Search - Various Artists :: The Golden Age of American Rock 'n' Roll - The Follow-Up Hits

A Never ending story

Ronald Van Scherpenzeel | Madrid, Spain | 02/25/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Every time ACE comes out with a new collection of The Golden Age Of

American Rock & Roll series whether it's one of the 11 CD's dedicated

to this title, Teenage Crush series (5), Doo-Wop, Country Special,

Novelty Special or the previous Radio Gold fifth volume, it's always

5 stars worth. On This "Follow Up Hits" compilation there are some songs

that I hear for the first time, although I consider myself a profound

"oldies" connaisseur, and not only just that: some of these "new oldies"

are so incredibly fantastic that I will always keep on collecting them

whenever ACE releases a new one no matter under what title. The absolute

highlight for me is the song called "Laugh" by the Velvets a wonderful

stereo version that reminds me of "Save The Last Dance For Me". When

I read that it was written by Roy Orbison I wasn't surprised although

I am sure that, should he have sung it, it would have gone higher than

just # 90. Besides this beauty there are others: "Shy Girl" by the

Cascades, "This I Swear" by the wonderful Skyliners, "No One Knows" by

Dion, "I'll Take You Home" by the Corsairs (fantastic stereo version),

"Tell Me" by Dick & Dee Dee, the unknown "Age For Love" and "Arrow Of

Love" and last but not least a series of genuine and outstanding

good old rock & rollers like Bobby Freeman's "Betty Lou Got..." ,

The Olympics' "Dance With The Teacher, Chuck Wilson's

"Bettie & Dupree", Ritchie Valens' "That's My Little Suzie" (a real gift), Chris Montez'

Some Kinda Fun, "Do What You Did" by Thurston Harris etc. I could go

on and on but to describe 30 songs takes too much time. Anyway, the

important thing is that there are still hundreds of American Hot 100

songs around that at least in Europe were rather unknown and some not even released

but that thanks to ACE are launched on the market almost 50 years later.

That's why I title this review "A Never Ending Story". I'm already anxious to know what the next compilation will be like!

"

Not Quite Accurate In Every Case - But Still A Great Volume

Zub | 05/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of several spin-offs of the excellent Ace series "The Golden Age Of American Rock `n' Roll" this continues the flawless sound reproduction and extensive liner notes associated with that (so-far) 11-volume presentation. And, for the most part anyway, the contents reflect the title of the album and that part of the official blurb above which states " ... presents 30 tracks with a common thread - all of which prevented their performers from becoming one hit wonders by following previous hits into the Billboard Hot 100."



Indeed, 11 of the selections were the only other Billboard Pop Top/Hot 100 hits for the artists concerned and, in most instances, they just barely squeaked into the list. For Roland Trone and Claude Johnson (Don & Juan), the best they could do following their huge What's Your Name? (# 7 Hot 100 in early 1962) was a # 91 late that year with Magic Wand, both for Big Top (Johnson had earlier been part of The Genies who had a # 71 early in 1959 with Who's That Knocking?), while The Impalas did a bit better with Oh, What A Fool, a # 86 in July 1959, some two months after their # 2 Hot 100/# 14 R&B smash Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home), both for Cub.



Others in that vein were: The Six Teens, whose A Casual Look in summer 1956 (# 7 R&B/# 25 Top 100) was followed by the # 80 Top 100 Arrow Of Love a year later, billed to The Six Teens featuring Trudy Williams, both for Flip Records; The Safaris. who had a # 6 Hot 100 in summer 1960 with Image Of A Girl, and then could only manage a # 85 that October with The Girl With The Story In Her Eyes, both with The Phantom's Band on the tiny Eldo label; the Texas Roy Orbison discovery The Velvets, whose Tonight (Could Be The Night) finished at a modest # 26 Hot 100 in June 1961, followed by the Orbison-penned Laugh, which could only make it to # 90 in October - both for Monument; and Joe Jones, who had a smash # 3 Hot 100/# 9 R&B in late 1960 with You Talk Too Much. but a minor # 89 Hot 100 in April 1961 with California Sun, both for Roulette.



These did marginally better, although none could make it back to the Top 40: Joe Bennett & The Sparkletones, whose Black Slacks got as high as # 11 R&B/# 17 Top 100 in October 1957, but saw the follow-up Penny Loafers And Bobby Socks just miss at # 42 Top 100 in December for ABC-Paramount; The Rocky Fellers, recording for Scepter, had Like The Big Guys Do top out at # 55 Hot 100 in July 1963, a few months after having Killer Joe peak at # 16; with the backing of The Revelletts and the Phil Medley orchestra, Jimmy Charles scored big in October 1960 for the Promo label when A Million To One soared to # 5 Hot 100/# 8 R&B, and then, without The Revelletts, but again with Medley, saw The Age For Love settle for a # 47 Hot 100 in December 1960/January 1961; a few months after bursting onto the scene in the summer of 1958 for Demon Records with Endless Sleep (# 5 Top 100/R&B), featuring Al Casey on guitar, Jody Reynolds' follow-up Fire Of Love could only manage a # 66 Hot 100 in late August; and The Corsairs' Smoky Places (# 10 R&B/# 12 Hot 100 in early 1962 for Tuff Records) was followed by the # 68 Hot 100 I'll Take You Home in May for Tuff/Chess, although this also did well on the R&B charts, reaching # 26.



The rest, of course, had at least three hits and, in several cases, many more (e.g. The Olympics and Dion & The Belmonts), but while most were indeed the "follow-up" to their first registered hit, that wasn't the case where these were concerned: Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps - Dance To The Bop (a # 8 R&B/# 23 Top 100) was his last hit after breaking in in 1956 with Be-Bop-A-Lula. The follow-up was Race With The Devil (# 86 in late 1956), and after that he had Lotta Lovin' make it to # 7 R&B/#13 Top 100; Ritchie Valens' first hit was Come On, Let's Go (# 27 R&B/# 42 Top 100 in late 1958), and before he did That's My Little Suzie (# 55 Hot 100 in May 1959 - a posthumous hit), he had the monster two-sided hit Donna (# 2 Hot 100/# 11 R&B) b/w La Bamba (# 22 Hot 100) in late 1958/early 1959; in late 1957 Bobby Day & The Satellites had Little Bitty Pretty One reach # 57 Top 100, and some four months before The Bluebird, The Buzzard & The Oriole got to # 54 Top 100, he had the two-sided hit Rock-in Robin (# 1 R&B/# 2 Top 100) b/w Over And Over (# 41 Top 100); and where The Cascades are concerned, a few months after having Rhythm Of The Rain rocket to # 1 Adult Contemporary/# 3 Hot 100/# 7 R&Bin early 1963, they had a two-sided hit with The Last Leaf going to # 60 Hot 100, while the B-side, Shy Girl, only registered a # 91. Technically, then, the former was the "follow-up" hit.



Even so, this is a volume worth having if for no other reasons than those wonderful, detailed liner notes (although the music is great too)."