Various Artists - The London American Label Year By Year; 1961 (@320)

 

Various Artists - The London American Label Year By Year; 1961 [@320]

 

The London American Label, Year by Year: 1961 Review by Richie Unterberger.

 The Ace label's reissue anthologies of singles that appeared on the London American imprint are pretty strange affairs, at least in the eyes of listeners outside of the U.K., where London American licensed a lot of material for British release. This CD collects 28 of its singles from 1961, and the only thing they have in common is having been issued by the same company in the U.K. There are big hits, small hits, and singles that missed the charts altogether in both the U.S. and U.K. There are absolute classic smashes (Roy Orbison's "Crying," Ben E. King's "Spanish Harlem," the Drifters' "Sweets for My Sweet," Timi Yuro's "Hurt"); big hits that aren't so classic (Pat Boone's "Moody River," Bobby Darin's "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby"); secondary efforts by major performers like Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Del Shannon, Duane Eddy, the Coasters, and Bill Haley that are generally good, but not a match for their best; and some above-average, but not incredibly memorable, instrumental rock and teen idol sides. Not all of it's rock & roll, either, with Al Caiola & His Orchestra contributing their memorable version of the theme to "The Magnificent Seven." It seems like the only possible appeal of such a compilation would be to British consumers nostalgic for the time they bought these particular songs on this particular label, which can't be that sizable a market -- though, considering Ace's commitment to make this an ongoing series, maybe that's a more viable market than you'd think. All this stated, it's actually not that bad a listen, with plenty of stylistic diversity and reasonable quality for the most part, though it's often on the tamer side of early-'60s rock. It's also annotated with the loving detail typical of Ace releases. As for the rarities, by far the most interesting is the non-charting, Brenda Lee-ish "Lonesome Road" by Mirriam Johnson, who'd become more famous when she changed her name to Jessi Colter and went into country music.

 

Tracklist:

 

1.       WHAT'D I SAY - JERRY LEE LEWIS

2.       SPANISH HARLEM - BEN E KING

3.       RIDERS IN THE SKY - THE RAMRODS

4.       LOVEY DOVEY - BUDDY KNOX

5.       JUST OUT OF REACH (OF MY TWO OPEN ARMS) - SOLOMON BURKE

6.       WAIT A MINUTE - THE COASTERS

7.       THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN - AL CAIOLA & HIS ORCHESTRA

8.       MORE THAN I CAN SAY - BOBBY VEE

9.       YOU MUST HAVE BEEN A BEAUTIFUL BABY - BOBBY DARIN

10.   SO LONG BABY - DEL SHANNON

11.   HURT - TIMI YURO

12.   RING OF FIRE - DUANE EDDY

13.   MOODY RIVER - PAT BOONE

14.   WEEKEND - EDDIE COCHRAN

15.   NAOMI - AL TOUSAN & HIS PIANO

16.   SPANISH TWIST - BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS

17.   RAM-BUNK-SHUSH - THE VENTURES

18.   GIRLS - JOHNNY BURNETTE

19.   AIN'T GONNA WASH FOR A WEEK-EDDIE HODGES

20.   CRYING - ROY ORBISON

21.   TWIST-HER - BILL BLACK'S COMBO

22.   SWEETS FOR MY SWEET - THE DRIFTERS

23.   LONESOME ROAD - MIRRIAM JOHNSON

24.   THE PEPPERMINT TWIST - DANNY PEPPERMINT & THE JUMPIN' JACKS

25.   GET WITH IT - SANDY NELSON

26.   BOO HOO - MARVIN RAINWATER

27.   WHAT A PARTY - FATS DOMINO

28.   MORNING AFTER - THE MAR-KEYS

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