1958 - 20 Greatest Hits

1959 - 20 Greatest Hits

60's Party Rock - Best of..

American Graffiti Soundtrack

Atlantic Sisters of Soul

Bill Haley & The Coments - Greatest Hits

Bo Diddley - His Greatest Sides

Buddy Holly - The Buddy Holly Collection (2 Cassettes)

Carl Perkins - Greatest Hits

Chuck Berry - The Great Twenty-Eight

Clyde McPhatter - Greatest Hits

Danny and the Juniors - Rockin' With…

Del Shannon - Greatest Hits ****

Shannon was part of that wave of crappy croony pop stars in the early 60’s, except that he was actually really good. He was a great songwriter and singer, and was also a decent guitarist. This greatest hits only covers his really successful era, ’61 to ’65. He actually kept his career going until 1990 (when he committed suicide), and experimented with bunches of different styles along the way (including the early Detroit punk scene in the late 60’s, and country-western in the 80’s).

Shannon’s voice is excellent – he has great range, and his vocals can also seem very raw, in a good way.

The best song on this compilation is definitely his best known, Runaway. Other great songs include Hats Off To Larry (which Me First and the Gimme Gimmies do a cool cover of), The Swiss Maid (which features yodeling), From Me To You (his version was the first Lennon/McCartney composition to chart in the US), his cover of Handy Man, That’s The Way Love Is (where his vocals are great), and Keep Searchin’, which sounds a bit like what the Doors would be a couple years later.

The album slips a bit towards the end, but I’ll be nice and give it 4 stars. I’m still curious about the later stuff though. I really want to hear his Stoogesesque songs.

Dion and the Belmonts - Reunion: Live at Madison Square Garden 1972

Doo Wop Uptempo - Best of: Volume 2

Eddie Cochran - Greatest Hits

Elvis Presley - Reconsider Baby

Elvis Presley - The Complete Sun Sessions

Everly Brothers - All-Time Greatest Hits

Everly Brothers - Everly Brothers

Fats Domino - All Time Greatest Hits

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall In Love

Gene Vincent - Greatest hits

Good Old Rock 'n' Roll Volume 2

Hard to Find Hits of Rock 'n' Roll Volume 1

Harlem Holiday - New York Rhythm and Blues Vol. 2

Harlem Holiday - New York Rhythm and Blues Vol. 6

Heart 'n' Soul of Rock 'n' Roll (4 cassette)

Ike And Tina Turner - Greatest Hits

Jerry Lee Lewis - All Killer No Filler (2 cassette best of)

Jerry Lee Lewis - Live at the Star Club, Hamburg

Jerry Lee Lewis - Original Sun Greatest Hits

Little Anthony and the Imperials - Best of

Little Richard - 20 Greatest Hits

Only Rock 'n' Roll - 1955-1965

Pure Gold - Volume 13

Pure Gold - Volume 4

Pure Gold - Volume 5

Ray Charles - Best of the Atlantic Years

Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody (best of)

Ritchie Valens - The Ritchie Valens Story ****

You probably know Richie Valens as the man behind La Bamba, but judging by this compilation, he deserves to be better known than that. About 1/3^rd of this cassette is occupied by a biography told by his producer and father figure, Bob Keane. The biography is a touching story of Valens’ life and short career before he died at the age of 17 in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper (and for a few years, rock and roll) in February 1959.

As for the music… Richie Valens was both a great singer and a gifted guitarist. His guitar style is rockabilly, with a touch of blues and pinch of pop. He was also quite a talented songwriter. There are many moments on this album, particularly on Bluebirds Over The Mountain, where Valens’ vocals sound like Buddy Holly. His vocals are perhaps at their best on one of his biggest hits, Donna.

Another standout moment here is Big Baby Blues, an instrumental that really showcases his skills as a guitarist. Malaguena is another instrumental, this time with a purely Latin-American feel. His live cover of Cochran’s Summertime Blues is also very well done.

The second last track is his somewhat chilling radio commercial for the Winter Dance Party, followed by a radio announcer saying that he, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash on the way to a Winter Dance Party tour date.

The deaths of Valens and Holly are especially regrettable, to a slightly lesser degree to Hendrix’s death to me. They both pushed rock and roll ahead in their times, and were hugely influential, and I think that they had a lot more rock to give. 

So… this compilation gets 4 stars. It loses points for the novelty tune, The Paddiwack Song, as well as Stay Beside Me, which just doesn’t do it for me. A biography would usually lose the album points, but this one is very well done I find.

Rock 'n' Roll Relix - 1962-1963

Rock This Town - Rockabilly Hits Volume 2

Roy Orbison - Super Hits

The Animals - Greatest Hits (early Animals)

The Beach Boys - Endless Summer (Best of)

The Big Bogger - Hellooo Baby! Best of 1954-1959

The Brill Building Sound Box Set - 4 Cassettes

The Chordettes - Greatest Hits

The Coasters - 50 Coastin' Classics

The Crests - Best of..

The Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron

The Doo Wop Box Volume 1 (4 Cassettes)

The Doo Wop Box Volume 2 (4 Cassettes)

The Drifters - The Collection

The Girl Groups - Best of: Volume 2

The Manhatten Transfer - Down In Birdland Anthology

The Marvelettes - Best of

The Nylons **

- 4 On The Floor

- One Size Fits All

- Self Titled

OK… this is how it is – I really don’t want to do 3 reviews for these guys. So it’s going to be one collective review. Nobody should bother reading it anyhow. I should add that these guys aren’t actually from the 50’s. But they are acapella, which is sort of Doo Wop. And I don’t want them contaminating my other list. The Satins.. er… the Nylons formed in the early 80’s. Their first two cds are Self Titled and One Size Fits All, I’m pretty sure. 4 On The Floor is a live compilation from the early 90’s. The Silky Undergarments were always 4 guys, although I’m pretty sure that there were at least a few changes over time. In basic style, they’re pretty Doo Woppy, with the deep voice spewing gibberish noises, and then the high voice echoing the lead vocal. But there are no instruments in the Nylon’s stuff, other than very minimal percussion. Which shows that they are pretty good vocalists, but I also like my instruments to much for them not to be used. There are a few good songs over the albums…. Good Old Acapella and One Fine Day from the live album are both well done. The Love Potion #9 cover from the self titled album is pretty cool. There is also an abundance of really shitty songs, such as Wildfire, Amazon, and Eli’s Coming on the live album, A Million Ways on self-titled and plenty of others. If you can’t tell, I didn’t give One Size Fits All a good listen. I didn’t want to. I got bored of listening to 4 people that could be found on American (Canadian) Idol and a drum machine. I mean… vocal talent is all well and good, but the vocals for the Nylons are pretty cheesy sometimes, and I just get bored of them really quickly. So… I feel like I should give them more than 2 stars, but I want to give them less.

The Okeh Rhythym and Blues Story (1949-1957) Box Set (3 Cassettes)

The Platters - The Magic Touch Anthology (2 cassette)

The Rock 'n' Roll Era - 1954-1961 (7 Cassettes)

The Shirelles - Greatest Hits

Wanda Jackson - Rock 'n' Roll Away Your Blues