Search - Golden Age of American Rock 'n Roll :: The Golden Age of American Rock 'N' Roll, Volume 6

Hits, Near-Hits, and Forgotten Treasures

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 07/24/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The UK's leading reissue label ACE Records maintains its high standards with its sixth volume chronicling the early pop/rock scene in America from 1954-1963. As always, top-notch sound, an unheard of 30 tracks on a single disc compilation, and an informative 20-page booklet. Once again, ACE focuses on small, independent labels which means you aren't going to be getting the same old songs that have been recycled for the Baby Boomer generation for the past 30 years. In fact, only six of these songs were Top Ten and nearly half (13) didn't even reach the Top 40. What you get is a thoughtful blend of the familiar along with some forgotten treasures.The album kicks off with the Crescent City sound of John Fred's "Shirley." If the name sounds familiar, it should. While his first single flopped in 1958 (as did his next 14 singles), he topped the charts ten years later in 1968 with "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)." Another terrific New Orleans R&B song from 1958 is Huey "Piano" Smith & the Clowns' "Don't You Just Know It."There are a couple terrific rockabilly songs--the Sparkletones' 1957 hit "Black Slacks" and Jimmy Edwards' "Love Bug Crawl" that came out the same year (although it stalled at No. 78). "Come Go With Me" was a million-seller by one of the first integrated doo-wop groups in 1957. The Quotations weren't as successful with their doo-wop version of the pop standard "Imagination," which didn't crack the Top 40. The most successful doo-wop song included here was the Elegant's "Little Star," which topped the charts in 1958. [Note: Unlike volumes 1-5, which struck more of a balance between the late-Fifties and early-Sixties songs, all but a handful of these were released in the fifties on volume 6.]Other hits include the Royal Teens' "Short Shorts," perhaps best known for featuring future Four Season's member Bob Gaudio, who wrote their first hit "Sherry" and co-wrote many of their biggest hits of the Sixties.A surprise is the inclusion of Ricky Nelson's second hit, the Fats Domino cover of "I'm Walkin'." The surprise is that ACE tends to include only artists with one or two hits (two dozen of these acts didn't have more than one Top 40 hit), and Nelson charted 36 times, making him the most chart active artist on the first six volumes of this series.Highlights (and there are many) include Johnny Ace's "Pledging My Love," a song that charted in 1955 two months after Ace tragically died on Christmas Eve while playing Russian Roulette. Then there's former Domino and Drifter Clyde McPhatter's plaintive "Lover Please." And the Rivington's original version of "Papa-oom-mow-mow" from 1962. It would do no better than No. 48, but two years later, the Trashment would take this song and the Rivington's other most memorable song, "The Bird Is the Word," rename it "Surfin' Bird" and take it to No. 4. By itself, this volume is not as strong as the first three, but as a total series package it's unbeatable. If you love early rock and roll, be sure to add this volume to your collection. RECOMMENDED"

I like it...think i'm gonna buy number four tonight.

David Gates | Muskogee, Oklahoma | 06/13/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"(I want to get the set before it's out of print!) I've been buying oldies compilations for ten years, and haven't seen a series with this much tough-to-find music in decent sound. It almost seems Ace reverse-engineered the series by researching old chart info looking for hits that nobody else was offering. These guys also did a LOT of homework, digging up everything you'd ever care to know about every track. "Tall Cool One", "Itchy Twichy Feeling", and (the original) "Lollipop" sold me on this CD, and "Hard Times(The Slop)", "I Wonder (If Your Love Will Ever Belong To Me", and "Hide And Go Seek (part 1)" were nice surprises for someone who's never heard them before. The only dim spot (they admit it themselves!) is "The Shape I'm In", which is a textbook example of what happens when marketing experts at big record companies are allowed to make decisions for the A&R department. File under Teen Idol/Payola. Listen once through and not again. But the twenty-nine tracks I don't skip were definitely worth the price. Keep 'em coming!"

Nobody does it better

Zub | Forks Twp., PA | 03/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ace Records of England can't be beat when it comes to these compilations. Continuing their stride with another massive 30-track gathering of top-100 American pre-British invasion charters, volume six presents enough familiar tunes to keep the casual listener engaged while providing another chunk of rarely, if ever found on CD, minor hits from the era, all in the best possible sound. A whole batch of new-on-CD tunes crops up here providing discovery for the casual listener and great finds for the more avid collector. Here you find the Crickets' drummer, Jerry Ivan Allison's "Real Wild Child", the Quotations' quasi-novelty "Imagination" (tough to sing along with but fun when you master it), the "Broken Hearted Melody"-sounding "I Wonder" from the Pentagons and Coasters wanna-bes the Sevelles' "Charlena". Some fairly successful 45s that have been totally ignored by other compilers see the digital light of day here - Eddie Cooley's "Priscilla" and Ronald and Ruby's demo version of "Lollipop", overshadowed by the Chordettes' polished version. As with other volumes in the series, Ace only commits to these tracks when they can secure solid sound sources for them. While most are in mono (10,14,16,30 are in stereo), the sound is clean and unsupressed giving new life to many of these tracks. Besides the usual massive track info, this volume's liner notes are introduced by a fascinating glimpse into the musical attitude of the time by way of an extract from a 1957 Time Magazine article debating the demise of rock and roll as the teenager's music du jour. With this sixth volume in their outstanding series, Ace continues to prove who's the boss when it comes to mining the vaults of early American rock and roll."