Customer Reviews

Oldies But Goodies, Vol. 9 Golden Anniversary Edition

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Essentially OLDIES BUT GOODIES VOL. 9 follows the same format as the other fourteen discs in the series. There's a great balence of classic staples and valuable rarities. OLDIES BUT GOODIES VOL. 9's best asset is this precious balence. "My Guy", "Stand By Me", "When A Man Loves A Woman", and "Runaway" are radio staples and rock 'n' roll classics. Before I listened to this album I had never heard "Hurt", "What's Your Name", "Over And Over", or "Please Love Me Forever". An extra value was added by the original version of "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", and the magnifiscent "I Fought The Law". "Tell It Like It Is", "Gimmie Little Sign", and "Last Kiss" are also welcome additions. OLDIES BUT GOODIES VOL. 9 also suffers from the same problems as the other discs in the series. The most noticeable is the sound quality-which is poor. I get better sound out of warped records. Another is that on the original vinyl releases the album had a theme per side. The slower love songs went on Side One ("Dreamy Side"), the rock songs went on Side Two ("Rock Side"). It works fine on LP but not on CD. On this album that theme is very much present, why couldn't they resequence the compilation when the remodeled it. (The original vinyl sequences have been distorted, meaning songs that were originally on one volume are now found on another). Doing so didn't fix a dangerous error, which damages it. Twelve of these fourteen songs were released between 1961 and 1967. "Over And Over" was released in 1958, and isn't that far off. "Crusin'" was released in 1979, and isn't related to the other songs; it's twice as long and twelve years younger. Insert is informative: containing artist, songwriter, running time, record label, and year releasd, as well as a gold foil final page. I'll purchase the remaining discs in the series, this isn't an isolated incident, but I wish they would improve it-remastering, resequencing, as long as the albums remain available.

This is a great series. The label does quality collections. Original hits by the original artists. That says it all.
BTW the track line up has changed on this title. The red cover, Golden Anniversary edition has these 14 tracks. Not the full 16 tracks listed above.
My Girl
Stand By Me
When A Man Loves A Woman
Tell It Like It Is
Hurt
Then You Can Tell ME Goodbye
What's Your Name
Cruisin'
Gimme Little Sign
Runaway
I Fought The Law
Over And Over
Last Kiss
Please Love Me Forever

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 that those of us who came of age in the 1950s 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 pieces and, most importantly, any and all music that your parents might have approved of, 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, perhaps, some of his fellows who comprise the demographic that such a 1950s compilation "speaks" to. Of course, The Temptations, "My Girl", always played at those dreamy, dreaded school dances. Yes, I know, this is one of the slow ones that you have to dance close on. And just hope, hope to high heaven that you didn't destroy your partner's shoes and feet. The mournful "Hurt" still sends a chill up my spine. As does the school dance closer- "Please Love Me Forever". There you have it.