Yes, When is a goodie, I also rate the Showaddywaddy hit cover. There will be a lot of Showaddywaddy songs popping up! :)

 

I dont know Patricia, Marty is still touring (yay!), but The Crickets is decent and I agree Elvis' Hard Headed Woman is not one of his greatest and it's not bad. Splish Splash better known to me by Charlie Drake, 60's comic actor appealing to kiddies, but it's not what you might call a classic!

"Fever" in in a bit of a league of its own today - "Volare" also a classic and Dean does a good job with it but it's not the original and the lyrics are partly Anglicised.

 

9 Peggy Lee Fever Just a click and a bass and her excellent vocal performance and it makes for such a brilliantly sensual record

8 Dean Martin Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) The original is coming up but this cover, which alternates between English and Italian, is great and really suits Dean's voice

8 Connie Francis Stupid Cupid/Carolina Moon 75th #1: "Stupid Cupid" is brilliant - really fun and cheeky, and "Carolina Moon" a very pretty dreamy ballad

7 Buddy Holly Early In The Morning Another great rock 'n' roll performance from Buddy with a bit of sax and a nice call and response with the backing chorus

7 Bobby Helms Jacqueline Not sure why he pronounces it "Jac-woo-lin" but it's a really good sultry tune; his last hit for nearly 60 years!

6 Ricky Nelson Poor Little Fool The first big hit for this teen idol - he sounds very good on it and it's a nice midtempo Elvis style heartbreak ballad

5 Doris Day Everybody Loves A Lover Quite a nice one this - particularly enjoy the last verse when she duets with herself; her last hit for a long time

5 Harry Belafonte Little Bernadette A song about a 19th century French girl who became a saint - why not, quite sweet and Harry's storytelling is really good as ever

4 Max Bygraves Little Train/Gotta Have Rain "Little Train" isn't bad and has many nice trainlike effects; "Gotta Have Rain" is quite charming but some of the child vocals are awful

4 Pat Boone If Dreams Came True Not bad this - the usual slightly dreary Pat style but some lovely instrumentation and backing singing; almost manages to be tender

3 The Coasters Yakety Yak The melody and style remind me a bit of "The Streak" - not a good thing; quite a silly song partly redeemed by the saxophone solo

2 David Whitfield The Right To Love "You need me as much as I need you" - indeed David; I've enjoyed not enjoying your records and this is the last of the 18 Top 40s

2 Frankie Vaughan Wonderful Things There's competition but think this wins dirge of the day as it's just so terribly twee and the tune unmemorable

1 Charlie Drake Splish Splash Already a novelty record and now we get a "comedy" version of it - dear me

 

 

Next group:

 

#818 30/08/1958 Russ Conway Got A Match 30 {30}->1

#819 06/09/1958 Domenico Modugno Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) 10 15-{10}-11-14-22-12-13-17-17-21-22-30->12

#820 06/09/1958 Tony Brent Girl Of My Dreams 16 20-18-{16}-18-18-25-30->7

#821 06/09/1958 Perry Como Moon Talk 17 24-25-25-24-20-19-23-22-22-{17}-18->11

#822 06/09/1958 Bernard Bresslaw Mad Passionate Love 6 25-12-11-7-{6}-8-9-11-15-15-26->11

#823 06/09/1958 Duane Eddy And His Twangy Guitar Rebel Rouser 19 26-{19}-20-21-24-22-19-20-20-30->10

#824 13/09/1958 The Everly Brothers Bird Dog 2 16-16-8-5-6-6-5-3-3-{2}-3-7-13-15-20-19->16

#825 13/09/1958 Cliff Richard And The Drifters Move It 2 29-27-20-12-5-4-{2}-4-7-7-8-10-15-25-24-21-27->17

#826 20/09/1958 The Poni-Tails Born Too Late 5 19-13-11-7-{5}-7-8-10-12-18-26->11

#827 27/09/1958 Johnny Mathis A Certain Smile 4 22-14-10-7-7-5-6-5-{4}-4-5-11-13-14-24-20->16

#828 27/09/1958 The Elegants Little Star 25 {25}-29->2

#829 27/09/1958 Paul Anka Midnight 26 {26}->1

#830 27/09/1958 Lonnie Donegan Lonesome Traveller 28 {28}->1

#831 04/10/1958 Elvis Presley King Creole 2 9-4-{2}-4-7-9-10-12-20-27-27-22-29-22-26->15

 

 

LOVE Fever by Peggy Lee, glad it was your top pick Julian. I agree with the comment that it's in a league of its own, for its era of release certainly. What a fantastic record.

