Search - Various Artists :: You Heard It Here First! (Original Versions of Famous Songs)

Essential For Music Historians/Collectors

09/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ace Records of London has come up with yet another winner in this volume which chronicles the origins of some of the biggest hit singles of the 1950s and 1960s, and in the 28-page booklet, Rob Finnis and Tony Rounce provide detailed track-by-track background information that reads like a history lesson on the development of popular music. Throughout the 28 pages are 45 rpm and poster reproductions related to the cuts, along with photographs of many of the artists. On the reverse, as is their norm, Ace shows the full label details and year of release for each track.



Understandably, without having had the luck which often make the difference between an also-ran and a hit (some were also handicapped by the "small label" curse - no funds for proper promotion or "payola" when that was rampant), most are so obscure that photos likely are just not available. But there are some that Ace was able to dig up which likely would never have come to light again but for their unmatched efforts in providing us with the unusual.



One such is Sunny Dae & The Knights, a four-piece Philadelphia group who actually recorded Max Freedman's now immortal Rock Around The Clock in the year preceding the Bill Haley version, which initially charted in 1954 (not "three years before" as intimated in the above blurb) and also released it in 1954 on the small Arcade label. It isn't surprising that this didn't make any charts. First, Arcade didn't have the resources to get it heard and besides, Sunny (real name Paschal Vennitti and actually an acquaintance of Bill's) had neither the voice nor the arrangement designed to grab anyone's attention, unlike the Haley version, released as (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock. Still, it's great to see it available on disc and you won't want to miss the full tale behind the recording as told by Rob Finnis.



Other extremely interesting stories lie behind Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go? by The Leaves (they recorded it twice - this is the initial rendition), Barbie Gaye's My Boy Lollipop (shown on the actual record as "Lollypop"), which she recorded 7 years before Millie Small for the tiny Darl label, and Richard Berry & The Pharaoh's Louie, Louie, a 1957 recording that came out in 1957 on Ember E.P. 4527 Volume 3 and was promptly forgotten until a group from Portland, Oregon calling themselves The Kingsmen recorded it and launched a legend.



And when you hear songs like Something Stupid by Carson & Gaile, Ain't That Loving You Baby by Eddie Riff, Go Now by Bessie Banks, A Rockin' Good Way by Priscilla Bowman & The Spaniels, and I Fought The Law by The Crickets you will realize that these could just as easily have been as big as the later versions to come - if not better in a few cases.



I can't praise this latest release from Ace enough, and I guarantee that you will enjoy the booklet as much as the music."

An Essential CD

Exchronos | Canton, OH USA | 02/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD collects 26 very rare and hard to find tracks that no lover of Rock N' Roll music should be without.



"Wild Thing" by The Wild Ones is one of the hardest songs to find, and upon hearing it for the first time, I can only equate it to the wonder and awe I experienced watching Jimi Hendrix perform "Wild Thing" in the filmed version of the Monterey Pop music festival. After hearing the Troggs version all my life, with the occasional cover here and there of which could not match the Troggs rendition (Jimi Hendrix's rendition is more of a visual wonderment which will make his actual musical performance, which is superb no matter what he played, just an after thought!). Hearing the original was quite a liberating experience after having been "Trogged" down in one's standards of the song.



"I Found You" by Yvonne Fair is also quite a refreshing experience, for it is the first recorded version of the James Brown classic I Got You (I Feel Good!). Not only does the song groove as greatly as the James Brown staple does, but hearing a feminine voice tackle the song for a change with the same soulful ferocity makes it a true gem of a find.



"Hanky Panky" by The Raindrops is a curiosity though. This original version has lyrics quite different from the Tommy James hit, and it changes the song's meaning considerably. Of note the song is sung from the feminine perspective which adds some confusion while listening to the track (I have heard Joan Jett's rendition of "Hanky Panky", but being based off of the famous Tommy James version it's not as complicated to figure out story wise as the original is). For example this tune lists a number of male acts at the time saying that they all do the Hanky Panky, and that the singer's guy does the Hanky Panky nice and slow, and thus during most of the song the first time listener is trying to not only compare the version from memory, but attempting to figure out the song's narrative perspective as well.



