Search - Various Artists :: Billboard Top Rock 'n' Roll Hits: 1956

Rock and roll that made us wanna DANCE !!!

Matthew G. Sherwin | last seen screaming at Amazon customer service | 02/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Billboard Top Rock 'n' Roll Hits: 1956 gives us ten great rock and roll hits that made us want to dance back in 1956! This good rock still sounds great today and I recommend this CD for people everywhere who enjoy `50s rock and roll.



Elvis himself opens up the track set with his "Don't Be Cruel." Elvis sings this out strong and passionate with a lot of heart and soul. The beat is excellent and the backup vocalists do a great job of harmonizing. I like that percussion, too! Listen also for Elvis to come back later in the album for "Hound Dog." This tune rocks well even today with some very strong electric guitar work and the harmonizing is again excellent. "Hound Dog" was always one of my very favorite Elvis numbers and I predict that you'll like it very much.



Gene Vincent & His Blue Cops do an awesome job on "Be-Bop-A-Lula." "Be-Bop-A-Lula" features some great singing to a slower rock beat that nevertheless leaves nothing to be desired. The electric guitar solo impresses me very much and the percussion marks the beat very well. In addition, there's also Bill Haley & His Comets doing their huge hit entitled "See You Later, Alligator." Nobody could quite capture the essence and flavor of `50s rock and roll the way Bill Haley & His Comets did; this song rocks with great singing, percussion and brass. Great! The backup vocalists enhance the number a good deal, too.



The Teenagers perform their "Why Do Fools Fall In Love;" they sound perfect on this number and this number has a very distinct `50s rock and roll flavor to it that is even reminiscent of the big band feel of the `40s. The horn solo in the middle of this song really sounds great and I love this number a lot!



The CD ends well with Buchanan & Goodman on "The Flying Saucer: Pts. 1 & 2." This number has them playing around with snippets of other songs mixed into their own arrangement--and this works very well.



The artwork is nice and the quality of the sound is excellent.



If you like that great rock and roll sound of the `50s, this is one CD you can't afford to pass by. Get this today and crank up the volume!

"

Great Classics

Kenneth M. Gallagher | Philadelphia, PA USA | 06/28/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Great classic oldies on this collection. Songs such as Green Door and The Flying Saucer make this collection a good one."

Elvis, Fats, Bill Haley and the early royalty of rock'n'roll

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 02/04/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Rock & Roll clearly defines the Billboard charts in that fabled year of 1956. This album offers up two classics from Elvis, Carl Perkin's "Blue Suede Shoes," Fats Domino announcing "I'm in Love Again," and the Teenagers asking that musical question, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" The music of the period is clearly defined by Gene Vincent & His Blue Cops working through "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and Bill Haley & The Comets finding some success with "See You Later, Alligator." Rock music sure has come a long way since then, but here is a representative sampling of the early days. All in all this is an average album in the Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits series, and if you are old enough to remember these songs then you may well reach the magic number of five songs you would like to add to your music library, at which point picking up this album would be a worthwhile investment."