Search - Various Artists :: Axes and Saxes: The Great Instrumentals (The Rock N Roll Era)

Eric K. (SoulfulStuff)
Reviewed on 12/20/2016...

This 22-track disc from Time-Life has a solid lineup
of hit instrumentals, all but one a Billboard chart item
during the period 1958-1964.

The one non-charted song is "Apache,"
which WAS a top 10 hit in 1961, for Danish
guitarist Jorgen Ingmann. The compiler(s) of this CD
chose to include an earlier recording of the song by
The Shadows, Cliff Richard's back-up band.
They had recorded the song after hearing an earlier
version by British guitarist Bert Weedon. The Shadows'
recording reached #1 in England but did nothing when
released here in the USA. Jorgen Ingmann released
the song as the intended B-side of a 45 but deejays
"flipped" over it and it became a #2 hit for
Ingmann. The "Apache" saga is covered in detail in a
fine book by Steve Otfinoski, "The Golden Age of
Rock Instrumentals," a Billboard book from 1997.
("Apache" found new life in 1981, when it became the
basis for a rap hit by Sugarhill Gang, two years after
their breakout with "Rapper's Delight").

One barely-charted entry here is "Baja" by
The Astronauts, a Colorado group that adopted a surf
music style through four albums and a dozen singles
for RCA Records in 1963-64, when the label was
hoping for an act like Capitol Records had with
the Beach Boys at the time. But "Baja" was the only
single that charted for them...debuting at #94
the last week of July, 1963...and disappearing
from the chart the week after.

Here's the track list for "Axes and Saxes":

DICK DALE & HIS DEL-TONES Misirlou
LONNIE MACK Wham!
BILL BLACK'S COMBO Smokie Part 2
FREDDY KING Hide Away
RUMBLERS Boss
COZY COLE Topsy Part 2
LEE ALLEN & HIS BAND Walkin' With Mr. Lee
VENTURES Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
SANDY NELSON Let There Be Drums
PYRAMIDS Penetration
VISCOUNTS Harlem Nocturne
SHADOWS Apache
PHIL UPCHURCH COMBO You Can't Sit Down Part 1
RAMRODS (Ghost) Riders in the Sky
CHAMPS El Rancho Rock
ASTRONAUTS Baja
LES COOPER & THE SOUL ROCKERS Wiggle Wobble
WILLIE MITCHELL 20-75
DUANE EDDY Peter Gunn
JACK NITZSCHE Lonely Surfer
BILLY JOE & THE CHECKMATES Percolator (Twist)
ACE CANNON Tuff

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