Customer Reviews

Hard To Find 45s on CD: Vol. 3: The Mid Fifties

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

 

 

I have been collecting oldies for the past 30 years and ordering them from all over the world. I would even buy a whole CD just for one single song I want. Most compilation CDs contain the same old selections of songs over and over again. This CD is a real gem as it not only contain one or two rare hits of the past but a number of them and they are all in very good quality. I have been searching for the original "Banana Boat Song" for ages and without success until I found this CD. The Tarriers's version is the original hit version and was released before the slightly different very popular Harry Belafonte version. This is the first time I have heard the version of "Cindy Oh Cindy" by Vince Martin & the Tarriers which was included here and I like it even more than the original Eddie Fisher's version. The Children's Marching Song" from the movie "Inn Of Six Happiness" is another rare hit never been available on CD before as far as I know.It is available here in living stereo. I was very excited to see "Rainbow" being included in this collection. Russ Hamilton who sang and wrote this song is the very first Liverpool artist to have a big hit in the US way before the Beatles. Unfortunately, his songs are now all very difficult to find. His songs are often accommpanied by very unique and advance acoustic guitar sound and lead. I met Russ recently in Wales, UK. He is a very friendly and extremely nice man and is still writing songs. Other hard to find songs which make this CD especially great are hard to find songs like "Little Thing Means A Lot", "It's Almost Tomorrow", "Yellow Rose Of Texas", "Band Of Gold", "Marianne" and "I'm Gonna Sit Right here and write myself a letter". With 20 good quality rarities, this cd must be one of the best buy and will really take you down sweet memory lane. One rare 50s song which I am hunting high and low for is "Paper Roses" by Lola Dee. It is not the same song as that sung by Anita Bryant. Hope somebody will make this available also.

To add to the other reviews, Eric apparently found a pristine first-generation master of the Banana Boat Song. Prior to acquiring this CD I had assumed that the original tape must have been damaged. Why? Because on Rhino's Troubadours of the Folk Era Volume III the song exhibits numerous crackles and pops. Not here, however. Flawless quality.

Yes, Freddy had heard it wafting through the house, through the Jackson household as background music back in the early 1950s. He knew he had heard folk music before when June ("June Bug" when they were younger back in Clintondale Elementary days but that term no longer held sway now that they were high school juniors, and she had not been his June bug for a while, now being Rick Roberts' june bug) asked him whether he had heard much folk music before Bob Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind had hit town and had bowled all the hip kids, or those who wanted to be hip (or beat, depending on your crowd) over.

Yes, now that thought of it, he remembered having more than one fight, well not really a fight, but an argument with either Frank Jackson, dad, or Maria Jackson (nee Riley), ma, whenever they turned over the local (and only local) radio station, WJDA, to listen to their latest, greatest hits of World War II, World War II, squareville cubed, even then when he was nothing but a music-hungry kid. You know that old time Frank Sinatra Stormy Weather, Harry James orchestra I'll Be Home, Andrews Sisters doing some cutesy bugle boy thing, or the Ink Spots harmonizing on I'll Get By (which was at least passable). Yes, squaresville, cubed, no doubt. And all Freddie, and every other kid, even non-hip, non-beat kids, in Clintondale was crazy for was a jail-break once in a while-Elvis, Chuck, Bo, Little Richard, Jerry Lee anybody under the age of a million who knew how to rock the house, how to be-bop, and if not that at least to bop-bop. He lost that fight, well, lost part of it. In the end, after hassling Frank and Maria endlessly for dough to go buy 45s, they finally, finally bought him a transistor radio with a year's (they thought) supply of batteries down at the local (and only) Radio Shack.

But he had lost in the big event because if they weren't listening to that old time pirate music they were swinging and swaying to stuff like Lonnie Donegan trebling on Rock Island Line making a fool of what Lead Belly was trying to do with that song, Vince Martin and friends, harmonizing on Cindy, Oh Cindy in the martini cocktail hour breezes, The Tarriers try to be-bop the Banana Boat Song at the ball, Terry Gilkyson and friends making a pitch, a no-hit pitch, to Marianne, and Russ Hamilton blasting the girlfriend world to the first floor rafters with Rainbow. Squaresville, cubed. And you wonder why when rusty-throated Bob Dylan came like a hurricane onto the scene with Blowin' In The Wind and The Times They Are A Changin', angel-voiced Joan Baez covering his With God On Our Side, or even gravelly-throated Dave Van Ronk covering House Of The Rising Sun or Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies we finally go that pardon we were fighting for all along. Enough of folk musak.