I chose a bad time to start reading this again - this 'Yakety Yak' slander will not stand, especially that offensive comparison to Ray Stevens! :angry: :lol:

 

(I have been skimming some recent posts in here again but think I will try and start keeping up properly and commenting a bit more again now, maybe one day will read back through the last however long I wasn't reading the thread properly :kink:)

I chose a bad time to start reading this again - this 'Yakety Yak' slander will not stand, especially that offensive comparison to Ray Stevens! :angry: :lol:

 

(I have been skimming some recent posts in here again but think I will try and start keeping up properly and commenting a bit more again now, maybe one day will read back through the last however long I wasn't reading the thread properly :kink:)

No worries - even if people only read and comment on a little bit that’s fine by me and better than nothing! :)

Fever is still the definitive version, Peggy Lee was so cool. Volare is one I loved as a kid, it was still getting plays in the 60's, and I never knew it was a Eurovision song till the 70's, and I never knew Dean's wasn't the original. It was always Dean for me. Though again it's an indestructible song, Ive heard so many very different good versions.

 

Stupid Cupid is fun, Buddy good, Ricky Nelson's is really sweet, and The Coasters is a rock n roll era uptempo great - though I can see why it might annoy. As Ray Stevens is a real old-time music fan, I've no doubt the nicked rhythm was intentional for The Streak. I love Ray Stevens. It's a shame The Streak was his number one, pretty much his entire hit back catalogue is better than it. Hey ho!

'Fever' has stood the test of time, what a classic :wub: Faye Tozer from Steps did a really cool theatre jazz routine to it on Strictly and it's still one of my favourite routines since I started watching *.*

A really good group today. It's the turn of the original "Volare" which came 3rd in Eurovision 1958 and is a great track. That certainly deserves a feature but I'm actually going to give the win to our very own Cliff with his debut hit "Move It". Yes he wasn't always making granny fodder - this is a fantastic song and he must have really felt like the British answer to Elvis at this point.

 

9 Cliff Richard And The Drifters Move It There's a relentlessness to the guitars on this which frame the lyrics perfectly - a brilliant rock 'n' roll song for Cliff's debut hit

9 Domenico Modugno Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) The entirely Italian original; has some great shimmery piano accompaniment and love how freely the verses are done on this

8 Elvis Presley King Creole Yet another Elvis #2 and another track that has an exciting urgency to it; the different guitar effects really make the track too

8 Duane Eddy And His Twangy Guitar Rebel Rouser Love the "twangy guitar" credit - the opening really makes a statement and it builds up to a chorus of yelling and sax; great first hit

7 Lonnie Donegan Lonesome Traveller A minor hit for Lonnie but it's really good and his usual build up from a slow start to a frenzy of skiffle

7 Russ Conway Got A Match Lovely from Russ; like how it builds up with clapping, guitar and banjo before the piano takes over and then the "do do" chorus

6 Perry Como Moon Talk A really sweet and catchy little song; another with a relentless bassline driving it forward

6 Johnny Mathis A Certain Smile Took some time to connect as it's not catchy as such but it's a really elegant ballad beautifully sung with majestic instrumentals

6 The Everly Brothers Bird Dog A slightly odd track; both the lyrics and the spoken parts, but it's still good - enjoy the sung harmonies and the rhythmic strumming

5 The Elegants Little Star Another that feels like a much bigger hit; the "twinkle twinkle" part is slightly naff but otherwise it's lovely and very well sung

5 The Poni-Tails Born Too Late "What a shame I can't sleep with you because I'm too young"; not sure about the sentiment but the track itself is very nice

4 Paul Anka Midnight "Midnight -night -night... lovers -ers -ers… quiet -et -et"; I don't think the backing works on this though it's a nice jolly track

3 Tony Brent Girl Of My Dreams The backing's quite nice but the vocal moves at such a slow pace that the song can't really get going, and the tune isn't great

2 Bernard Bresslaw Mad Passionate Love A comedy song from the "Carry On" actor with his thick Cockney accent and the birds singing in chipmunk style - not much fun

 

 

 

Next set:

 

#832 04/10/1958 Tommy Edwards It's All In The Game 1 25-13-12-6-6-{1}-1-1-2-3-4-5-4-8-11-15-27->17

#833 04/10/1958 Marino Marini And His Quartet Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) 13 26-{13}-17-16-14-23-16->7

#834 04/10/1958 The Olympics Western Movies 12 27-17-18-14-{12}-13-18-20->8

#835 11/10/1958 Marino Marini And His Quartet Come Prima 2 15-10-{2}-2-2-4-7-5-12-11-14-15-19-27->14

#836 11/10/1958 Frankie Vaughan Am I Wasting My Time On You 25 27-{25}-28R(12)-27->4

