Tuesday, April 03, 2018

Compiled According to Radio, Record and Music Surveys




An astonishingly good set of "fake" hits, considering it's from the cheapest of all cheapo record companies of the Fifties: Record Corp. of America, not to be confused with RCA.

Some wear on this disc, but decent sound overall.  Some of the performances border on quite good (Rock Around the Clock, for instance, the best cheap-label copycat version of the classic tune anywhere).  De-clicking this was a chore, but a happy one, because these tracks were worth rescuing from the ravages of needle drops, digs, and general turntable mistracking.  I take this stuff seriously, Lord help me.

Notice the ripped-off portion of the cover, which was likely a track listing.  Whoever did it could have done it a little more gracefully, but it's cool, campy cover anyway.

Best guess on the release year: 1955, because all of these are 1955 hits.  The LP cover says 1954, but do you trust Record Corp. of America?

Enjoy!

Click here to hear: An Hour of Tops in Pops (Royale 1389)

Rock Around the Clock
Learnin' the Blues
Hard to Get
Honey-Babe
Sweet and Gentle
Love Me or Leave Me
Unchained Melody
A Blossom Fell
Something's Gotta Give
Heart
Don't Be Angry
Two Hearts, Two Kisses

(No artists credited, Allegro/Royale 1389, prob. 1955)


Lee

4 comments:

Ernie said...

I'm glad you're preserving this stuff, because I just can't...

Lee Hartsfeld said...

What, you don't like selections "compiled by radio, record and music surveys?"

They left out the Oxford comma, by the way, not me. I'd have put a second comma, after "record."

Yeah, these things get hard to take after a while, even by me!

Lee Hartsfeld said...

I mean, "Compiled according to...."

Apesville said...

Rock Around The Clock : Broadway 45 - 301 - Jack Richards With Vic Corwin & His Orchestra