This collection has some of the hardest to find songs of the mid 1950s. Some favorites of mine, like the Dream Weavers' "It's Almost Tomorrow" and Betty Johnson's "I Dreamed" are here. (One thing that probably does not belong is Doris Day's "Everybody Loves a Lover" -- this is not really that hard to find. But hey! I'm a Doris Day fan!) Almost everything on here was a hit, though, and almost everything is really hard to find. So if mid-50s non-rock music is your thing, as it is mine, you need this CD.

I just wish this collection included a similar one on the early '50's.

Eric Records, the super little reissue label, brings to market this collection of gems from the transitional music era of the 50's. Before rock and roll shook up the teenage world and took over the airwaves on a.m., the music of the 50's, while often considered bland, innocent, and without any true excitement, was peppered with many a great tune. This CD presents the opportunity to experience a choice selection of them.

Although all but one of these tracks were top-20 tunes, they are seldom heard on "oldies" radio and are rare as hens' teeth in the CD market. Besides the mainstream vocal performances of the era there are tunes representing some of the musical currents that ran through music of the time. Part of the calypso craze was the Terriers' "Banana Boat Song", soon to be trumped by Harry Belafonte's version. The Easy Riders with Terry Gilkyson's "Marianne" was part of the folk-influenced vein of music taken up later by the likes of the Kingston Trio and others. Among the other interesting selections here are Cyril Stapleton's "Children's Marching Song", the version that gave Mitch Miller's version a run for the money up the charts in '59. Finishing up the disc is Doris Day's big hit swan song, "Everybody Loves A Lover" (in first-time stereo), the tune later covered by the Shirelles to become a genuine rock and roll-era hit.

With most of these tracks coming from the pre-stereo era, they, as would be expected, appear in mono, mostly in very clean, full-frequency fidelity. Stapleton's "Children's..." and as noted above, Day's "Everybody..." are the two tunes to appear in stereo. Great background notes on the included tracks appear in the eight-page liner notes booklet.

Eric has done a superb job representing the music of the innocent decade in this disc. It isn't done better anywhere else.

All too often, the emphasis of rock and roll's emergence in the middle 1950s has caused CD compilers to all but overlook the "other" great music of the period. Many outstanding 45s from pop vocalists and groups have been ignored if not in the rock genre; thus, it's about time some of these performances had a home of their own! In this carefully researched and mastered Eric 20-track package, many of these hard to find tracks appear for the first time-with great advantage for the listener! Without exception, they never sounded so good.

Three dynamic ballads begin the show with "Little Things Mean A Lot"/Kitty Kallen, "Here In My Heart"/Al Martino, and "Walk Hand In Hand"/Tony Martin, and the great songs keep on coming. Very important, trend-setting titles are here as well such as Lonnie Donegan's "Rock Island Line," the English record that started the skiffle craze in the UK, which was a major influence on the Beatles and the other British Invaders that would take over the charts some 10 years later. Calypso and folk trends are represented by the delightful "Marianne"/Terry Gilkyson, and two Vince Martin & The Tarriers hits "Cindy, Oh Cindy," and "The Banana Boat Song." Besides Donegan's English hit, two other British singles that crossed the waters and gained fame are included with the nostalgically pretty "Rainbow"/Russ Hamilton and the rousing Cyril Stapleton version of "The Children's Marching Song," presented in stereo and a much better rendition than the American version from Mitch Miller.

Speaking of Miller, no look at this era would be complete without some sides from his A&R reign at Columbia/Epic. Many 45s with that "big sound" from the CBS archives are included such as "Band Of Gold"/Don Cherry, "Shangri-La"/Four Coins, "Miracle Of Love"/Eileen Rodgers, "Moonlight Gambler"/Frankie Laine, and Miller's own #1 hit "The Yellow Rose Of Texas."

On a serious note, two frequently overlooked but great recordings make nice entries here with the delicately anxious "It's Almost Tomorrow"/Dream Weavers and the emotional "Bon Voyage"/Janice Harper. If the mood gets a little somber, things lighten up with the playfully whimsical "It's A Sin To Tell A Lie"/Somethin' Smith & The Redheads and the catchy and just plain fun "I Dreamed"/Betty Johnson. As a wonderful finale, a newly mixed and very punchy first time stereo version of Doris Day's "Everybody Loves A Lover" concludes this exciting package.

This vol. # 3 is the worst of the set... It really deserved a 1 rating - The only reason to buy it would be to have a complete set... Or to have that one song you want. If you think I am kidding, you be the judge - You can listen to it here at Amazon . com