#837 11/10/1958 Jack Scott My True Love 9 28-20-25-18-11-{9}-15-16-18-30->10

#838 11/10/1958 Frankie Avalon Gingerbread 30 {30}->1

#839 18/10/1958 Jodie Sands Someday (You'll Want Me To Want You) 14 {14}-18-19-17-14-16-22-17-19-21->10

#840 18/10/1958 Malcolm Vaughan With The Michael Sammes Singers More Than Ever (Come Prima) 5 15-10-13-8-8-{5}-8-7-10-9-11-13-17-23->14

#841 18/10/1958 Robin Luke Susie Darlin' 23 24-25-29-{23}R(3)-23R(2)-24->6

#842 18/10/1958 Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Starring Warren Covington Tea For Two Cha Cha 3 26-27-21-12-11-10-11-6-5-4-4-{3}-4-6-7-11-11-15-20->19

#843 25/10/1958 Lord Rockingham's XI Hoots Mon 1 13-9-5-3-2-{1}-1-1-2-2-2-2-3-8-14-15-25->17

#844 25/10/1958 Charlie Drake Volare 28 {28}-30->2

#845 25/10/1958 Robert Earl More Than Ever (Come Prima) 26 30-{26}-28R(3)-28->4

 

Edited March 15, 20232 yr by JulianT

I think I only recognise 'Move It' from the latest bunch. I do for reason I forgot about now, probably chart related thing of my own maybe... got the 2006 CD of the song which has Brian May playing on it apparently. Was like Cliffs 3rd or 4th Christmas attempt in the 00's. I think the original is better though obviously.

 

Should probably check out the Bernard song out of curiosity :P

Really enjoying this thread, there are some very forgettable and plain awful songs covered so far, but some classics coming up too.

 

Fever <3 Also Volare of course, that really stood the test of time as the first Eurovision classic.

Edited March 15, 20232 yr by gooddelta

That top 4 are all fab, no problem! Johnny Mathis is a smooth goodie, Everly Brothers is a lively bit of fun, and Born Too Late is a 50's delight.

THERE'S A MOOSE! LOOSE! ABOUT THIS HOOSE!

 

9 Lord Rockingham's XI Hoots Mon 77th #1: taken from a Scottish folksong and punctuated by Scottish phrases, a fabulous pioneering rock 'n' roll instrumental

8 Robin Luke Susie Darlin' His only hit and he was 16; apparently recorded in a bedroom with pens hitting sticks to create the percussion - lovely song

7 Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Starring Warren Covington Tea For Two Cha Cha Takes a wartime song but instrumentalizes it with a whole band and turns it into something more timeless

7 Marino Marini And His Quartet Come Prima Not the original but the version that was a big hit here; another strong Italian song with a laid back Mediterranean feel

6 Tommy Edwards It's All In The Game 76th #1: quite understated and doesn't really feel like a chart topper to me but he has a lovely rich voice and it's classy

6 Marino Marini And His Quartet Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) Another rendition of this - it's good but again this group does it in quite a laid back way and prefer the more dramatic versions

5 Frankie Avalon Gingerbread On the irritatingly catchy pile - your mama thinks we're too young to date but how long did she think we'd wait?

5 Jodie Sands Someday (You'll Want Me To Want You) The only hit for Jodie who is still alive aged 96; great voice and performance and a nice if slightly austere and sluggish ballad

4 Jack Scott My True Love It's a nice tune well delivered but it's just a bit plodding and pious, particularly the spoken part

4 Robert Earl More Than Ever (Come Prima) This song is just much less good translated into English, though once again I do enjoy Robert Earl's voice

3 Malcolm Vaughan With The Michael Sammes Singers More Than Ever (Come Prima) Same comment as above and I like Malcolm's version slightly less than Robert's

2 Frankie Vaughan Am I Wasting My Time On You I think you might be wasting our time with lifeless ballads like this Frankie - dirge of the day

2 The Olympics Western Movies An American doo wop band singing a very dull song about someone liking to watch Westerns with shooting effects - don't get it

1 Charlie Drake Volare A parody version - just not that funny and quite a tedious listen

 

 

Next group:

 

#846 01/11/1958 Connie Francis I'll Get By 19 24-22-25-{19}-24-22->6

#847 08/11/1958 Perry Como Love Makes The World Go Round 6 19-13-11-9-10-8-7-7-7-{6}-8-12-19-24->14

#848 08/11/1958 Eddie Cochran Summertime Blues 18 24-23-25-{18}-19-22->6

#849 08/11/1958 Ricky Nelson Someday 9 28-24-14-12-10-{9}-15-13-12-14-21-26-23->13

