WIWS Banner

The Second Disc

Expanded and Remastered Music News

  • Home
  • Holiday Gift Guide
  • News
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Features
    • Release Round-Up
    • Giveaways!
    • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Classic Rock
    • Rock
    • Pop
    • Jazz
    • Popular Standards/Vocal
    • R&B/Soul
    • Country
    • Folk
    • Cast Recordings
    • Soundtracks
    • Everything Else
      • Classical/Opera
      • Disco/Dance
      • Funk
      • Gospel
      • Rap/Hip-Hop
  • Release Calendar
    • Coming Soon
    • Now Available
  • About
  • Second Disc Records
    • Full Catalog
  • Contact

/ News

Rip It Up! "The London American Label: 1956" Spotlights Rock and Roll from Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, More

November 1, 2012 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Did any label impact the taste of record-buyers in the United Kingdom in the early rock-and-roll era than that of London?  Ace Records has been chronicling the activities of the London American label on a series of definitive releases culling the best of the label's 45s from one given year.  Previous volumes have covered every year between 1957 and 1963, and for the most recent addition to the series, Ace has turned the clock back to 1956.  In that year, London's output included American singles first issued on Dot, Atlantic, Liberty, Imperial, Cadence, Sun, ABC-Paramount, Chess and Specialty, meaning that one label alone introduced the U.K. to classics from Little Richard, The Drifters, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry and Andy Williams.  All of those artists and many more are represented on The London American Label: Year by Year 1956.

Compilers Peter Gibbon and Tony Rounce have taken pains throughout this ongoing series to showcase every facet of the London American label.  For those readers not yet up-to-date on its story, The London label first appeared in America in 1934 representing British Decca's operations in America. Back in Britain, the London logo made its debut in 1949 releasing material from its American counterpart, but also from early U.S. independent labels. It was in 1954 that a new prefix (HL) and numbering system (8001) was introduced, and it's this series that is the focus of the Ace compilations. Some American hit records appeared on EMI's Columbia, Parlophone and HMV labels, but the cream of the crop was usually on London.

In 1956, London American issued 139 singles, which the fine liner notes inform us was 33 more than in 1955 but far short of the 242 in 1958.  Of those 139 releases, 23 made the U.K. Top 40 and 10 made the Top 10, not a bad percentage at all!  Rock and roll and R&B were starting to take hold in 1956, and this volume opens with Little Richard's searing admonishment to "Rip It Up."  Then there's Chuck Berry's atypically haunting "Down Bound Train," Carl Perkins' Beatle-influencing "Honey Don't," and Bobby Charles' original version of his rockin' New Orleans sing-along, "See You Later, Alligator," more famously recorded by Bill Haley and the Comets.  The "white R&B" of Pat Boone, later to prove controversial, was still going strong in 1956.  The compilers here have chosen a comparative rarity: Boone's recording of the Five Keys' "Gee, Whittakers."  Boone actually scored London its very first chart-topper of the rock-and-roll age with his 45 of The Flamingos' "I'll Be Home," also the best-selling record in the U.K. in all of 1956.  Both The Drifters and original lead singer Clyde McPhatter received their first U.K. releases in 1956 on London; the group is included here via "Soldier of Fortune" and McPhatter with "Seven Days," both originally on Atlantic in the United States.  Blues great "Big" Joe Turner appears here with another Atlantic platter, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "The Chicken and the Hawk," a song also covered by artists as unlikely as Steve Lawrence!

There's plenty more after the jump, including a full track-listing and order link!

Traditional vocalists were appearing alongside their rocking-and-rolling compatriots, and The London American Label 1956 finds room for Julie London's smoky rendition of Bobby ("Route 66") Troup's "Baby, Baby, All the Time."  The young Andy Williams, still discovering his own sound and flirting with both classic pop and rock-and-roll, had a success with the romantic "Canadian Sunset," a vocal version of Norman Gimbel and Eddie Heywood's instrumental hit, recorded by Williams at Archie Bleyer's Cadence Records.   One of the more unusual hits of the year came from Bill Hayes and Walt Disney Productions courtesy Tom Blackburn and George Bruns' "The Ballad of Davy Crockett."  Though the streets of London are a long way from the mountaintops of Tennessee, British listeners cottoned to the song and the character depicted on American television by Fess Parker.  Hayes' Cadence recording of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" went all the way to No. 2, bolstered by the success of the theatrical version of the TV show as released in the United Kingdom.  Far stranger, though, is the comic "break-in record" by Dave Barry and Sara Berner, "Out of this World with Flying Saucers Pts. 1 & 2" with its excerpts taken from the Modern Records roster.

Another fun rediscovery is Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra's take on Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife," known in this recording by its original title of "Moritat," or "Theme from The Threepenny Opera."  Vaughn's version of the 1928 tune isn't as well-known as that of Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald or Louis Armstrong, but it reached No. 12 in the U.K.  and No. 37 in the U.S., proving the adaptability of Weill's distinct melody.  (Vaughn's recording would have been inspired by the 1954 off-Broadway staging of The Threepenny Opera that introduced Marc Blitzstein's famous translation of the Bertolt Brecht lyric and rekindled interest in the musical.)

Ace's The London American Label: Year by Year 1956 features every track in its original mono, fully licensed from the original rights holders.  The deluxe 22-page booklet includes track-by-track notes from Tony Rounce, an introduction from Ace founder Ted Carroll, and plenty of 45 labels.  It's in stores now, and can be ordered below!

