Search - Various Artists :: Classic Hits: Hard to Find Originals

A Few Really Are "Hard To Find"

09/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In spite of the title, most of the ten selections are readily available on any number of compilations or "best of" CDs. But there are four real toughies in the bunch. Such as: Russell Arms' 1957 hit Cinco Robles which, with the backing of Pete King & His Orchestra, he took to # 22 Billboard Pop Top 100 that spring; the Cathy Carr version of Ivory Tower, a # 2 Top 100 in May 1956 with Dan Belloc & His Orchestra; Jodie Sands [Peter deAngelis & His Orchestra] wonderful With All My Heart, a # 15 Top 100 in the summer of 1957; and Primrose Lane by Jerry Wallace with The Jewels, a # 8 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in late summer of 1959.



And while the other six are more easily obtained in other collections, each was a big hit for the artist concerned: Art & Dotty Todd's Chanson d'Amour [# 6 Top 100/# 9 R&B in May 1958]; a 1962 revival of the old Dick Haymes hit, Love Letters, by Ketty Lester [# 2 R&B/# 5 Hot 100]; one of Jimmy Dorsey's last gasps - So Rare - which, after hitting # 2 Top 100/# 4 R&B early in 1957, was still on the charts when he died that August; Gogi Grant's classic The Wayward Wind, which spent EIGHT weeks at # 1 Top 100 in the summer of 1956, and charted again five years later, going to # 50 Hot 100 in May 1961; Miss Toni Fisher's The Big Hurt - # 3 Hot 100/# 16 R&B in late 1959/early 1960 and the first record to utilize an electronic "phasing" gimmick; and finally, Jack Scott's late 1958/early 1959 hit Goodbye Baby [# 8 Hot 100].



Some may lament the fact that the disc only contains ten selections, and the complete lack of liner notes, but folks, there is a lot of r&r/pop history in this neat little package, and you certainly cannot complain about the price. Although I'm not usually fond of Curb productions, this is one of their all-time best and it rates 5 stars on the basis of content and price."