Sound quality is top-notch with most of the tracks appearing in full stereo, the exceptions being 7,8,19-21 and 25. And the enjoyment doesn't end with the music here as every track on the CD gets its story told in the well-illustrated 28-page liner notes booklet.

This new installment continues the legacy of Ace's "Golden Age" series in extraordinary fashion. This title deserves a prominent place in any CD collection of the genre.

You never know what to expect from these old-time music compilations. Sometimes them music has been rerecorded. usually to bad effect. But listen folks-this is the REAL DEAL. These instrumental gems all sound vibrant and alive. Of course, you get Henry Mancini's MOON RIVER, Lawrence Welk's big No. 1 hit CALCUTTA, and Bill Purcell's melancholy yet beautiful tune OUR WINTER LOVE. But this 28-track single disc set also includes some real rarities like SUMMER SAMBA by Walter Wanderly, SOUL COAXING by Raymond Lefevre, and MUSIC TO WATCH GIRLS BY from the Bob Crewe Generation. This set is jam-packed with familar and non-familar gems. Some songs I never heard before, but there were some nice surprises. A few times I found myself saying out loud, "Oh yeah, I remember that." Truly, truly worth it. A real find!

I bought this disc from the recommendation of a DJ after hearing "A Walk Through the Black Forest" on the radio. There are a lot of old instrumentals I remember hearing when I was a kid, but there are a few clunkers that don't really belong with the rest. Overall a good listen. If you were a kid in the 60's, you'll remember most of these.

I initially bought this CD to get a couple of instrumentals that are very hard to find. While enjoying these, some of the more obscure ones are equally good: Money well spent.

Hit singles in the form of orchestral instrumentals have been around since records were invented, and in this superb volume courtesy of the best in the business when it comes to oldies, Ace of London, from their series The Golden Age Of American Popular Music, you get 28 which reached their heights on the charts from 1956 to 1968.

Among them are 8 legitimate One-Hit Wonders, starting off with More by Kai Winding & His Orchestra from the Italian documentary film Mono Cane. In July 1963 it hit # 2 Adult Contemporary (AC)/# 8 Pop, beating out a vocal rendition by Vic Dana (# 10 AC/# 42 Pop). That same year pianist Bill Pursell, who once taught music composition at Vanderbilt University, had his rendition of Our Winter Love reach # 4 AC/# 9 Pop/# 20 R&B in March.

In 1961 the man who wrote and produced most of Freddy Cannon's hits, and who also wrote Silhouettes and La Dee Dah, Frank Slay, led his orchestra in an adaptation of the Jewish harvest song, Hava Nagila, called The Flying Circle, and had it peak at # 45 Pop in January 1962. On the charts around the same time was the minor hit Image (Part 1) by Hank Levine & His Orchestra which struggled to a # 98 Pop in October 1961. Levine also directed the studio band called The Miniature Men who did marginally better with their version of Baby Elephant Walk (# 87 Pop in June 1962) from the film Hatari. Composed by Henry Mancini, it was a much bigger # 10 AC/# 48 Pop hit for Lawrence Welk in August.

Another 1961 One-Hit Wonder was pianist H.B. Barnum whose Lost Love topped out at # 35 Pop in February. The year before, as part of The Dyna-Sores, he'd been part of a # 59 Pop hit with Alley Oop. In 1959 the duo known as The Islanders (guitarist Randy Starr and accordionist Frank Metis) came up with a # 15 Pop version of The Enchanted Sea, beating out the rendition by The Exotic Sounds Of Martin Denny (# 28). Starr earlier had a hit on his own in 1957 with After School. The last One-Hit Wonder here is Monty Kelly & His Orchestra. The one-time trumpeter with the Paul Whiteman band in the 1940s had a # 30 Pop hit in 1960 with Summer Set, a tune co-written by Mr. Acker Bilk.

The remainder represented here each had two or more hits, fully detailed in the 27-page booklet put together in 2009 by Rob Finnis. There is also a full discography of the contents (Billboard Pop Hot 100 charts only) on the reverse of the jewel case. As is usual with Ace products, the notes are accompanied by many vintage photos and poster/record reproductions. A musical history with full, magnificent sound reproduction.

Every song is a 60's memory. I had been trying to recall an instrumental number, searching every album on Amazon I could think of. When one day, Eureka! there it was: Soul Coaxing (Amy Caline) by Raymond Lefevre. I highly recommend this.

If you were a kid in the late '50s and '60s and remember music on your parents' living room console stereo before the Beatles and British Invasion hit, you'll love this. You may love it anyway. My 27-year-old daughter does. This LP was a winner even before I received it just for the Bill Pursell, Bent Fabric, Horst Jankowski, Lawrence Welk, Raymond Lefevre and Percy Faith tracks alone. I also knew I'd like at least another dozen of the tracks when I received it. I do - and they're great memory tunes as well. Just buy it. You will not be disappointed.

I love oldies, from good rock and roll, to that often dreamy 60s style, that so famously got destroyed with JFK's assassination and/or the Beatles' invasion of pop. And, of course, instrumentals. Nice to see Ace also compiled a Cd with only instrumental tracks, as they are often overlooked. As I have already many instrumental Cd's, why buy this one from Ace? Simple: ACE is the best of the best, only equaled sometimes by Eric Records. So that is why I have almost all ACE compilation Cd's. What makes this label stand out?
1) Every single compilation they release lives up to the title, because the songs really represent what the Cd cover states. We all know that wonderful feeling to hear a song again we were looking for, or hear something new but wonderful, thinking; yes this is exactly what I hoped this Cd would contain. Ace has given me that listening enjoyment on every compilation I have bought from them.
2) You get truly rare songs, some never before issued on Cd.
3) There are always many tracks on the CD, unlike Time Life or Rhino or some other reissue labels, that give you 58 minutes or so.
4) All tracks are in good, to best, sound quality.
5) And then last but not least the booklet, that is the best I have seen anywhere: packed with background information about the style of that particular music, the artists, the particular tracks.
This Cd was no exception, great. Ace is where you should look first.

Another great collection from Ace Records of England. A few must of have more popular there then here. I would have substituted those few with more popular ones that were hits here. I had been searching for the Kai Winding recording of More which is the first tune on this cd. I wish Colectors Choice Music or Collectable Records (Oldies. Com) would issue the entire Verve Lp of Kai Winding's More From Mondo Cane on cd.