Customer Reviews

Rock Instrumental Classics 1: 50's

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I saw the song list for this CD I was blown away!
It looked exactly like a stack of 45's I remembered having
on my first record changer way back in pre-historic times.
So naturally, since half of them have been have been stolen,
broken, or played to death, I had to have this CD.
I was not disappointed. You won't be either, especially if you
want to hear what rock and roll was like besides the "big names".
The Rhino booklet that is included is very informative about the songs as well as the era.

this set includes some outstanding early rock gutiar and other instrument sounds. there is the ferocious and famous rumble by link wray. the outstandingly pensive harlem nocturne by the viscounts and the tremendously influential and compelling sleepwalk by santo and johnny. also the overlooked but excellent bongo rock by preston epps. there are some other enjoyable tracks such as the happy organ by dave baby cortez and red river rock by johnny and the hurricanes. All in all this is more than just a trip down memory lane it is a sampling of some fine and ground breaking 1950s rock instrumentals that include truly jazz topsy by cozy cole. Only one complaint, why no bill black's cumbo tracks such as smokie on this cd?

This is a great collection of instrumental rock and roll classics from the 1950s. Most of these songs were big hits, and the few that weren't hits should have been hits. This is just about the perfect compilation of '50s rock instrumentals. Anyway, I can't think of anything that they left out. Highly recommended.

I bought because Volumes I and II because they contained some fabulous hits from my pre-teen and teenager days. At Amazon.com, I also did not have to buy the entire set of 5 volumes; like I would have to buy from another vendor.

Someone has put together the most memorable instrumental classic rock tunes of the decade. The quality is excellent and, with a good sound system, you can rock your world like you never could in the 50's.

Great primer on the early days of instrumental rock. I had the cassette version years ago and the CD has additional tracks. Highly recommended

OUT OF 5000 SONGS. IN MY DATA BASE, THIS CD IS ONE OF MY TOP 30 CD'S. AND ONE OF MY TOP 10 GUITAR CD'S. THE GUITAR INTRUMENTALS PUT THE MODERN TO SHAME. IF YOU LIKE THIS TYPE OF INSTRUMENTAL GUITAR, LOOK AT DUANE EDDY AND CHET ATKINS CD'S.

The 50s is perhaps when modern instrumentals started emerging and big band evolved into rock and boogie, the 50s was mainly dominated by high pitched young male singers and doo wop groups, but instrumentals is what made the 50s most memorable and also contained some of the best songs of the entire decade with the blazing saxophones and reverberating guitars, which makes up a large portion of these instrumentals, and of course the electronic organ was also finding its way into popular music during this time, which helped lead to the creation of 60s rock and soul. Who can forget the dirty sax solo in Tequila or the echo of the organ in Happy Organ, both number one singles. And you kind of have your jazz hybrids like Topsy and Harlem Nocturne, as well as Rock n Roll covers of older standards like In the Mood. Its just unforgettable music at its best, and it rocks and makes you want to dance. Who needs singing when you have a fiery beat with saxophones and guitars taking over the melody, and taking you places singers can only dream of. All these songs work together in perfect harmony and don't need singing to perfect them, and the 50s was one of the greatest decades for instrumentals with very rhythmic beats. Of course it is missing some memorable songs like River Kwai, Plantation Boogie, and Night Train, but it does make up for that with a pretty strong selection of less common songs and a great variety of artists. Plus the booklet is very well written and explains why instrumentals were vital during the late years of the 50s and goes into detail on each artist.

What a fantastic collection.
Anyone who lived through the Rock era should enjoy this collection, just pure Rock Instrumentals at their best.

This collection sounds like the original recordings, based on my memory. Lots of fun.