Time Life The Rock 'n' Roll Era - The 50's: Rave On [CD, Original recording remastered]

Ed Townsend (Performer), The Moonglows (Performer), The Jamies (Artist), Lee Andrews and the Hearts (Artist), Ronnie Hawkins (Artist), Dave Baby Cortez (Artist), Marv Johnson (Artist), The Mello-Kings (Artist), The Crests (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Format: CD, Original recording remastered
• Label: Time Life Music / Warner Special Products
• ASIN: B000W2KQRS
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,061 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

I Put A Spell On You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins (M)/I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday - Fats Domino (M)/My True Love - Jack Scott (M)/Mary Lou - Ronnie Hawkins (M)/The Angels Listened In - Crests (S)/For Your Love - Ed Townsend (M)/Reet Petite - Jackie Wilson (M)/See Saw - Moonglows (M)/Summertime Summertime - Jamies (M)/Silhouettes - Diamonds (E)/You Are My Destiny - Paul Anka (M)/Somethin' Else - Eddie Cochran (M)/You Got What It Takes - Marv Johnson (M)/The Happy Organ - Dave "Baby" Cortez (E)/Almost Grown - Chuck Berry (M)/Goodbye Baby - Jack Scott (M)/Long Lonely Nights - Lee Andrews & Hearts (M)/Itchy Twitchy Feeling - Bobby Hendricks (M)/Queen Of The Hop - Bobby Darin (M)/Just Keep It Up - Dee Clark (M)/Say Man - Bo Diddley (M)/Tonite-Tonite - Mello-Kings (M)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Out In The Car Hop Night, March 23, 2011

By 

Alfred Johnson (boston, ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time Life The Rock 'n' Roll Era - The 50's: Rave On (Audio CD)

I have recently been on a tear in reviewing individual CDs in this extensive Time-Life Rock `n' Roll series. A lot of these reviews have been driven by the artwork which graces the covers of each item, both to stir ancient memories and reflect that precise moment in time, the youth time of the now very, very mature (nice sliding over the age issue, right?) baby-boomer generation who lived and died by the music. And who fit in, or did not fit in as the case may be, to the themes of those artwork scenes. The former is the case here although the cover art is simplicity itself- the rear view of an aerodynamically-contoured rear fin (yes, fin) of a "boss" (yes, boss) 1950s automobile of unknown provenance (but we can guess, right?)

Yes, and that slight description is all that is needed here for those of us who came of age in the "golden age of the automobile" in the speed and thrills-craving aftermath of World War II when restless Americans, young and old, more young as it turned out, went into spasms over the latest "boss" (yes, boss) vehicle coming out of Detroit, the motor capital of the world then. Of course the cars kind of sorted themselves out- you wouldn't, if you were young, dream of driving something that your father drove. So if you got his hand-me-down after he decided that he needed, just absolutely needed, that much more power in his automobile in order to keep up with the Joneses, you would move might and main in order to transform that old clunky dad car into a respectable too. A rocket-like tool to fit the age, to ride and to ride with some sweet honey at your side, on those hot sticky, sultry summer nights down by the seaside, or at the drive-in, movie or for food, your choice.

Yes, and this is why even a mainly no car boy, from a mainly no car family, could (and maybe still could) stare his eyes out over some boss of the bosses '57 Chevy charging down the be-bop night boulevard, or a lanky turbo-driven long-line Lincoln, or a rebuilt Cadillac or a tear-up Thunderbird. Relics from a high cubic volume engine age when your twenty-nine cents a gallon gas took you about three feet per gallon. But still, come on now, they looked nice.

Oh, yes, and of course you needed to amp up that boss wagon car radio, booming out the latest hits about cars, especially West Coast car legends and their chicken runs, girls (east coast or west coast, hell, even the Mid-West), girls and boys in trouble, in love, out of love (ditto on that geography thing), chasing that sunset ocean-flecked dream. But mainly, when the dust settled, you had to worry about how and who was going to front that dough to get that new back chrome fender you just needed, absolutely needed, needed like crazy to keep up with the Jones' son.

And on that boss car radio you were likely, very likely, to be cruising to many of the tunes here. Stick-outs on this CD include: For Your Love, Ed Townsend; Silhouettes, The Diamonds; Somethin' Else, Eddie Cochran (totally underrated in the classic rock scheme of things after he died in a car accident, naturally, especially his classic Summertime Blues that was a rite of passage each summer vacation); and, as always when you talk 1950s rock, the serious stuff, the serious riffing guitar stuff from the place where rock met the blues, Chuck Berry on Almost Grown, not his number one, A-list material but good in this company.