Customer Reviews

Teen Time - The Young Years Of Rock & Roll, Volume 2: I Got Rhythm

5 star:		(7)
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Volume two, "I Got Rhythm" continues Eric Records' new series of tunes from the first decade of rock and roll. Many of the tracks here come from the Roulette, Colpix, Dimension and Jubilee labels and were once readily available on various Rhino and Sequel single-artist and compilation CD's. But with most of those pieces out of print, Eric has brought them back and added to these well-known tunes a sprinkling of rarities and even two new-to-CD songs. Appealing to the casual fan, top-10 favorites like the Happenings' "I Got Rhythm" and Lou Christie's "Two Faces Have I" share the spotlight with the seldom-found "I'm Blue" from the Ikettes and the Chicago Loop's "My Baby Comes To Me". Not neglecting the true collector, Eric has brought to CD-daylight the High Keys' move-over Doris Day version of "Que Sera, Sera" and "Don't Mention My Name" from the Shepherd Sisters, known for their big hit rendition of "Alone".

As has come to be expected and always appreciated is Eric's attention to quality reproduction here exemplified by the use of the mono version of J.J. Jackson's "It's Alright", a track that has been issued in "stereo" on other CD's when in fact it has always been the electronically rechannelled faux-stereo version. The tracks that do appear in true stereo here are 3,5,6,11,15,16 and 20. Rounding out the piece are the informative liner notes providing backround on the included artists and tracks. Once again, Eric shows how it should be done.

I am a enthousiastic collector, and have almost all the Time Life rock n roll stuff, as well as ACE cds of this era.
I could comment like this like I have on ACE editions, or the Eric Records HArd to Find 45s series. Excellent, and must have!
A few points why:
20 tracks per cd (Time life is also excellent, but you get 15 per cd!)
excellent booklets with background info
not the same old songs over again, but many rare and still excellent tracks!
last but not least amazing sound quality.
So although you might have some songs there on other collections like ACE, it is for above mentioned points alone worth it to always have an Eric copy as well.

What can I say, except that it doesn't get any better than this. As with all of Eric's CDs, this one is flawless!

In addition to the tracks that we already have (but are now relegated to the obsolete pile by this CD), there are several tracks not found on any other domestic CDs, such as Don't Mention my Name by The Sheppard Sisters, Que, Sera, Sera by The High Keys, and (finally) a true mono version of the single, But It's Alright by J. J. Jackson, instead of the horrible re-channeled one that has appeared before.

The guys at Eric know how to do this sort of thing right, and we are the real winners in getting to listen to these hits the way they should be heard.

A wonderful CD! You owe yourselves a treat, and this is it!

The Eric label, as does ACE, stands for superb quality "oldies"
+ the fact that they "recuperate" songs or hits that might be
considered as completely "unknown" to the majority of us even
though one considers himself an expert of that era (1956-1965)
who lived through it and collected most of those good old 45's.
There's one song on this compilation that makes this CD worth
5 stars: "Top Forty, News, Weather And Sports" interpreted by
Mark Dining and written by the great John D. Loudermilk.
The music is fantastic and resumes every sound there was in the
early 60's: nice melody, female backing vocals, strings, up- tempo
rhythm and incredible lyrics. I had never heard this song
before but the lyrics made me decide to write this review because
it reminds me so much of the real facts that were happening back in 1961.
Lumumba was the "revolutionist" fighting
the Belgians in Congo, what to say about Fidel who celebrates
his 80th birthday today, Ike Eisenhower struggling with Kruschev
at the UN combined with the other crazy contents of these lyrics
that remind me more of a typical Ray Stevens song.
Thanks to Eric records there are some more "beauties" on this
Teen Time Vol 3 like Ninety Nine Ways, Morgen (a # 1 hit in
Europe then), The Way Of A Clown, And The Heavens Cried and last
but not least a song by Eddie Holland who still had to become
one of the greatest songwriters ever. I must admit that there
are quite some "newies" on this fantastic good old Rock & Roll
compilation!

Teen Time - The Young Years Of Rock & Roll, Volume 2: I Got Rhythm honors rock and roll and pop music hits of the 1950s and early 1960s. This CD will bring back many memories; and newcomers to this type of music will find many good numbers to like on the album, too. The sound is also excellent.

Buddy Knox starts off the hits with "Party Doll." This early rock and roll hit features Buddy singing his best with some excellent electric guitar solos! Buddy never sounded better and this number still gets airtime on the oldies stations today. Jimmy Bowen's "I'm Stickin' With You" is a sweet ballad about a man who wants to stick with his woman because he loves her so much. The guitars on "I'm Stickin' With You" really help the arrangement. Moreover, listen for "Blue Moon" by The Marcels. The Marcels bat this great doo wop number out of the ballpark with their excellent harmonizing and the upbeat melody works well despite the title of the song.

The Ikettes do an excellent job on "I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song);" they sing and harmonize to perfection while the musical arrangement is very well done. This is great music!

Lou Christie's "Two Faces Have I" is another highlight of the album that I really enjoy; and Big Dee Irwin and Little Eva do a cute rendition of "Swinging On A Star." The High Keys also perform their rockin' version of "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)."

The album ends strong with The Happenings doing one of their biggest hits entitled "I Got Rhythm." This is an awesome number that I always enjoy hearing.

The liner notes come in the form of a booklet with information about the songs. The artwork is rather good.

This is one CD that fans of 1950s pop and rock will surely want in their collections. I highly recommend this album for these fans.

As with Volume 1, the selections in this release could also have formed the basis of another in Eric Records' Hard To Find On 45 series. Especially tracks 10 (the only other hit for this quartet which came six years after their first, Alone [Why Must I Be Alone] in 1957), 12 (The Raindrops were actually songwriting team - and then husband-and-wife - Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry), 14 (I had never seen this one on CD until this came out - incidentally, they spelled their name The High Keyes), 18 (some pressings of this showed the title as [When She Needs Good Lovin'] She Comes To Me), and 19 (one-hit wonder whose members Wally Bryson, David Smalley, and Jim Bonfanti went on to form The Raspberries, with which they had considerably more success).

Greg Adams again provides detailed background notes in the insert, which also contains (as does the back of the jewel case) a discography of the contents. Tracks in stereo in this volume are 3, 5, 6, 11, 15, 16 and 20.

Bill, just out of curiosity, why didn't you come up with a different cover photo for Volumes 2 and 3?

Have volume #1, love them both and can't wait for volume #3. Full of superb quality recordings, some never before available on CD.