Search - Various Artists :: Greatest Hit Singles

Where Are They When You Need Them?

bif_jabronni | dearborn, michigan United States | 01/22/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a nice little CD particularly if you enjoyed The Corsairs and Dickey Doo & The Don'ts the first time around. Smokey Places is a wonderful mix of strong vocals and unique background harmonies that haunt early rock and doo-wop devotees. When you add the obscure Click-Clack, featured on Dick Clark's American Bandstand Greatest Hits 45rpm album, well the blend is fun and refreshing. Who doesn't know the words to What's Your Name? ...and can't help but sing along when you hear that intro. And thank you for including the Cascades' Rhythm Of The Rain often overlooked in early rock mixes. A must for lovers of late 50's to early 60's doo-wop and rock."

A Little Diamond Among Early CD Releases

bif_jabronni | 08/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It isn't often that I dole out 5 stars to an 11-track CD, but this 1994 release from Delta/LaserLight deserves it. First of all, they are original hits, secondly, the sound reproduction is flawless, and thirdly, unlike a lot of those early CD releases, it contains liner notes - two pages by Fred Bronson which begin "Do you remember ... when a single was a 7-inch round piece of black plastic?"



Some of the contents, of course, have since found their way onto numerous multi-track compilations - notably from outfits like Ace of London, Rhino, Eric Records, Collectables, and Varese-Sarabande - but there are still a couple here that, surprisingly, are still not all that easy to find.



One of those would be Click-Clack by Dickey Doo & The Don'ts, a Brooklyn group led by Gerry Granahan which took its unusual name from the nickname given to Dick Clark's son - Dickey Doo. With bass Harvey Davis, guitarist Ray Gangi, Al Ways on sax, and former Rhythm Orchids [Buddy Knox & Jimmy Bowen back-up group] drummer Dave Alldred, they would have five Hot 100 hits in 1958/59, but this would be their best, reaching # 8 R&B/# 28 Billboard Pop Top 100 in April 1958. Granahan would also have a solo hit in 1958 with No Chemise, Please and in 1959/60 his other group, The Fireflies, would have two hits [You Were Mine and I Can't Say Goodbye].



Another in the same category would be Cherry Pie by the Arizona-based duo Skip [Clyde Battin] & Flip ]Gary Paxton] who had three Hot 100 hits, with this one tying their 1959 hit It Was I at # 11 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in June 1960, and also reaching # 22 R&B. Paxton would later form The Hollywood Argyles. And a third categorized as not easy to find would be Dorsey Burnette's ORIGINAL (There Was A) Tall Oak Tree, which peaked at # 23 Hot 100 in 1960 [remakes of this abound].



The other eight are fairly common as all, with the exception of Smokey Places [# 12 Pop/# 10 R&B], were Top 10 Billboard pop hits, the best of these being Rhythm Of The Rain by The Cascades [# 1 Adult Contemporary, # 3 Hot 100, and # 7 R&B in 1963], and Terry Stafford's Suspicion [# 3 Hot 100 in 1964]. Another major crossover hit was Tragedy by Thomas Wayne & The DeLons which topped out at # 5 Hot 100/# 20 R&B in 1959.



There is no discography relating to label details, although Bronson does provide pop chart information for each in the liner notes. This one is well worth the used price shown."