Jukebox Hits of 1957, Vol. 1

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 2, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jukebox Records
• ASIN: B00003CX2Q
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,264 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Love Letters in the Sand

2. Young Love

3. Diana

4. So Rare

5. A Teenager's Romance

6. Marianne

7. Come Go with Me

8. I'm Walkin'

9. Rainbow

10. Dark Moon

11. Fascination

12. Silhouettes

13. Raunchy

14. I'm Sorry

15. Stardust

16. Pledge of Love

17. Gonna Find Me a Bluebird

18. Sittin' in the Balcony

19. The Auctioneer

20. Young Wild Heart

See all 27 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 1957 Was a Great Year for Records and for Setting Records!, May 3, 2005

By 

d0740 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jukebox Hits of 1957, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Not only was 1957 a great year for a variety of songs that made number 1, but another record was set that year which has not been duplicated. As most of those who were around at the transition from pop music to rock and roll or have "non-revisionist" knowledge of the era know, it was a common practice for major labels to have one or more of their acts cover promising and breaking songs both in their category and in others. (Not only did the 3 classifications of music at the time, Pop, C&W, and R&B, cover other acts in their class but they covered acts in the other 2 classifications as well.) The various versions of a song competed for air play, sales, and chart ratings. Because chart ratings at that time were done by individual release rather than lumping all versions under one song, it was quite common to have several versions of a song rated in the top 30. For example, 6 versions of "Banana Boat Song/Day-O" were in the top 25, 3 of "Unchained Melody" in top 6 (long before the Righteous Brothers recorded it), 7 of "Mack the Knife/Moritat," 5 of "Melody of Love"...you get the picture!

Anyhow, to correct a previous reviewer who stated that Tab Hunter's version of "Young Love" was number 1 while Sonny James' version reached number 2, which has never been duplicated: there are 2 errors in that statement. First, Sonny James' version actually did hit number 1 for one week but was replaced at number 1 by Tab Hunter's version of the same song. After 6 weeks at number 1, Hunter's record was replaced at the top spot by Buddy Knox's "Party Doll," which only stayed there for 1 week. It was replaced at number 1 by Andy Williams' "Butterfly" which in turn was knocked out of the top spot by Charlie Gracie's version of "Butterfly. (Williams' was number 1 for 3 weeks while Gracie's was number 1 for 2 weeks.)

So, the actual record is not having a #1 and a #2 rating of the same song at the same time, which the reviewer said had never been duplicated, but it is having 2 versions of a song that replace each other at number 1. Second error by the reviewer: it WAS duplicated and with only 1 week separating the two songs
"Young Love" and "Butterfly." Now this feat has not been duplicated! Since that time, no other song has had 2 versions where one replaced the other at the top spot. (Yes, some songs have made the top spot more than once, "The Twist" and "Unchained Melody" for example, but that is a different matter altogether.)

The chart ratings used are Billboard's as listed in Joel Whitburn's book "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits." This book is an invaluable source of record info and is highly recommended.

As the previous reviewer noted, though, it's doubtful many people will read these reviews.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Long Ago But It IS History, February 17, 2005

By 

Eclectic Revisited "Charlie" (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jukebox Hits of 1957, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

I don't own this compilation but I do own some of the original recordings that, um, my grandfather gave me. "Love Letters in the Sand" may be remembered by many people even though Pat Boone gets scant play on the oldies stations. Included here also are some songs from other venues. Jane Morgan was from another school of music with her "Fascination", the Beatles were not the first charted singers from Liverpool but rather Russ Hamilton, and Big Band leader of the 40s Jimmy Dorsey had a great soulful instrumental with "So Rare". "Young Wild Heart" was a one-hit wonder's song of a different nature in early '57, the Hilltoppers had a lot of charted hits like "Marianne" and appeared on American Bandstand but were not rock, doo woop or R&B. 1957 had not completely surrendered to the emerging music of youth. "Let the Four Winds Blow" by blues shouter Roy Brown was covered (more successfully) by Fats Domino. (Brown wrote "Good Rocking Tonight", a song later covered by Brown fan Elvis Presley--"rocking" was a gerund meaning something else -ahem- in 1946 when Brown wrote it). Ernie Freeman had a hit with "Dumplin's" and later played with B. Bumble and the Stingers (Nutrocker) in the early 60s. Bonnie Guitar sang "Dark Moon" but it was overshadowed by Gale Storm's version. Country singer Marvin Rainwater had the biggest(or only) hit of his career with a memorable "Gonna Find Me A Bluebird". Tab Hunter had a #1 song with "Young Love" while a better singer who would later successfully cover other singers' hits, Sonny James, had the SAME SONG that should have been his alone at #2. (Tab was a teenage idol though). That has never happened since. Country singer Leroy Van Dyke had his first big hit with "Auctioneer". The Del Vikings, the best known of only a handful of integrated groups of that era, scored big with "Come Go With Me", still a classic so many years later. The Five Satins followed their success with "In the Still of the Night" with "To the Aisle". The Rays had their one hit with "Silhouettes" (later covered by Herman's Hermits), a song written by prolific music producer Bob Crewe who later had "Music to Watch Girls By" as a hit of his own. This is a good representation of some veteran musicians/singers and some up-and-comers of different genres who shared the pop charts of the era. All in all, it's worth five stars---if anyone ever visits here to check it out.