The London American Label, Year by Year: 1960 Review by
Richie Unterberger.
In the early years of rock & roll, the London American
label licensed a lot of material from U.S. companies for release in the U.K.
market, most of which was pretty commercially successful (sometimes enormously
so). This CD brings together 28 such tracks from the year 1960, in a way
offering a snapshot of where rock & roll was heading as the new decade got
underway. It's not exactly a "best of 1960 rock & roll," however,
as the pool from which it draws would be too limited for that. Instead, it's a
grab bag of out-and-out classics (Roy Orbison's "Blue Angel," the
Drifters' "Save the Last Dance for Me," Bo Diddley's "Road
Runner"); teen idol pop (Johnny Burnette's "You're Sixteen,"
Donnie Brooks' "Doll House," Johnny Tillotson's "Poetry in
Motion"); instrumental rock (Johnny & the Hurricanes' "Beatnik
Fly," Duane Eddy's "Kommotion," the Ventures'
"Perfidia"); and somewhat lesser-known tracks by early rock &
roll greats like Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, the Coasters, and the Everly
Brothers. A few rarities by non-stars are thrown in, as well as the odd honky
tonker (Wynn Stewart's "Wishful Thinking"), early soul hit (Marv
Johnson's "I Love the Way You Love"), and even a death disc (Lee
Hazlewood's weird "The Girl on Death Row," with Eddy on guitar). Yes,
there is a good amount of good to great music here, and if nothing else it's
evidence that rock & roll, contrary to a stereotypical party line that's
been perpetuated for decades, was still in many senses vibrant in 1960. Yet
it's also evidence that 1960 wasn't one of rock & roll's better years
either, with a number of the cuts showing the drift of much mainstream rock
& roll toward softer poppier styles and production (though this wasn't
always a terrible thing, as Donnie Brooks' undeniably catchy orchestrated teen
idol pop hit demonstrates). And the restriction of the selection to tracks that
were licensed by London American robs the set of any real identity -- they
weren't even all done for the same label or group of labels originally, making
it a somewhat arbitrary grouping of singles. The lack of thematic consistency
or universally high quality makes even the stronger tracks items that sound
much better on single-artist anthologies or various-artists collections, where
the standards are higher and the connecting threads far more resonant.
Tracklist:
1. Let It
Rock - Chuck Berry
2. Three
Steps to Heaven - Eddie Cochran
3. Wishful
Thinking - Wynn Stewart
4. Kommotion
- Duane Eddy
5. Blue Angel
- Roy Orbison
6. Mystery
Train - Vernon Taylor
7. Tiny Tim -
Lavern Baker
8. Poetry in
Motion - Johnny Tillotson
9. I Love the
Way You Love - Marv Johnson
10. Road Runner
- Bo Diddley
11. Beatnik Fly
- Johnny and the Hurricanes
12. All I Could
Do Was Cry - Etta James
13. Too Young
to Date - the Delicates
14. Don't Be
Cruel - Bill Black's Combo
15. Wake Me,
Shake Me - the Coasters
16. Judy -
Teddy Redell
17. Save the
Last Dance for Me - the Drifters
18. Hey Little
One - Dorsey Burnette
19. Lovey - the
Clovers
20. Somebody to
Love - Bobby Darin
21. I've Been
Loved Before - Shirley & Lee
22. Doll House
- Donnie Brooks
23. Perfidia -
the Ventures
24. Like
Strangers - the Everly Brothers
25. My Girl
Josephine - Fats Domino
26. The Girl on
Death Row - Lee Hazlewood with Duane Eddy and His Orchestra
27. Sadie's
Back in Town - Sonny Burgess
28. You're
Sixteen - Johnny Burnette
Muchas gracias.
ReplyDeleteSaludos.