Customer Reviews

Time Life The Rock 'N' Roll Era 1957

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Various Artists / Rock N' Roll Era: 1957
Label: Time-Life Music
Year: 1997
Track Title
1. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On -- Jerry Lee Lewis
2. Come Go With Me -- The Del-Vikings
3. I'm Walkin' -- Fats Domino
4. Keep A Knockin' -- Little Richard
5. Happy, Happy Birthday Baby -- The Tune Weavers
6. At The Hop -- Danny & The Juniors
7. Wake Up Little Susie -- The Everly Brothers
8. Little Bitty Pretty One -- Thurston Harris
9. C.C. Rider -- Chuck Willis
10. Jim Dandy -- Lavern Baker
11. Susie-Q -- Dale Hawkins
12. Great Balls Of Fire -- Jerry Lee Lewis
13. Little Darlin' -- The Diamonds
14. Searchin' -- The Coasters
15. Mr. Lee -- Bobbets
16. Over The Mountain, Across The Sea -- Johnnie & Joe
17. Peggy Sue -- Buddy Holly
18. School Day -- Chuck Berry
19. Young Blood -- The Coasters
20. Party Doll -- Buddy Know
21. Short Fat Fannie -- Larry Williams
22. Could This Be Magic -- dDub

The heavily-promoted and massive Time-Life "mail order only" series of CDs of about 12-15 years ago constantly reminded you that "you can't get these in any store" and seemed intent, at the time, to corner the market on everything from the Big Band Era to Pop, Country, R&B, Soul and R&R. In addition to single artist releases, they put out year by year volumes covering the best hits of 1940 to (as far as I can tell) 1969, interspersed with theme releases such as The Unforgetable `50s, The Late `50s, The `60s: Last Dance, and R&B Gems II, among many many more.

Since there was little real competition in terms of sound quality and program notes at the time, I suppose quite a few bought into the hype, although it was an expensive venture since they also charged quite a bit more for each disc than the normal going rate. Now here we are with options like Ace Of London, Eric Records, Jasmine, Bear Family, Collectables, Collector's Choice, Rhino, Varese-Sarabande, Razor & Tie, etc., and suddenly these Time-Life releases are popping up for sale all over the place, and mostly at prices considerable less than when they were first issued.

Rest assured that if the song you are seeking is among the 22 contained contained in this volume (and re-listed by another reviewer) that it is the original rendition, and that the sound quality is impeccable. In addition, you get an insert containing four pages of background notes written by Washington music critic Joe Sasfy, and a complete chart detail/label information discography. In this volume you also get nice photos of Jerry Lee Lewis and his teenage Bride Myra Gale posing on a classic motorcycle, Chuck Willis, LaVern Baker, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Larry Williams.

Another one of those CD's with 1950's music which I dearly love. Thanks for the memories! The shipping was done very quick.

Love these. I used to sing and play (sax breaks) a couple of the cuts on this cd way back then. Memory lane. Much better quality now than we had on the old 45s. Plus, you don't have to keep jumping up to turn over over the record.

As I have noted in reviewing The `60s: Last Dance part of this Time-Life Roll `n' Roll Era series I have spent tons of time and reams of cyberspace "paper" in this space reviewing the teenage culture of the 1950s and early 1960s, especially the inevitable school dance and the also equally inevitable trauma of the last dance. That event, the last dance that is, was the last chance for even shy boys like me to prove that we were not wallflowers, or worst. The last chance to rise (or fall) in the torrid and relentless pecking order of the social scene at school. And moreover to prove to that certain she that you were made of some sort of heroic stuff, the stuff of dreams, of her dreams, thank you very much. Moreover, to make use of that social capital you invested in by learning to dance, or the "shadow" of learning to dance. The following is one such episode in that old time, eternal saga.

As part of the review of the dance sequel that I mentioned above I noted that there were two phases to the old school days dance scene, the high school one when we had all learned, or should have learned, the ropes enough not to be too foolish or too out of line on that social occasion, not if we expected to get a tussle from that certain she or he and the middle school one (formerly known as junior high school but we will use the current usage here on the off chance that someone who only knows the term middle school is reading this). I also noted that one could draw a sharp distinction between the two based on such factors as age, the more convoluted nature of social relationships, physical and sexual growth, changes in musical taste, attitudes toward life and toward the opposite sex (and, nowadays, same sex) all made them two distinct affairs, except the ubiquitous teacher chaperones to guard against all manner of murder and mayhem, or more likely, someone sneaking out for butts, booze or a little off-hand nuzzling (or mercy, all three). I will keep strictly to the middle school dance scene here since the compilation under review includes musical selections that were "hot" in those years.

