VA - Bubbling Under, Vol.2 (32 Tracks That Bubbled Under the Billboard Charts 1961-1967)

 

First introduced in 1959, Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart listed the top singles that had yet to break into the Top 100, and truth be told, many of these releases, although they well might have deserved to, never did break on to that higher chart. The reasons were varied, but often it was just unlucky cultural timing. Imagine, for instance, being a surf band and putting out a great instrumental single just as the Beatles and the British Invasion groups broke in the U.S. and were beginning to dominate radio air play. Pop music is a roll of the dice. If there's a clear tragedy to the chart system, it's that these below-the-100 singles, many of which were very good, would then vanish from air play in the decades to follow as well. Oldies radio stations stuck to the biggest and most obvious hits, and these almost-made-it singles became rarities and lost treasures, all but forgotten. This is the second release in Rare Rockin' Records' series reclaiming these lost little treasures for the digital age, and like the first volume, it's a fun, varied, and wonderful archival jukebox of the '60s, collecting songs that placed between 101 and 135 on the Billboard charts between 1961 and 1967, most of them in mono. There are some recognizable names here, including Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Lettermen, Bobby Rydell, Brenda Lee, Neil Sedaka, Gary "U.S." Bonds, and the Chiffons, and the whole compilation paints a fascinating look at '60s pop from a second-tier perspective, illustrating once again how deep and varied and wide pop music began to flow at the center of that storied decade.

01 Freddy Cannon - Let Me Show You Where It's At 

02 Gene Chandler - Tear for Tear 

03 Tracey Dey - Hangin' on to My Baby 

04 The Earls - Eyes 

05 Terry Stafford - Follow the Rainbow 

06 Kris Jensen - Don't Take Her From Me 

07 Gary 'U.S.' Bonds - Not Me 

08 Bobby Rydell - Will You Be My Baby 

09 Dee Clark - Shook Up Over You 

10 Molly Bee - She's New to You 

11 Johnnie Taylor - Rome (Wasn't Built in a Day) 

12 Brenda Lee - He's Sure to Remember Me 

13 The Tigers - GeeTO Tiger 

14 Neil Sedaka - The Closest Thing to Heaven 

15 The Chiffons - Easy to Love (So Hard to Get) 

16 The Echoes - Gee Oh Gee 

17 Baby Washington - A Handful of Memories 

18 Eddie Rambeau - The Train 

19 Gladys Knight & the Pips - Either Way I Lose 

20 David Carroll - Big Girls Don't Cry Limbo 

21 Brian Hyland - Let Us Make Our Own Mistakes 

22 Valerie & Nick - I'll Find You 

23 Dorsey Burnette - Feminie Touch 

24 The Mar-Vells - Go on and Have Yourself a Ball 

25 The Arbors - Just Let it Happen 

26 The Flamingos - I Know Better 

27 Barbara Lewis - Pushin' a Good Thing Too Far 

28 The Lettermen - Put Away Your Teardrops 

29 Jan Davis - Fugitive 

30 Connie Francis - We Have Something More Than a Summer Love 

31 The Jones Boys - Impressions 

32 Jody Miller - Magic Town 

Thanks a lot to Cor