Trying [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] 2CD SET [Import]

Hilltoppers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 26, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Jasmine Music
• ASIN: B000MTEBHM
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,677 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Trying

2. You Made Up My Mind

3. Must I Cry Again

4. I Keep Telling Myself

5. If I Were King

6. I Can t Lie To Myself

7. I'd Rather Die Young (Than Grow Old Without You)

8. P.S. I Love You

9. Love Walked In

10. To Be Alone

See all 29 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Only You (And You Alone)

2. Until The Real Thing Comes Along

3. Ka-Ding-Dong

4. Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

5. Until You're Mine

6. Marianne

7. No Regrets

8. You re Wasting Your Time (Tryin To Lose The Blues)

9. I m Serious

10. I Love My Girl

See all 32 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

One of the great male vocal groups of the pre-rock era, loved by the public and critics alike. Includes the million selling "P.S. I Love You" which made The Hilltoppers a top act in 1953 and in that same year dubbed America s #1 vocal group in Cash Box Magazine. This 2 disc set also covers all their charting hits "Searching", "My Treasure", Ka-Ding-Dong", and "The Kentuckian Songs". "From the Vine Came the Grape" was on the top sellers list for two and a half months.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great singing group, superb lead singer, Jimmy Sacca !, July 7, 2007

By 

Dick Bobnick "toughreviewer" (Burnsville, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trying [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] 2CD SET (Audio CD)

This collection of Hilltopper's hits and near hits is a great example of what good singing groups used to sound like before the sound engineers and the technology overtook the talent. The Hilltoppers, very much in the style vein of one of their contemporaries, the Four Aces, preferred the romantic ballads over the up tempo or novelty tunes, favored the shuffle rhythm and featured a very strong solo tenor in the voice of Jimmy Sacca. Jimmy, in my opinion, was one of three great lead singers with vocal groups that should have had a long successful solo career. The other two being Al Alberts with the Four Aces and Ed Ames of the Ames Brothers. Ed Ames was the most successful lead singer with a group that parlayed the groups success into a great solo career. Whatever the reason that Jimmy Sacca never had the great solo career, his group, the Hilltoppers, were one of the best that emerged in the '50's. Their first hit, "Trying", is one of their all time best. Other great romantic ballads featured are "Time Waits For No One", "P.S. I Love You", "To Be Alone" and 57 other great or near great songs. The sound is strictly monaural but the digital re-engineering is clean and crisp. If you want to hear what great singing was all about this album will delight you and certainly bring back the memories of the '50's.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally!!!!ALL the HITS in one collection, July 31, 2007

By 

Bill Busse "in the attic at bill's" (Fairmont, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trying [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] 2CD SET (Audio CD)

How wonderful to have ALL the Hilltoppers hits from 1952's TRYING straight through to THE JOKER.
I've enjoyed many of these songs on the original 45s and a number of albums but the digital transfer of these recordings was worth the wait.
For years I've tried to find a compilation that included THE DOOR IS STILL OPEN. The Hilltoppers, like many of the other artists during the mid 50s, often had great records which were in the top half of the Cashbox charts but never made those in Billboard. Many times this was because Billboard was only listing 20 to 25 titles while Cashbox was listing 50. So here are the OTHER hits like D-A-R-L-I-N-G.

Hats off to the fine people at Jasmine who put together this great compilation. Now I'm waiting for them to do the same thing for the Fontane Sisters....a complete collection of the original DOT recordings from the masters. Most present collections have inconsistencies and often sound like they were mastered from old 78s or 45s.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All 25 Hit Singles And All But Three B-sides, January 25, 2012

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trying [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] 2CD SET (Audio CD)

Back in the pre-R&R early part of the decade of the 1950s most of the major labels had, among their stable of vocalists, an all-male group. At Decca/Coral were The Four Aces, The Mills Brothers and The Ames Brothers; at Columbia/Epic were The Four Lads and The Four Coins; at Mercury you had The Crew Cuts, The Gaylords and The Diamonds; at Capitol there were The Four Freshmen, Four Knights, Four Preps and The Five Keys; and at RCA Victor/"X" were The Three Chuckles (which included Teddy Randazzo), The Four Lovers (who later went on to greater fame elsewhere as The 4 Seasons, and The Ames Brothers, who joined them in 1953 after a long run with Decca/Coral.

Among the many small independent labels popping up, Randy Wood's Dot Records turned to a foursome that had formed up at Western Kentucky College in Bowling Green, named The Hill Toppers after the school nickname, with lead Jimmy Sacca, Don McGuire, Seymour Spiegelman, and one Billy Vaughn, who would later lead a very successful house orchestra at Dot and also take over as their musical director.

And, from 1952 on into the first years of the R&R era, they would more than match their contemporaries at the major labels, chalking up 25 hit singles, and also doing well in album sales. Here, courtesy of Jasmine of the UK (where else?) you get all 25 as well as all but three of their flipsides! The missing B-Sides are: All I Need Is You - which backed the 1955 # 81 Searching (Dot 15415), The Last Word In Love - which backed the late 1955/early 1956 # 31 My Treasure (Dot 15437), and Footsteps - which backed the 1957 # 58 A Fallen Star (Dot 15594).

By the time Vaughn took over as musical director at Dot in 1955, he had been a part of 19 of their hit singles, with all but the first release (Trying/You Made Up My Mind - Dot 15018 in 1952) billed as The Hill Toppers. After that all their releases spelled it "Hilltoppers." His replacement was Chuck Schrouder with the first 1956 release (Ka-Ding-Dong/Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall - Dot 15489) billed as The Hilltoppers featuring Chuck Schrouder. Every other release after that would be billed The Hilltoppers featuring Jimmy Sacca.

They don't come any more complete than this, with excellent sound reproduction to boot and informative notes by Rex Strother.