Search - Various Artists :: Hey! Look What I Found, Vol. 4

More obscurities - mostly

Zub | Forks Twp., PA | 03/02/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Another 27 mostly minor hits and misses from the late 50s into the mid-70s with a few decent-charting hard-to-find sides thrown in, served up by the Mavis outfit in Canada. While some of these titles may sound familiar, these versions are by artists whose version took a back seat, or in some cases took no seat at all, to the real hit version. Bill and Doree Post's version of "Sixteen Reasons" had no chance against Connie Stevens' top-10 version. The "Alley-Oop" version here by Dante and the Evergreens, while second to the Hollywood Argyles' monster hit at least outdid a third version by the Dyna-Sores. Garry Miles' "Look For A Star" actually edged out versions by Garry Mills and Deane Hawley. Jimmie Rodgers treatment of "Wreck Of The John B", much more in the folk style of the song's origin, was virtually ignored and the song unknown until the Beach Boys made a top pop hit out of it in 1966. Tracey Dey's pounding version of Patience and Prudence's squishy 1956 hit "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" deserved more attention on the charts than it received in 1964. While the versions of songs here are mostly the losing ones, that is part of what makes this collection more interesting in that it doesn't recycle the same tunes found in other compilations. There are a few sides included for their sheer idoicy alone such as the so-called Alfred E. Neuman's "It's A Gas", the vocals of which consists entirely of belches. The downfall here, as with the other volumes in this series, is the mediocre sound quality that at times is fairly miserable - tracks 10 and 18 are particularly ragged. Of these needle drops, at least a few - 13,15,25 are from stereo discs and sound reasonably clean. Following the theme of this series, this volume provides some more obscure hits and misses for those who are seeking out some of these truly rarely, if ever, found-on-CD tunes. As the track listings were not supplied at the time of this review they are listed below.1) (Make With) The Shake - Mark IV; 2) I've Got A Lot To Learn - Kenny Rogers; 3) Bewitched - Betty Smith Group; 4) Tennessee Waltz - Jerry Fuller; 5) Starry Eyed - Garry Stites; 6) Marina - Rocco Granata; 7) I'll Walk The Line - Don Costa; 8) Everybody Outta The Pool - Lifeguards; 9) Bad Boy - Marty Wilde; 10) Alley-Oop - Dante & Evergreens; 11) Look For A Star - Garry Miles; 12) Sixteen Reasons - Bill & Doree Post; 13) Wreck Of The John B - Jimmie Rodgers; 14) Hello Fool - Ralph Emery; 15) I Could Have Loved You So Well - Ray Peterson; 16) All Of This For Sally - Mark Dinning; 17) It's A Gas - Alfred E. Neuman; 18) The Twistin' Ghost - Maximillian; 19) Jealous Fool - Jimmy Breedlove; 20) Blue Guitar - Richard Chamberlain; 21) My Baby's Just Crazy 'Bout Elvis - Mike Sarne; 22) Gonna Get Along Without You Now - Tracey Dey; 23) Hey-Da-Da-Dow - Dolphins; 24) Noshville Katz - Lovin' Cohens; 25) God, Love And Rock And Roll - Teegarden & Van Winkle; 26) Third Rate Romance - Amazing Rhythm Aces; 27) The Biggest Parakeets - Jud Strunk"