50 Singers Of The Pre-Rock Era Try Their Hand At Rock 'n' Roll. In the early '50s, pop music was ruled by clean-cut singers making records for the whole family - romantic ballads, novelty songs, or hits from a musical. The fall of the big band era had made the singers the star, and the crooners ruled. Rock 'n' roll changed all that. The record industry was about survival of the fittest; the companies and their artists had to adapt or die, whatever they thought of the music. Hits were everything, and these fifty tracks show how the vocalists of the old guard on both sides of the Atlantic tried to get them by keeping up with the new craze. Some of the outings were enthusiastic but distinctly ill-advised and cringe-making; others proved that the crooners could rock, even if they didn't really want to. Generally, neither their fans, nor the rock 'n' rollers, wanted to hear them do it, which meant that a high proportion of these tracks failed to chart, and were consigned to that highly collectable archive of rock 'n' roll curios, and are in many cases making their first outing on CD here. It's a fascinating and entertaining insight into a strand of pop in one of music's most exciting eras.

Track Listing

• Frank Sinatra - Two Hearts, Two Kisses
• Dean Martin - Just Kiss Me
• Sammy Davis Jr. - Jacques d'Iraque
• Tony Bennett - Close Your Eyes
• Perry Como - Kewpie Doll
• Vaughn Monroe - Rock and Roll Express
• Nat King Cole - Send For Me
• Billy Eckstine - Tennessee Rock 'n' Roll
• Louis Armstrong and Gary Crosby - Ko Ko Mo
• Bobby Darin - Bull Moose
• Andy Williams - Butterfly
• Don Cornell - Teenage Meeting
• Vic Damone - The Only Man on the Island
• Guy Mitchell - Rock -a-Billy
• Johnnie Ray - Flip, Flop and Fly
• Frankie Laine - Lovin' Up a Storm
• Doris Day - Whad'ja Put in That Kiss'
• Jo Stafford - I Got a Sweetie
• Kay Starr - Rock and Roll Waltz
• Peggy Lee - Baby, Baby, Wait For Me
• Sarah Vaughan - Broken-Hearted Melody
• Eartha Kitt - Honolulu Rock a Roll a
• Teresa Brewer - Just A Sweet Old Fashioned Girl
• Georgia Gibbs - Great Balls of Fire
• Patti Page - My First Formal Gown

• Matt Monro - Have Guitar Will Travel
• Frankie Vaughan - Rock-a-Chicka
• Dickie Valentine - A Teenager In Love
• Jimmy Young - Walkin' After Midnight
• Lee Lawrence - Don't Nobody Move
• Tony Brent - Hearts of Stone
• Donald Peers - Start Movin'
• Sam Browne - Dungaree Doll
• Denny Dennis - Bye Bye Love
• Paul Rich - Oh Boy
• Pearl Carr - I Want You to Be My Baby
• Frances Day as ?Gale Warning? - Heartbreak Hotel
• Vera Lynn - Ein Bisschen Gluck (It Isn't Right)
• Anne Shelton - Seven Days
• Petula Clark - Fibbin'
• Shirley Bassey - There's Never Been a Night
• Dorothy Squires - Precious Love
• Alma Cogan - I'm in Love Again
• Lita Roza - I Need Somebody
• Joan Regan - Love Me to Pieces
• Diana Decker - Rock a Boogie Baby
• Billie Anthony - Everybody's Buddy
• Eve Boswell - Where in the World is Billy
• Jill Day - I Hear You Knocking
• Beverley Sisters - Old Enough to Know

Additional Details

Label: Acrobat

Genre: Pop/Rock

Release Date: 11/08/11

UPC: 824046306823