| Track by Track Review
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Tony Bennett - Put On A Happy Face
This catchy classic is a fine example of both the pop music of the era and the whole crooner thing. It's just a fun romp. |
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The Fleetwoods - They Tell Me It's Summer
There is a bouncy old-school vocal group vibe to this. It's sticky sweet and very vanilla. It's also oddly tasty. |
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Conway Twitty - Beachcomber
Built on a cool old-school acoustic rocking concept, I like this quite a bit. It's very much 1950s rockabilly. |
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Carole King - Queen Of The Beach
I had no idea Carole King did music like this. It's a cool old school rock and roll romp. It's a lot of fun. |
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Dave York & The Beachcombers - I Wanna Go Surfin'
This doo wop number is fun stuff. The seriously low register lead vocal has a lot of class. |
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The Fleetwoods - Surfer's Playmate
This high energy tune is reasonably fun, but not really my thing. |
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Ricky Dean - Bikini
This bouncy cut is fun, but very dated in sound. I dig some of the guitar fills on this. |
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Diane Ray - Please Don't Talk To The Lifeguard
A bouncy old school pop song, this is fun. I dig the saxophone. This is lightweight by modern standards, but it's catchy and entertaining. |
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Ernie Maresca - Down On The Beach
Rock and roll and vintage rock and roll merge on this bouncy little tune.
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Tito Puente & His Orchestra - Emerald Beach
Now this has a full on jazz arrangement. It's high energy and so classy. This is one of the highlights of this disc for me. This instrumental has some great jamming. I am particularly fond of the guitar solo. |
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Johnny O'Neill - Beach Doll
Another that seems to merge old-school pop music with rock and roll, this is entertaining. I dig the guitar fills and the hooks quite a bit. |
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Sammy Salvo - The Bully Of The Beach
This vintage rock and roller is so much fun. I dig the horn on it quite a bit. |
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Googie Rene & His Band - Swingin' Summer Love
I love the piano on this track. The horn solo section is classy, too. Beyond that this is a little too vanilla for my tastes. Still, it has some cool jazzy twists and turns. |
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Maxine Daniels - My Summer Heart
This is a bouncy groove with plenty of jazz in the mix. It is entertaining. |
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Kari Lynn - Summer Day
I love the vocals on this track. The number has an old-time ballad vibe to it. |
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Dinah Washington - That Sunday (That Summer)
Here we get another standout song. This has a jazz ballad arrangement and some killer vocals. |
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The Viscounts - Summertime
Slow moving and bluesy, this has elements of both rock and roll and jazz. It's all class, too. This instrumental is one of the standouts here. |
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The Brothers Four -The Green Leaves Of Summer
The music takes a back seat to the vocal on this track. I'm not a big fan of this kind of vocal group music, but this works pretty well.
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Keely Smith - On The Sunny Side Of The Street
The vocals on this are classic and strong. The tune has a classic and effective jazz arrangement. This is another highlight for me. |
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Hank Snow - Lazy Bones
There is a blues turned vintage pop vibe to this. The cut feels a bit contrived to me, though. The cut has a spoken section later. |
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Bucky & The Premiers - Summer School
I like the old time rock and roll groove of this cut. The vocals have a distant, somewhat distorted element, and the instrumental arrangement is tastefully raw and cool. |
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Dickie Loader & The Blue Jeans - Heatwave
Here we get another energized old-school rock and roller. While this is a strong tune, it's not on the same level as some of the rest. That said, I'd definitely consider it to be in the top half of the album. |
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Eydie Gorme - Soda Pop Hop
Energized and vintage pop oriented, this is fun. It's a little too vanilla for me, though. |
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Don Cherry - Wild Cherry
I like the bouncy groove of this. It's very much a vintage pop song, and a little precious, but it works pretty well. Maybe Steve Martin was right and it's hard to like any song with banjo.
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Paul Peek - Watermelon
A bouncy kind of jazzy groove makes this thing work well. It's got plenty of old-school rock and roll in the mix, too. |
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T. J. Fowler, His Piano & Orchestra - Wine Cooler
This instrumental rock and roll jam is so cool. It has some particularly elevated and jazzy guitar and piano work. This is definitely one of my favorites here. |
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Barney Kessel Quartet - Summertime
Another jazzy instrumental jam, this is also another standout. This song and the last one together are worth the price of admission. That says a lot about how good these two tunes are. The guitar work on this is absolutely stellar. |
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Bobby Williamson - Sh-Boom (Life Could Be A Dream)
Not a fan of this bouncy rock and roll meets pop tune. I'm not really a doo wop person, though.
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The Quotations - Summertime Goodbyes
More of a doo wop ballad, this works alright, but I wouldn't consider it a highlight by any means. |
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The Safaris with The Phantom Band - Summer Nights
More old-school rock and roll is on the menu here. This is not a standout, but it's pretty good. |
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Lee Diamond with The Challengers - Good Old Summertime
I dig the energy and hooks on this. The horns add a lot of fun. This is rock and roll with some tasty jazz in the mix. It makes a solid ending to the disc. |
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