"Little Bit O' Soul" by The Little Darlings is a garage rocker well worthy of hit status, although the famous version by Music Explosion is a bit more fluid in its flow throughout the song by lacking the same constant drum beat the original has throughout (which gives it a good garage backbeat, but keeps the flow of the song from any variance as gracefully done in the Music Explosion version).



"My Boy Lollipop" by Barbie Gaye sounds incredibly close to the Millie version, except for the first line. She sings "makes my heart go hippity hop" instead of "makes my heart go giddy-up", and I bet if she'd made that word change when she recorded it, then it wouldn't need to be on this CD at all! The "giddy-up" part just comes naturally now, and hearing something different really raises your awareness. I once read the the original version of Whitesnake recorded "Here I Go Again" in the early 1980s with the line "like a Hobo I was born to walk alone", luckily when the band reformed in the late 1980s they had sense enough to change "hobo" to "drifter". Seriously, one word is all it takes!



"I Fought The Law" by The Crickets (after Buddy Holly's death, which today is the 40th Anniversary of "The Day The Music Died") is great to finally hear because usually it's mislabeled and we get yet another copy of the Bobby Fuller Four hit, but not here! I actually doubted the existence of a Crickets version for a few years, and I'm glad that Ace Records finally put that debate to rest!



"Rock Around The Clock" by Sonny Dae And The Knights is the surprising shocker of all that it even exists. It's a rougher rendition, and definitely a 1950s sounding composition without the big band beat and instrumentation that the Comets provided. If anything the original does beckon you to listen to Haley's version simply for its instrumentation despite how many thousands of times you've already heard it! And after listening to it this time after hearing the originally, I have a lot more respect and admiration for the guitar part in the Comets' version, which almost sounds like a forerunner of latter 1950s surf guitar riffs!



I won't go into too much detail about the others, but every song in the collection is a must have for anybody who loves Rock N' Roll!



The only thing that would've made this disc better would have been the addition of the original "Mustang Sally" by Sir Mack Rice (covered one year later by both The Rascals and by Wilson Pickett), and the inclusion of the original "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" which I believe was done by Johnny O'Keefe originally (covered by Jerry Lee Lewis, Iggy Pop, Joan Jett, etc...), yet I've read some Joan Jett liner notes attributing the song to Sonny Curtis and the post-Holly Crickets. Also if they really wanted to shock and awe adding the original "Blueberry Hill" by Gene Autry (done in 1940 approximately 15 years prior to Fats Domino's hit remake) and the original Swing version of "Train Kept A Rollin'" by Tiny Bradshaw (covered by the Johnny Burnett Trio, The Yardbirds, Aerosmith, and everybody else practically). Other hard to find tracks for a volume 2 if you're reading this Ace would be "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" by Elvis Presley (covered by Travis Tritt), "Devil With A Blue Dress On" by Shorty Long (covered by Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels who combined it with Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly"), "Land Of 1,000 Dances" by Chris Kenner (coverd by both Cannibal & The Headhunters and Wilson Pickett), "Love Hurts" by The Everly Brothers (covered by Roy Orbison, Nazareth, Joan Jett, etc...), and "Do Wah Diddy" by The Exciters (which Ace does have on other CDs, but still it belongs on a compilation like this too, since the famous version was the cover by Manfred Mann).



So hope you're reading this Ace Records, and once again, great job!

"

More please!!

Kevin ONeill | Central Coast NSW Australia | 05/13/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Another ace from ACE. Excellent CD. It's hard to fathom why some of these weren't hits first time around. In many cases, some of the originals on this CD are better than the latter hit versions e.g. 'This Diamond Ring', 'California Sun', 'Go Now' & 'I just don't know what to do with myself'. The jewel in the crown here is 'Rock Arouind the Clock', while not exactly 'a great record', it is a 'must have' for any genuine record collector of the 'pop era'.

No doubt, there would be plenty more gems to follow-up this one, say for maybe, a vol 2 or vol 3. How about it ACE??

Thanks again for an excellent product."