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Somethin' Else: The Fine Lookin' Hits of Eddie Cochran

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After a few years of rock'n'roll, American pop music went through a mellower phase with Pat Boone among its leading stars. This may explain why Eddie, a brilliant rock'n'roll performer, was ultimately more popular in Europe than his homeland.

Eddie's first single, Skinny Jim, failed to chart but he made the American top twenty with his second single, Sitting in the balcony. Following that, Eddie had a run of singles that made little impact until he recorded the song that he is best remembered for, Summertime blues. Most songs about summer are joyful and happy but this bluesy rocker was something different. It made the top ten in America and the top twenty in Britain.

So far, Eddie was more successful in America than Britain but his next single, C'mon everybody, made the top ten in Britain but was a much more modest top forty hit in America. Next came Teenage heaven, which just made the American top hundred but didn't chart in Britain. After that, Something else made the British top twenty but was only a minor American hit - it was also his last American hit.

His British hits continued with Hallelujah I love her so (a cover of the Ray Charles classic), which in turn was followed by Three steps to heaven. This was his biggest UK hit, going all the way to number one. Seventies rock'n'roll cover specialists Showaddywaddy almost repeated Eddie's achievement, taking the song to number two in 1975.

Eddie continued to make the UK charts with Sweetie pie, Lonely, Weekend (a top twenty hit), Jeannie Jeannie Jeannie and My way (no, not THAT song), this last hit being in 1963. Subsequently, Eddie only entered the UK charts via re-issues of old hits - Summertime blues, a top forty hit in 1968, and C'mon everybody, a top twenty hit in 1988. The 1968 re-entry of Summertime blues explains its inclusion on so many UK sixties compilations.

Eddie died in 1960 in a town called Chippenham in England. I lived in Chippenham at the time but I was only a child, not interested in either music or news events back then. It was only many years later, long after I had left the area that I learned that this was where Eddie died. The town occasionally stages events in his memory.

This compilation contains all the essentials by one of the rock'n'roll greats who was a major influence on those that followed.

Eddie Cochrane is one of the most underrated and influential rockers of the 50's. Had he lived, he easily would have taken his place with Buddy Holly, Little Richard and Chuck Berry as icons of that era. Considering his tantalizingly brief career, he contributed a number of classics to the rock repertoire. My favorite is the sensational "Twenty Flight Rock," the song that quite literally first attracted John Lennon to Paul McCartney in 1957. (Check out Paul's great cover version of this song on his Russian album). "Summertime Blues" is another outstanding song which is as vibrant as it was when first released 45 years ago.

Eddie Cochrane is sadly under-appreciated today, but this album will give you an idea of his talent and foresight. He wrote his own songs, played a pretty mean guitar and was a pioneer of rock. This is a feel good album and highly recommended.

Eddie had three years in the rock limelight before he died in a car crash in the spring of 1960, but most people born after that date only know him because of the enduring popularity of "Summertime Blues." He wrote and recorded many other worthy songs, and most of them are on this collection. This CD, on first listening, does not impress as much as do CD's of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Rick Nelson, and Jerry Lee Lewis (among the important young rockers of the same period) but it grows on you, and rewards repeated listening. Eddie was probably the best guitar player of that group, although Ricky, Buddy and Jerry were more memorable vocalists, and Valens showed signs of genius in his brief six months as a professional performer. If you want to have a representative collection of late-50's rock, you have to have all these guys in your stash, along with Elvis and Fats Domino and Little Richard and many others. Like Buddy, Eddie actually was more popular and enduring in England than in the states. In the final year of his life, he spent many months there on tour, and his style influenced members of the Beatles and Rolling Stones almost as much as Holly's did. If you like those other guys from the era, listen to Eddie Cochran too. You'll be glad you did.

