Search - Hilltoppers :: Trying

Great singing group, superb lead singer, Jimmy Sacca !

Dick Bobnick | Burnsville, Minnesota United States | 07/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This collection of Hilltopper's hits and near hits is a great example of what good singing groups used to sound like before the sound engineers and the technology overtook the talent. The Hilltoppers, very much in the style vein of one of their contemporaries, the Four Aces, preferred the romantic ballads over the up tempo or novelty tunes, favored the shuffle rhythm and featured a very strong solo tenor in the voice of Jimmy Sacca. Jimmy, in my opinion, was one of three great lead singers with vocal groups that should have had a long successful solo career. The other two being Al Alberts with the Four Aces and Ed Ames of the Ames Brothers. Ed Ames was the most successful lead singer with a group that parlayed the groups success into a great solo career. Whatever the reason that Jimmy Sacca never had the great solo career, his group, the Hilltoppers, were one of the best that emerged in the '50's. Their first hit, "Trying", is one of their all time best. Other great romantic ballads featured are "Time Waits For No One", "P.S. I Love You", "To Be Alone" and 57 other great or near great songs. The sound is strictly monaural but the digital re-engineering is clean and crisp. If you want to hear what great singing was all about this album will delight you and certainly bring back the memories of the '50's."

Finally!!!!ALL the HITS in one collection

Bill Busse | Fairmont, MN United States | 07/31/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How wonderful to have ALL the Hilltoppers hits from 1952's TRYING straight through to THE JOKER.

I've enjoyed many of these songs on the original 45s and a number of albums but the digital transfer of these recordings was worth the wait.

For years I've tried to find a compilation that included THE DOOR IS STILL OPEN. The Hilltoppers, like many of the other artists during the mid 50s, often had great records which were in the top half of the Cashbox charts but never made those in Billboard. Many times this was because Billboard was only listing 20 to 25 titles while Cashbox was listing 50. So here are the OTHER hits like D-A-R-L-I-N-G.



Hats off to the fine people at Jasmine who put together this great compilation. Now I'm waiting for them to do the same thing for the Fontane Sisters....a complete collection of the original DOT recordings from the masters. Most present collections have inconsistencies and often sound like they were mastered from old 78s or 45s."

Wonderful CD

Liam Liams | 01/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Hilltoppers were a great sensation in the 50's-early 60's with terrific recordings in that period. Truly a treat to have most of their songs on this cd issue. Have fun and get out your saddle shoes."