Kings Of Rock ‘N’ Roll: Various Artists

Elly Roberts reviews

Kings Of Rock ‘N’ Roll:
Various ArtistsDistributed by
BMG UK & Ireland

• Year: 2004
• Cat. No: 82876624312

Track listing:

1. Elvis Presley – That’s All Right
2. Elvis Presley – Jailhouse Rock
3. Elvis Presley – All Shook Up
4. Elvis Presley – Hound Dog
5. Buddy Holly – Oh Boy
6. Buddy Holly – Heartbeat
7. Buddy Holly – That’ll Be The Day
8. Buddy Holly – Peggy Sue
9. Cliff Richard – Move It
10. Cliff Richard – Please Don’t Tease
11. Cliff Richard – Dynamite
12. Cliff Richard – Mean Streak
13. Eddie Cochran – Summertime Blues
14. Eddie Cochran – C’Mon Everybody
15. Eddie Cochran – Three Steps To Heaven
16. Chuck Berry – Rock N Roll Music
17. Chuck Berry – No Particular Place To Go
18. Chuck Berry – Johnny B Goode
19. Little Richard – Good Golly Miss Molly
20. Little Richard – Long Tall Sally
21. Little Richard – Lucille
22. Jerry Lee Lewis – Great Balls Of Fire
23. Jerry Lee Lewis – Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On
24. Jerry Lee Lewis – Breathless
25. Bill Haley & His Comets – (We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock

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Great party CD for weddings, and all other functions.

Twenty five steps to heaven with a helping hand from seven Americans and aBrit. Celebrating 50 years of Rock’n’Roll’s arrival on the unsuspecting youthboth sides of the ‘ Pond ‘, these songs were blasting out of jukeboxes andlocal Saturday night hops.

Poignantly, the collection starts with ‘ The King ‘ of kings – Elvis Presley,from what was to become a soundtrack for a post – was generation. Presley isconsidered the most important, influential and impersonated artist of the 20thCentury. No other solo artist of the rock era has matched his number of bestselling singles and albums in the UK and USA.

Surprisingly, his first five singles failed to enter the pop charts. Regardedas the first recognisable song of the genre, Elvis’s cover of Arthur Crudup’sThat’s All Right, which never made the UK charts. More Elvis as it zips to ’58 with Jailhouse Rock (UK No.1 1958) then back to his first number one inthe UK in 1957, All Shook Up. Hound Dog is his last here from ’56,his fourth UK single reaching number 2.

Singer – songwriter Charles Hardin Holley aka Buddy Holly gets the treatmentwith four absolute classics in a row. Incredibly, Oh Boy and That’llBe The Day, never made UK charts, but the rest did: Heartbeat (’59),Peggy Sue his first UK release in ’57, peaking at number 6.

Harry Webb aka Cliff Richard, born 14 Oct 1940, Lucknow, India, is the only UKartist here. Considered the British version of Elvis, he hit the big time in’58 with Move It. By 1963 he was voted World’s Number 1 Artist byBillboard, with Elvis at number two! Please Don’t Tease hit the top spotin the summer of 1960. The next two are less impressive inclusions, Dynamiteand Mean Streak both from ’59.

Eddie Cochran, whose songs have been covered by T.Rex, The Who, Cliff Richard,Beach Boys and The Sex Pistols, gets a threesome – Summertime Blues, hisUK chart debut from ’58, C’Mon Everybody from ’59 and his fifth UK entryand first number one Three Steps To Heaven from the summer of 1960.

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Real Rock’n’Roll rebels Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis get alook-in. Berry’s Rock’n’Roll Music and Johnny B.Goode failed tochart in the UK, but No Particular Place To Go did the trick in May ’64.

Richard Penniman aka Little Richard is famous for his wild vocals and piano-pounding,along with some unrestrained stage performances and you can feel them on herewith, Good Golly Miss Molly (No.8 in ’58), Long Tall Sally (No.3 in ’57)and his signature tune Lucille from the same year.

Last year, I had the privilege of seeing ‘ The Killer ‘ live on stage inManchester. Jerry Lewis’ colourful life is only surpassed by his legendaryperformances. Three turn – up here, his signature tune Great Balls Of Fire,his first UK number 1 from ’57, opens up. Whole Lotta Shakin’ is a tourde force from his UK debut in ’57 (No.8), as is Breathless from ’58.

No compilation would be complete without the final’ Jive Master ‘ – Bill Haleyand the soundtrack that had them ripping up seats in cinemas across the UK andUSA – Rock Around The Clock. Incidentally, it’s the only record toreturn to the Top 20 on five occasions.

You’ve heard it all before, but it’s still BRILLIANT.

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