Various Artists, The London American Label: Year by Year 1956 (Ace CDCHD 1347, 2012)

  1. Rip It Up - Little Richard (HLO 8336)
  2. Soldier of Fortune - The Drifters (HLE 8344)
  3. All the Time - Werly Fairburn and the Delta Boys (HLC 8349)
  4. The Chicken and the Hawk - Joe Turner (HLE 8332)
  5. Down Bound Train - Chuck Berry (HLU 8275)
  6. See You Later Alligator - Bobby Charles (HLU 8247)
  7. One Night - Smiley Lewis (HLU 8312)
  8. Theme from 'The Threepenny Opera' (Moritat) - Billy Vaughn and His Orchestra (HLD 8238)
  9. The Ballad of Davy Crockett - Bill Hayes (HLA 8220)
  10. I'll Be True - Faye Adams (HLU 8339)
  11. Seven Days - Clyde McPhatter (HLE 8250)
  12. From the Bottom of My Heart - The Clovers (HLE 8334)
  13. Chain Gang - Bobby Scott (HL 8254)
  14. Daddy-O - The Fontane Sisters (HLD 8225)
  15. Honey Don't - Carl Perkins (HLU 8271)
  16. The Wilder Your Heart Beats, The Sweeter Your Love (HLU 8351)
  17. Baby, Baby, All the Time - Julie London (HLU 8279)
  18. Gee Whittakers - Pat Boone (HLU 8233)
  19. Walking the Blues - Willie Dixon and the All-Stars (HLU 8297)
  20. Fireball Mail - Mac Wiseman (HLU 8259)
  21. Trying - The Hilltoppers (HLD 8298)
  22. When My Dream Boat Comes Home - Fats Domino (HLU 8309)
  23. Get Up! Get Up! (You Sleepy Head) - Lavern Baker and the Gliders (HLE 8260)
  24. Underway - Tom Tall (HLU 8231)
  25. Ivory Tower - Cathy Carr (HLH 8274)
  26. Hen Pecked - Larry Evans (HLU 8269)
  27. Canadian Sunset - Andy Williams (HLA 8315)
  28. Out of this World with Flying Saucers Pts. 1 & 2 - Dave Barry and Sara Bener (HLU 8234)

All tracks released in 1956 on the London American label.

Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Little Richard, The Drifters

Avatar photo

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

Connect With Joe: FacebookTwitter

You Might Also Like

  • Philip Bailey State of the HeartWalking on the Chinese Wall: SoulMusic Records Collects Philip Bailey's First Three Solo Pop Albums
  • StreamThe Weekend Stream: November 27, 2021
  • The Drifters We Gotta SingI'll Take You Where the Music's Playing: Cherry Red Collects The Drifters' Sixties Heyday on New Box Set
  • Respect OSTRelease Round-Up: Week of August 13

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Upcoming Releases

  • Carole Bayer Sager Sometimes Late at Night
    Sometimes Late at Night: Expanded Edition
    Carole Bayer Sager
    February 03, 2023
  • Carole King Home Again
    Home Again: Live in Central Park
    Carole King
    February 10, 2023
  • Robert Palmer Island Years
    The Island Records Years
    Robert Palmer
    February 17, 2023
See Full Calendar

Connect

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,544 other subscribers

Popular

  • headquarters
    Review: The Monkees, "Headquarters: Super Deluxe Edition" posted on January 24, 2023 | under Reviews
  • Bob Dylan Fragments Bootleg 17 Cover
    Release Round-Up: Week of January 27 posted on January 27, 2023 | under Release Round-Up
  • Marshall Crenshaw 40
    Something's Gonna Happen: Marshall Crenshaw's Expanded Debut Coming Back to CD posted on January 26, 2023 | under News

Comments

  • small faces here come the nice2
    Return To Itchycoo Park: Small Faces' "Here Come The Nice" Deluxe Box Set Arrives In January [UPDATED 12/3] 84 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 3, 2013 | under News
  • the beatles u s albums box2
    British Invasion! The Beatles Unveil "The U.S. Albums" Box Set in January 69 comments | by Joe Marchese | posted on December 12, 2013 | under News
  • Rolling Stones in Mono
    Out of Their Heads: Stones Plan Mono Box Set 47 comments | by Mike Duquette | posted on August 10, 2016 | under News

Music Resources

  • Addicted to Vinyl
  • Crap from the Past
  • Discogs
  • Film Score Monthly
  • IMWAN Forum – From the Vaults
  • MusicTAP
  • Musoscribe
  • Pause & Play
  • Popblerd
  • Popdose
  • Record Racks
  • Slicing Up Eyeballs
  • Steve Hoffman Music Forums
  • Ultimate Classic Rock
  • Vintage Vinyl News
  • Viva La Mainstream
  • Wolfgang's Vault

Labels of Note

  • Ace Records
  • Analog Spark
  • Bear Family
  • BGO Records
  • Big Break Records
  • Blixa Sounds
  • Cherry Red Label Group
  • Craft Recordings
  • Demon Music Group
  • Friday Music
  • Funky Town Grooves
  • Iconoclassic Records
  • Intervention Records
  • Intrada
  • Kritzerland
  • La La Land Records
  • Legacy Recordings
  • Light in the Attic
  • Masterworks Broadway
  • Now Sounds
  • Omnivore Recordings
  • Real Gone Music
  • Resonance Records
  • Rhino Entertainment
  • Rock Candy Records
  • SoulMusic Records
  • Sunset Blvd. Records
  • Supermegabot
  • Varese Sarabande
  • Vinyl Me, Please
  • Wounded Bird
Copyright © 2023 The Second Disc. All rights reserved. · Site by Metaglyphics

The Second Disc is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy