Smash Hits Of The 1950's (20 Fabulous Hits Of The Early 1950s) - Various Artists

Advantages: Class Acts
Disadvantages: None

...to this sort of music, it's laid back, late night, problems with my man, but what the hell sort of sentiment... ~~~ CD1: Many early artists here, including US black soul singers Dinah Washington and Aretha Franklin from the 1960's. If you've never heard Franklin, then she is the Queen of Soul, godmother to Whitney Houston and unmissable over a long career (and still performs occassionally). Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Peggy Lee and Billie Holiday were the most famous singers of their day in the 1950's. Simone died only a few years ago, while Holiday fell foul of drugs, only after a career that challenged the segregation of the southern states. Her most famous track concerned the lynching of an innocent black man, and this CD collection is named in her honour. Irma Thomas, of a smiliar era, is or was, based, in New Orleans until last year... Read review

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Advantages: Great rock 'n roll by a guitar legend
Disadvantages: None

...A Chuck Berry concert in the 1950's must have been a sight to behold--with his distinctive "duck walk", his big pompadour hairdo and his flamboyant style of playing rock 'n roll guitar, I know that his shows must have been charged with energy and electricity. Although he was the ultimate showman, his importance in the field of rock 'n roll music cannot be discounted--in my opinion, Chuck Berry was the single most important rock 'n roll guitarist that ever lived. He created guitar licks that formed the basis for most of the rock music that was to follow--even today, most guitarists are playing licks that are just recycled versions of those raw, primal chops that Chuck Berry invented. Early on in his career, Chuck Berry discovered that if you rolled all of the controls on those old tube amps all the way to the right, you could get... Read review

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Advantages: 45 classic tracks!
Disadvantages: many missing elvis classics!

...I have been an Elvis fan since a very early age, despite being born several years after his passing. When I was a little kids back in the 1980's, I saw the movie "Elvis - The True Story" starring Kurt Russell and (having discovered the Beatles around the same time as well) became a fan of the man who is still the king of music and remains one of the worlds most popular entertainers, not just to the millions of people who adored him during his life time, but to the many, many more who have since become fans in the decades that have followed! Presley had his first success in the 1950s while recording for Sun Records, having charted for no less than 39 weeks at #1 on the country music charts. It was after his first six singles that RCA saw potential in his country-R&B-gospel blend of rock n roll music and bought his contract from Sun... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful