Track Listing

1. Tainted Love - GLORIA JONES
2. Suspicious Minds - MARK JAMES
3. Wild Thing - THE WILD ONES
4. I Fought The Law - THE CRICKETS
5. The Red Rooster - HOWLIN' WOLF
6. Hanky Panky - THE RAINDROPS
7. Go Now - BESSIE BANKS
8. A Rockin' Good Way - PRISCILLA BOWMAN & THE SPANIELS
9. This Diamond Ring - SAMMY AMBROSE
10. Tobacco Road - JOHN D. LOUDERMILK
11. I Found You - YVONNE FAIR
12. Ain't That Loving You Baby - EDDIE RIFF
13. Louie Louie - RICHARD BERRY & THE PHARAOHS
14. My Boy Lollipop - BARBIE GAYE
15. Little Bit O'Soul - THE LITTLE DARLINGS
16. Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town - JOHNNY DARRELL
17. Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand - HOAGY LANDS
18. You Need Love - MUDDY WATERS
19. A Groovy Kind Of Love - DIANE AND ANNITA
20. You Were On My Mind - IAN & SYLVIA
21. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - TOMMY HUNT
22. Let's Get Together (Live) - THE KINGSTON TRIO
23. California Sun - JOE JONES
24. Something Stupid - CARSON & GAILE
25. Hey Joe, Where You Gonna Go - THE LEAVES
26. Rock Around The Clock - SUNNY DAE & THE KNIGHTS

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20357 in Music
• Released on: 2008-08-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Album Description
* 26 original versions of some of the most enduring classics of the 1950s and 1960s.

* These tracks embrace some of the greatest country, soul, pop, rock`n'roll and R&B tunes ever recorded. We may never know why these songs did not become hits first time around, but musical inferiority is certainly not among the reasons why they didn't.

* Some of these originals are well known, others are hardly known at all. Most people with a passion for rock`n'roll will know that Richard Berry wrote and recorded the original `Louie Louie', but hardly anyone will know that the Kingston Trio and Mark James did `Get Together' and `Suspicious Minds' before the Youngbloods and Elvis Presley did.

* Hear how `Rock Around The Clock' sounded three years before Bill Haley and the Comets got to it, or how the Crickets `Fought The Law' almost half a decade before the Bobby Fuller Four and 15 years before the Clash did. Find out where Led Zeppelin acquired the source material for `Whole Lotta Love' and the Animals got `Baby let Me take You Home' from. Marvel at how closely the later hit versions were often modelled on these originals, and wonder how come they weren't hits in their own right.

Customer Reviews

Ahead of their time...
If, like me, you assumed that almost every chart hit from the mid-60's through to the end of the 70's, was original - with barely a cover-version in sight from the Beatles onwards - this excellent compilation will put you right. And given the eclectic nature of the music contained within, it will delight and surprise you too.

We all knew, of course, that certain rock supergroups plundered the back catalogues of various blues singers, and that early British rock'n'rollers made note-for-note copies of original American hits (with certain honourable exceptions such as Johnny Kidd, Billy Fury, and Cliff -no less - with 'Move It'). But surely that was it? Wrong!

From the recorded legacies of Presley to Sinatra, Bill Haley to Jimi Hendrix, Dusty Springfield to Soft Cell, and Brook Benton to James Brown, cover versions abound. But interesting though that is, what is infinitely more fascinating, and in its way heartbreaking, is that a litany of performers - many of whom have never been heard of again - had the performing skill, foresight, and eye-for-a-hit, that could have made them superstars. Or at least major one-hit-wonders with a decent meal-ticket and an honourable slot on the oldies circuit for years to come. If only someone had bought their record!

So, belatedly, stand up and take a bow, Mark James (Suspicious Minds), The Leaves (Hey Joe), Sunny Dae (Rock around the Clock) The Wild Ones (Wild Thing) and Carson & Gaile (Somethin' Stupid), to mention just a few of the 26 performers gathered on this CD. And it must be said emphatically that almost every one of these performances is easily the equal of, if not superior to, the hit versions by their altogether more illustrious performers, most of whom copied both performances and arrangements, note-for-note.

As ever, Ace Records must be congratulated on another marvellous concept, which deserves further exploration and hopefully a couple of follow-up volumes. Needless to say the audio restoration & mastering is state-of-the-art, and the accompanying booklet with liner notes by Tony Rounce and Rob Finnis is, as always, quite superb.

You heard it here first? Absolutely!

Couldn't agree more Mr Jones
Although I enjoyed this album it is obvious why most of these tracks failed to be more than a local hit. They lack the "X Factor". Either the vocals or the arrangements must have been to blame as someone saw the potential of these flawed offerings. However, it is these flaws that make the album intriguing and endearing. Some of the tracks must have been the victims of "wrong place wrong time" eg Bessie Banks' Go Now, whilst others like "Wild Thing" . . . well I'll leave the listener to decide. There are some personal faves here - Louie Louie, Go Now, Little Red Rooster, Tainted Love, Suspicious Minds - which I think give the hit versions a run for their money.
Not so sure that Hoagy Lands version of Baby Let me hold your hand was the inspiration for the Animals. I was always under the impression they got it from Bob Dylan's album together with House of the Rising sun. I'm sure someone will enlighten us.
All in all worth buying.

Original versions
Quite pleasant to be able to listen to the original versions of songs that became hits for others. It does show why, in most cases, the reason for them not being hits.