In a sense the middle school scene is just an earlier version of the high school dance. No, stop, what am I talking about, hell, there is no question that the high school dance was a picnic to detail in comparison. We were light years ahead by then. At the middle school dance we were just wet-behind-the ears (boy and girls alike, although I think the girls were a little ahead of us, or at least we liked the idea that they were). Here though is what I gathered from a fellow middle schooler, Francis J. Murphy, "Frankie", my best friend in those tormented years, when he heard that the big school dance was coming up in the spring. He merely went into denial, denial that he could care about such a "bourgeois" event (not his word but the idea is there), such a "square" event (his word, although he was probably clueless about what was square and hip in those days) and that he planned to be "out of town" that day. Ya, like he was the President on important business of state.

But here is the funny thing, a few weeks before the big event, as most of his classmates started to get lined up for, and behind the spirit of, this thing he started making noises about being free, maybe, or that he might be able to free up time that day to fit the dance into his schedule. Probably just a snafu of some sort with his appointment secretary previously, I assume. See, here is what he, and every not-nerd, non-dweeb, heck, just breathing young male and female knew, this event would permanently solidify, solidify like stone, the social order of the school, in or out, no questions asked, no prisoners taken. So he too "knew" that signing that world peace treaty that he seemed to be on the verge of signing rather than attend the dance was nothing compared to being in the fight, the furious fight, to gain leverage in the upper echelons of the school pecking order.

All fair enough, all true enough, if only a rather short sketch of the preparations leading up to the preparations, the seemingly endless preparations for the `big night.' A night that included getting into some serious grooming workouts, including procedures not usually included in the daily toilet. Plenty of deodorant, hair oil, and breathe fresheners. Moreover, endless energy used getting worked up about wardrobe, mode of transportation, and other factors that I have addressed elsewhere, and, additionally, factors contingent upon whether you were dated up or stag. All that need not be repeated here.

Damn, whatever physical description I could conger up would be just so much eye wash anyway. The thing could have been held in an airplane hangar and we all could have been wearing paper bags for all we really cared. What mattered, and maybe will always matter, is the hes looking at those certain shes, and vis-a-versa. The endless, small, meaningful looks (if stag, of course, eyes straight forward if dated up, or else bloody hell) except for those wallflowers who are permanently looking down at the ground. And that is the real struggle that went on in those events, for the stags. The struggle against wallflower-dom. The struggle for at least some room in the social standing, even if near the bottom, rather than outcaste-dom. That struggle was as fierce as any class struggle old Karl Marx might have projected. The straight, upfront calculation (and not infrequently miscalculation), the maneuvering, the averting of eyes, the not averting of eyes, the reading of silence signals, the uncomphrehended "no", the gratuitous "yes." Need I go on? I don't think so, except, if you had the energy, or even if you didn't, then you dragged yourself to that last dance. And hoped, hoped to high heaven, that it was a slow one.

Ah, memory. So what is the demographic that this CD compilation is being pitched to, aside from the obvious usual suspects, the AARP crowd. Well that's simple. Any one who has been wounded in love's young battles; any one who has longed for that he or she to come through the door; anyone that has been on a date that did not work out, been stranded on a date that has not worked out; anyone who has had to submit to being pieced off with car hop drive-in food; anyone who has gotten a "Dear John" letter or its equivalent; anyone who has been jilted by that certain he or she; anyone who has been turned down for that last school dance from that certain he or she that you counted on to make your lame evening; anyone who has waited endlessly for the telephone (now iphone, etc., okay for the younger set who may read this) to ring to hear that certain voice; and, especially those hes and she who has shed those midnight tears for youth's lost love. In short, everybody except those few "most popular "types who the rest of us will not shed one tear over, or the nerds who didn't count (or care) anyway.

Stick outs here include on this exceptional compilation from this exception year: legendary rocker Jerry Lee Lewis on Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On and Great Balls Of Fire; The Dell-Vikings' Come Go With Me; a surprise classic with The Tune Weavers on Happy, Happy Birthday Baby (that I played about twenty times today never mind fifty years ago); The Everly Brothers on Wake Up Little Susie (yes, they are definitely in trouble); Chuck Willis' up tempo C.C.Rider: legendary singer and the much underrated LaVern Baker on her classic Jim Dandy; Dale Hawkins on the sultry Susie-Q: The Bobbettes on the snappy, hip-hoppy Mr Lee: Buddy Knox on Party Doll: and, The Dubs on the slow classic (and the one you prayed for to be that last dance) Could This Be Magic. I would not have wanted to have been the dee-jay working off this list at those dances. You would have been hounded, and rightly so, out the back door with requests.