Customer Reviews

Oldies But Goodies, Vol. 1

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

 

 

As the owner of several discs in the Oldies But Goodies series for quite a number of years, I recently ordered an additional six discs to "fill in the holes" in my collection. Much to my dismay, all arrived packaged in flimsy, cardboard "albums", rather than the substantial jewel cases used for my earlier purchases. In addition, some of the color combinations used on the packages (gold on red/gold on purple) make it nearly impossible to read the artists names without holding the package under a lamp.
Try as I might, I was unable to find any information in the product details that mentioned the type of packaging. I intend to handle and play these discs for years, not just rip the songs to mp3's and load them on a hand-held player.
In the interest of full-disclosure, and to improve customer satisfaction, I believe Amazon should include product packaging information.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a "bad batch" of these. Like the previous reviewer, my copy was also defective. The CD itself is undamaged - the problem is clearly the recording.

Also, the track listing and sequence shown here is not right. Some songs are in a different order, "Stagger Lee" and "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" are not included, and "In the Still of the Night" by the Five Satins is on there instead.

I have been doing a series of commentaries elsewhere on another site on my coming of political age in the early 1960s, but now when I am writing about musical influences I am just speaking of my coming of age, period, which was not necessarily the same thing. No question those of us who came of age biologically in the1950s are truly children of rock and roll. We were there, whether we appreciated it or not at the time, when the first, sputtering, moves away from ballady show tunes, rhymey Tin Pan Alley tunes and, most importantly, any and all music that your parents might have approved of, even liked, or at least left you alone to play in peace up in your room hit post World War II America like, well, like an atomic bomb.

Now, not all of the material was good, nor was all of it destined to be playable fifty or sixty years later on some "greatest hits" compilation but some of them had enough chordal energy, lyrical sense, and sheer danceability to make any Jack or Jill jump then, or now. And, here is the good part, especially for painfully shy guys like me, or those who had two left feet on the dance floor. You didn't need to dance toe to toe with that certain she (or he for shes). Ah, to be very young then was very heaven.

So what still sounds good on this CD compilation to a current AARPer and some of his fellows who comprise the demographic that such 1950s compilations "speak" to. "Earth Angel", no question. Also, of course, Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" but other things of his like "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Back In The U.S.A. are more rock anthem-worthy. Etta James still rocks. And the under-appreciated Lloyd Price on his version of the old standard, "Stagger Lee". But for my money the best here musically are the great harmonics on "Eddy My Love" by the Teen Queens and the smooth sound of Sonny Knight on "Confidential". Yes, I know, these are slow ones that you have to close on. And just hope, hope to high heaven that you didn't destroy your partners shoes and feet. But there you are.

this was a gift and the receiver absolutely loves it - she was so surprised. listens to the cd all the time

I played this CD and was not happy. I had to return the item becasue it skipped really bad on almost every song.

My husband and I were high school sweethearts and these were the songs we would dance to. And like all teens back then we would rush home from school to watch American Bandstand.

Generally, most people are not exposed to oldies like this unless they listen to oldies radio stations. This is the music my grandfather would listen to on the radio when I was a kid riding in the car with him. As a kid, I generally did not care for most music, I would go with recent trends and consider music like this to be outdated. Who thought ten years later at 18, I would be the one exclusively listening to 50s and 60s rock n roll and jazz, and in fact, hate modern music. I would listen to TV radio stations on XM radio of oldies, and when I found out about this series by Rhino, it makes me feel like I am listening to these stations. It contains a perfect variety of songs by various artists who defined the doo wop and rock n' roll era, including many top billboard hits. Volume 1 starts off pretty good and includes a decent mix of doo wop and early rock songs. If my grandfather were still alive, he would probably fall in love with this collection, and I feel like many of these songs are typically not able to find in other compilations. Earth Angel and Let the Good Times Roll are both classics, and essential for any 50s lover.

excellent cd. definately get it, if you like punk remakes of classic songs. MxPx does an awesome blue moon.