I don't know what they are doing these days to capture the sound of poor recordings in the 50's or whether in those days there were some places ahead of their time...but, the cuts on this CD are absolutely sensational. They sound as sharp as you can get. No muddy sounds or distortions. Computer clean-up of this stuff has to be the answer. And, this original material sounds just great on this supurb CD. We all know the songs, the great teen hits "date, late, eight." Ahh, the simpler times of songs about girls and cars. That was it. And this CD is the best.

You can resume EDDIE COCHRAN very well with one cd.After all,when he died he was only 21 years old.This selection is almost the same if you except 5 songs of the LEGENDARY MASTER SERIES released in 1990.His best songs are there:SUMMERTIME BLUES was of course a favorite of THE WHO ,who often featured it in their concerts.I am particularly fond of JEANNIE,JEANNIE,JEANNIE,C'MON EVERYBODY and the marvellous SOMETHIN'ELSE with it's great shuffle,a trademark of EDDIE.If you are interested in rock's early days,you'll enjoy this cd.

Eddie Cochran wrote, recorded and performed his own original rock compositions. Cochran played several instruments and was one of those who introduced the technique of overdubbing themselves playing several instruments singing lead and harmony. Cochran made a major contribution to Rock in such a short time before his death at 22 years. Even today his songs are heard on radio and TV. "Cochran's "Summertime Blues" was a #1 country hit for Alan Jackson just a year ago.

Eddie Cochran rocks, This is a must have for any Rockabilly fan or any fan of Rock n Roll........The real stuff. It's too bad he had to die at such a young age, it would've been nice if he could've been around to make more great music, with songs like "Jeanie Jeanie Jeanie", "Somethin' Else", "Come on everybody", "Guybo", "Summertime Blues", "Twenty Flight Rock", and my personal favorite "Bolweevle" (don't know if thats spelled right, but its a really cool song).

This is an Enjoyable album from start to finish, this is the way rock n roll is supposed to sound.

Eddie Cochran is the man. Rock & roll never got better. In Cochran, you will hear some of Elvis, some of Jerry Lee Lewis, some of Buddy Holly, some of Little Richard, but each of those greats was odd in his own way; Eddie Cochran is the center, towering above with his pure American blue-jeans and hot-rod ATTITUDE. Hear his brilliant little guitar innovations creating rock from country. Hear the constant humor and brash confidence that invented "cool." The incredible kids that created rock with that indendent moxie could only have been American. Cochran's own compositions and the songs he made his own are a treasure of US history - how the kids making out in the movie theater would not know what was on the screen, but they would stop to watch Bugs Bunny - how the country kids would park and gaze out at the "pale city lights" (yeah, before orange crime-lights came along)," etc. I lived rock & roll, and I always loved Summertime Blues, but I discovered the rest of Cochran late in life - and forever among my absolute top rock & roll favorites of all time are his Twenty-flight Rock, C'mon Everybody, My Way, Somethin' Else, Weekend, Nervous Breakdown, Jeannie Jeannie Jeannie, Hallelujah I Just Love Her So, Boll Weevil - more Cochran in the top tier than anyone else. Listen to Somethin' Else; get that attitude under your skin; then go out and make your dreams come true.

If the only song you're shopping for is "Summertime Blues", this CD has twice the tracks for a few dollars more and man, you've missed out on the ones you ain't heard yet. In fact, the only thing keeping this CD from perfection is that the version of "Twenty Flight Rock" is the movie version and not the original single. Even so, your fifties rock collection is badly lacking without this disc.

Well, we all know about Elvis. The King. But Eddie Cochran inspired the next generation - from Blue Cheer's proto-metal hit "Summertime Blues," to "C'mon Everybody," to "Twenty Flight Rock." The latter was how Paul introduced himself to John in the Quarrymen. Punk bands in NYC covered "Nervous Breakdown" and "Something Else" throughout the '70's. Eddie was punk back when the word was only used by cops. From start to finish, Eddie delivers rockabilly rebellion and true rock & roll. His songs are classic. Had he not died at 22 who knows what else he would've created. The good die young, but the music lives on. Buy this collection - money well spent.