Big Top Records Story: Classic New York Pop 1958-1964
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Music CD Cover
Edition: Music CDAudio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2008-10-07
Music Label: Ace Records UK
Soundtracks:
- Sunglasses - THE SHADES
- White Bucks And Saddle Shoes - BOBBY PEDRICK
- My Private Joy - BOBBY PEDRICK
- Lavender Blue - SAMMY TURNER
- Raincoat In The River - SAMMY TURNER
- He Knows I Love Him Too Much - ARLENE SMITH
- Airmail Special Delivery - KAREN LAKE
- Steady Kind - MICKEY DENTON
- The Snake - MAXIMILLION
- What's Your Name - DON & JUAN
- Midnight - JOHNNY GIBSON
- The Fool - JAMIE COE
- True Love Never Runs Smooth - DON & JUAN
- Misery - DYNAMICS
- The Doolang - ANDREA CARROLL
- It Hurts To Be Sixteen - ANDREA CARROLL
- Runaway - DEL SHANNON (rare stereo version)
- Don't Want Your Letters - GERRI GRANGER
- Always Something There To Remind Me - LOU JOHNSON
- Lipstick And High Heel Shoes - VALENTINE & THE SWEETHEARTS
- Minnesota Fats - JOHNNY & THE HURRICANES
- Rocking Goose - JOHNNY & THE HURRICANES
- Flashback - V.I.P.'s
- Don't Look Now, But - HONEYTONES
- Little Town Flirt - DEL SHANNON
- Suddenly We're Strangers - MARCI & THE MATES
Free Music Notes for Big Top Records Story: Classic New York Pop 1958-1964
Free Music Review: Not To Be Missed If You Loved The Music of the late 50s/Early 60s
Hit: 5 Stars
This compendium of some of the best tunes to come out on the Big Top label in the late 1950s and early 1960s includes - as is the norm for anything from Ace of London - extensive liner notes, in this case 23 pages by that fine historian Rob Finnis (author of The Phil Spector Story), replete with the usual vintage photos, poster/promotion reproductions, and pictures of many of the 45 rpm discs involved.
He kicks off this magnificent insert by saying "The Big Top label was run as a sideline by Jean and Julian Aberbach, the plutocratic owners of Hioll & Range, a song publishing empire which took in two continents. Big Top's five-year heyday spanned the fading days of New York's Tin Pan Alley, a period when songwriters and music publishers, rather than recording artists, ruled the record business. This was no back street label operating on a wing and a prayer. Big Top shared Hill & Range's well appointed offices in the penthouse suite of the legendary Brill Building at 1619 Broadway. There was oak panelling adorned with fine art, inch-high carpet pile and the fug of sweet smelling cigar smoke curling above the sound of hard-nosed deal-making."
And from there it just gets more and more interesting.
Unlike their Golden Age Of American Rock `N' Roll series and its various spin-offs, this one does not show chart details for those that did score on the various singles charts, although you do get the year of release and Big Top label number on the reverse of the jewel case. You should also be aware that the listing order shown above is incorrect so, for your information, I have re-listed them here in their proper order showing chart information for the Billboard Hot 100 where applicable (all the rest either failed to make those charts, or scored somewhere on the Bubbling Under listings).
1. Sun Glasses - The Shades
2. White Buck And Saddle Shoes - Bobby Pedrick, Jr. - # 74 in November 1958
3. What's Your Name? - Don & Juan - # 7 in March 1962
4. The Fool - Jamie Coe (nice upbeat cover of the 1956 Sanford Clark hit)
5. The Doolang - Andrea Carroll
6. Minnesota Fats - Johnny & The Hurricanes
7. Misery - The Dynamics
8. Steady Kind - Mickey Denton
9. He Knows I Love Him Too Much - Arlene Smith (later covered successfully by The Paris Sisters)
10. My Private Joy - Bobby Pedrick, Jr.
11. Suddenly We're Strangers - Marci & The Mates
12. Rockin' Goose - Johnny & The Hurricanes - # 60 in September 1960
13. Don't Look Now, But ... - The Honeytones
14. Lavender Blue - Sammy Turner - # 3 (and also # 14 R&B) in August 1959
15. The Snake - Maximillian - an instrumental and not the same as The Sanke later done by Al Wilson
16. Runaway - Del Shannon - # 1 for 4 weeks (also # 3 R&B) in April 1961
17. Raincoat In The River - Sammy Turner
18. Little Town Flirt - Del Shannon - # 12 late 1962/early 1963
19. Don't Want Your Letters - Gerri Granger
20. (There's) Always Something There To remind Me - Lou Johnson - # 74 November 1963
21. Lipstick And High Heel Shoes - Valentine & The Sweetheats
22. True Love Never Runs Smooth - Don & Juan
23. It Hurts To Be Sixteen - Andrea - Carroll - # 45 in August 1963 with backing by The Chiffons
24. Midnight - Johnny Gibson - # 76 in February 1961
25. Air Mail Special Delivery - Karen Lake
26. Flashback - The Vips
Bobby Pedrick, Jr. would later go on to have a number of big hits for other labels as Robert John, including the 1979 # 1 smash Sad Eyes, and perhaps the best version ever of The Lion Sleeps Tonight - # 3 in 1972).
If you lived through the sound of that era you will love this collection.
Big Top Records Story: Classic New York Pop 1958-1964 Poster
This compilation is a great addition to Ace's series of label anthologies. The Big Top label was a classy affair run by Hill & Range, a family-owned business that administered Elvis Presley's publishing.This was no street label: witness the well-appointed offices in the penthouse suite of New York's Brill Building. It was no place for amateurs - among the names involved were Pomus and Shuman, Burt Bacharach and, for a while, a young Phil Spector, who produced several singles for the label, all of which can be heard here.
The CD contains high-quality New York pop from the Golden Age of 1958-1964, a great blend of hits (including a rare stereo Runaway) and never less than high quality misses. In addition to the three early Spector productions there is Lou Johnson's original version of Always Something There To Remind Me and The Snake, a distinctly oddball instrumental by Maximillion, who co-wrote and played keyboards on Runaway, plus Johnny Gibson's minor hit Midnight reissued here for the first time.
Over half these tracks are new to legitimate CD. Compiled and annotated by Rob Finnis.
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