Customer Reviews

Shut Down: Hot Rod Music's Greatest Hits

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There are only 12 selections and minimal liner notes [on the back cover], but nevertheless this 1989 compilation from Capitol offers all original renditions and a couple of hard-to-find selections. In addition to Robert Mitchum's The Ballad Of Thunder Road [from the film Thunder Road] which charted twice - once at # 62 Billboard Top 100 in 1958, and then at # 65 Hot 100 in 1962 - you also get The Gants' version of Road Runner, a # 46 in 1965, Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan's 1951 Country hit [# 7] Hot Rod Race, and Stick Shift, a # 25 Hot 100 in 1961 by The Duals.

The rest are easily found on any number of compilations, but there is one hidden gem: Chicken by Bert Convy. The late TV actor and game-show host [he died in 1991 at age 57] had been a member of The Cheers, along with Gil Garfield and Sue Allen, and their only charted hit - Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots is now considered a classic of the early R&R era. Shortly after that 1955 recording - which went to # 6 Top 100 - he tried Chicken on his own. While it didn't chart, it's not a bad little "road" tune.

The two Beach Boys tunes are readily available elsewhere but the rest of this collection has a classic or two ("Thunder Road" by Robert Mitchum") and several hilarious period piece novelties. The two by the Cheers, especially "Chicken" are as camp as can be and sound like they could be the audio to a teen drivers ed warning film. "Car Trouble" by the Eligibles sounds like they must have been one of those crew cut, lettermens' sweaters four piece vocal groups of the mid-fifties. The song deliberately injects bits that the producers probably thought listeners would find amusing, but the song is such a corny period piece about a couple running out of gas on a lonely road... again, camp as can be and fun in spite of the deliberate attempts to be cute. I used it as an answering machine message for a while. I'm not a big fan of the hot rod genre so the rest of this I could take or leave, but the amusing moments are keepers.

If you have a super stock rod...or just a rice burner you have to admit this is one of the best collections of car songs there is. Great road music to get your motor reved up and burn a little rubber of your own...even if it just on your stereo !!!
Don't be a " Chicken "...take a ride down..." Thunder Road "...

This album first released in the summer of 1963 by Capitol
records made the US top 10 (mainly because many thought it was
a new Beach Boys album?). That's why the Beach Boys decided to title
their March 1964 album 'Shut Down Vol.2'
Nowadays it's a typical item only for collectors of the genre,
with only a few realy standing-out tracks.