Search - Bobby Day :: Rockin' Robin: The Very Best of Bobby Day

Ace ALWAYS Takes Precedence

08/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Any time you have multiple choices when it comes to "best of" or "greatest hits of" compilations, and Ace Records of London is one of them, you should almost always go with Ace. They are uniformly complete (for the most part), their sound quality is consistently excellent and their liner notes are quite simply the best in the business,



This one covering Bobby Byrd (Day) is no exception. The offering from Collectables, for example, follows their usual standard by leaving off one hit single, in this instance Gotta New Girl which made it to # 82 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in 1959 and was his last charted hit.



The Varese offering is decent enough, presenting all six of his hits as Bobby Day, but in a CD titled Best Of Bobby Day they include some questionable tracks. Such as the two hits by Bob & Earl. Now, while it's true that Bobby did form part of that duo at one time, he was not involved in any of their 3 hits. Bob Relf was the "Bob" on Don't Ever Leave me, Harlem Shuffle, and Baby, It's Over.



Ace, on the other hand, concentrates solely on Bobby Day, either as a single artist or part of a group, and not only do they give you all six of his hit singles, but all but one of the flipsides as well.



When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano backed his first solo hit, Little Bitty Pretty One (# 57 Billboard Pop Top 100 in December 1957), both billed to Bobby Day & The Satellites. That was the group that had evolved from The Flames, then The Hollywood Four Flames, and finally The Hollywood Flames.



Rockin' Robin and Over And Over was, of course, a monster double-sided hit, the A-side reaching # 1 R&B (for 3 weeks) and # 2 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in late summer 1958, and the flipside making it to # 41 Hot 100 and a # 1 R&B "follow-along." Somewhat strangely, these were his only R&B charters under his own name.



Say Yes was the B-side to That's All I Want [# 98 Hot 100 in April 1959), while Mr. And Mrs. Rock 'N Roll backed Gotta New Girl (# 82 Hot 100 in June 1959). The missing side is Alone Too Long which backed The Buzzard, The Bluebird & The Oriole, which had been his first 1959 hit, going to # 54 Hot 100 in January following it's late 1958 release on the Class label (all his hits were for that company).



Bobby, who passed away in July 1990 at age 60 following a battle with cancer, should be a candidate for the R&R Hall of Fame if you compare his successes with those of Gene Vincent, with whom he compares quite favourably.



This is a great compilation."