One in the well-executed Acrobat British Hit Parade Series
Zub | Forks Twp., PA | 04/09/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Acrobat Music of the U.K., a relatively new reissue label with a growing library of CD's of music from the 40's, 50's and 60's has an ongoing series of compilation CD's that contains all the recordings that made the British Hit Parade as published in the New Musical Express publication from 1953 through, as of this date, 1959. An all-inclusive compilation like this is possible in the U.K. (and not in the U.S.) due to the 50-year copyright limit on musical recordings there as in Europe and Canada. In those jurisdictions, the time, expense and restrictions of licensing is no longer an issue in replicating music outside that 50-year window. While this removes barriers to making the music available, the possessors of the source recordings have no financial incentive to allow access to the original masters, should they still exist. Consequently, these out-of-copyright reissues are mostly, by necessity or convenience, made from circulating recordings - often 78's or other vinyl pressings - and do not have the fidelity of anything close to the original master recording. So, the upshot is, in nearly every case with this type of reissue, we're getting cleaned-up vinyl recordings on CD. The sound quality then becomes an issue of how well the company executes the restoration process with the sources they obtain. Acrobat Music, which does a lot of reissues of both in- and out-of license material is reasonably competent with their sound restoration and source procurement.
Note that another series, on the Fantastic Voyage label, with the same titles as these Acrobat titles has become available. While they both purport to contain the British Hit Parade charting entries, there are some differences in the songs offered on like-titled pieces due to use of other chart sources. If considering purchase of any CD's in either of these series, be aware of the slight differences in the similarly titled CD's being offered by the two different companies.
This volume, the fifth installment, covers the first half of 1956. As the hit parade chart grew to 30 entries during early 1956, this set requires four CD's to include all the charting singles. They are presented in chronological order except in the case of multiple versions of the same song. These have been separated to avoid perceived repetition. As many as four versions of the same song made the charts as was the case with "The Ballad of Davy Crockett". American listeners will find many a familiar tune here in that many of the songs on the British charts were direct U.S. imports - Frank Sinatra's "Love and Marriage", Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This", "Hot Diggity" from Perry Como and many more. Early rock and roll was crossing the pond as evidenced by Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel" and Frankie Lymon's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love". Some hits, for various reasons, to the chagrin of their American artists, only made the British charts in cover versions by Brits. Jimmy Parkinson (an Australian, actually) took the Platters' "The Great Pretender" into the top ten. It wasn't all a one-way street however as a few British hits such as Lonnie Donegan's "Rock Island Line" broke into the U.S. top ten years before the "British Invasion" spearheaded by the Beatles. The British charts did have their own stars and tunes though with the likes of Dick James' "Robin Hood" and the Goons' novelty "I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas".
Production quality here is quite good. Sound reproduction varies from excellent to decent considering most of these tracks were, as noted above, likely lifted from vinyl. Just a few are somewhat gritty - notably disc three, track 21 and disc four, track one. The massive 40-page liner notes booklet is superb with a bit of historical perspective of the era followed by background on the included artists and songs interspersed with pics and label shots.
All told, with its mix of familiar American recordings, fun-to-compare British covers and uniquely British hits, this volume offers much to entice the American music fan of the era."
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1