Search - Perez Prado and His Orchestra, Joan Weber, The Fontane Sisters :: Hits of 55: Moments to Remember

Some Tunes Unfamiliar To North American Fans - But Still A G

05/30/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The first thing you have to remember about this series from the British outlet ASV Living Era is that, unlike Ace's Golden Age Of American Rock 'n' Roll series, or the one from Acrobat with the generic title Jukebox Hits (as just two examples of many great series to come out of the U.K.), they tend to concentrate on songs that were huge hits in the U.K. In some cases these may also have been hits in North America, but they do throw in some that are known primarily in the U.K.



In this release those would be Finger Of Suspicion by Dickie Valentine & The Stargazers, Softly, Softly, by the Irish songstress Ruby Murray, Give Me Your Word by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Cool Water by Frankie Laine, Dreamboat by Alma Cogan, and The Man From Laramie by Jimmy Young - all # 1 hits in the U.K, but never chart-makers in North America. Another, Slim Whitman's Rose-Marie, was a # 4 Country for him here - but in 1954, not 1955. Also, some here might recall Jaye P. Morgan's rendition of Softly, Softly which was a # 12 "follow-along" hit as the flip of Danger! Heartbreak Ahead in 1955.



All the rest will be recognized at once by those of you who are familiar with the top songs from Billboard's Pop Top/Hot 100, and full details, including a discography, are contained in the informative liner notes.



There are volumes in this vast series for every year going all the way back to 1930, with the one for 1954 containing a song you just won't find anywhere else - the original rendition of Skokiaan by The Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band which reached # 17 on the Billboard charts.



Now for the bad news. It seems ASV was gobbled up by one of the Big Four of the music industry - in this instance Universal Music Group (the other three being Sony BMG, EMI and Warner) - and naturally, in their desire to control things to the nth degree, they have reportedly discontinued ASV's library of public domain titles. So what you see is what you get, and if there's a song on one of the issues that you've been thinking about (like I was with Skokiaan) I suggest you get a copy now."