#850 08/11/1958 Bobby Day Rockin' Robin 29 {29}-30->2

#851 15/11/1958 Conway Twitty It's Only Make Believe 1 20-6-3-2-2-{1}-1-1-1-1-5-7-10-13-21->15

#852 15/11/1958 Tommy Steele Come On Let's Go 10 21-16-15-14-13-12-{10}-11-12-10-13-16-28->13

#853 15/11/1958 Lonnie Donegan Lonnie's Skiffle Party 23 28-26-{23}-28-23->5

#854 15/11/1958 Frank Sinatra Mr Success 25 29-29R(4)-{25}-26R(2)->4

#855 22/11/1958 Lonnie Donegan Tom Dooley 3 13-6-{3}-3-3-3-4-3-4-11-10-13-22-26->14

#856 22/11/1958 The Kingston Trio Tom Dooley 5 20-17-8-6-6-6-{5}-7-12-10-13-18-28-27->14

#857 22/11/1958 Connie Francis Fallin' 20 22-{20}-26-26-23->5

#858 22/11/1958 Cliff Richard And The Drifters High Class Baby 7 23-14-9-{7}-8-9-9-8-10-18->10

#859 22/11/1958 Ricky Nelson I Got A Feeling 27 {27}->1

 

Did not know there were so many charting versions of 'Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu' / 'Volare'! (let alone that the most successful version was by Dean Martin rather than Domenico Modugno)

Move It is a strong first single from Cliff, you can certainly see where the 'British Elvis' comparisons came from with that. He'd go on to release some even better hits... and plunge some deep nadirs. :kink:

 

Hoots Mon is fantastic! :wub: I must say from my limited 50s knowledge, I continue to approve of your top picks. Fever would have got a 10 from me though lol.

Hoots Mon is as mad as ever and great fun. It became ingrained in 60's culture, everyone was saying "there's a moose loose aboot this hoose" and quite regularly there were loads of mooses loose aboot the hooses we lived in :lol:

 

Never heard of Robin Luke, very Buddy holly, and an early bedroom template for White Town there. seems quite pleasant!

 

Tea For Two was always a catchy little cha-cha. Dont know that version of Come Prima but I love the Tony Dallara version, top notch tune. It's All In The Game is another great song that has been mutli-covered, all of them decent to fabulous. The Four Tops' is the best.

 

Frankie Avalon's not quite in the same league as his fabulous Venus, to say the least! Jodie Sands, I know the name, nice singer as you say, just giving it a spin. The rest I don't know....don't think I'm missing out on much so thanks for filtering them out! :)

Happy to see Domenico's 'Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)' faring well here! I did a huge Eurovision marathon and it was easily my favourite entry of 1958, what a classic.

 

'Hoots Mon' is very standout so I approve of that coming out on top *.*

 

'Move It' reminds me of John Lennon being a big fan and saying it was a turning point for British music.

A really enjoyable bunch today - the top half are all great.

 

9 Bobby Day Rockin' Robin Only a tiny hit here but #2 in America - from the tweety flute to the beat to the lyrics and melody, what a classic

9 Conway Twitty It's Only Make Believe 78th #1: very much feels like the hit Elvis forgot to record but what a song and love the way it builds up to a cry of utter anguish

8 Eddie Cochran Summertime Blues Fabulous first hit for the tragic star who apparently liked to write about young adult angst; love the deep spoken interjections

8 Cliff Richard And The Drifters High Class Baby Can't get over how good Cliff was at this point - this starts off lazily and suddenly fires into gear and after that it's relentless

8 Tommy Steele Come On Let's Go One of Tommy's very best - great tune and he really owns it; love the parts where he slows right up and then sets off again

7 Connie Francis Fallin' Not a big hit for her but she gives it plenty of welly - a very good jazzy pop number and I think she does it in a really sexy way

7 Perry Como Love Makes The World Go Round A catchy one that suits Perry's nonchalent style; yesterday we had a moose on the loose and today it's a loose goose at the fair

6 Ricky Nelson I Got A Feeling Ricky's better one here by far - a tender rock 'n' roll number with a charming call and response and some nice guitar action

5 Connie Francis I'll Get By More of the slower ballad style from Connie - as ever she sounds great but the song is only mid tier

4 Frank Sinatra Mr Success The usual big band style arrangement and it's jolly and charming but lacks a convincing melody

4 Lonnie Donegan Lonnie's Skiffle Party I'm not generally a huge fan of these Christmas medley type singles; this is quite a fun one but just snippets of other songs

3 Ricky Nelson Someday Jodie's version of this was much better - he sounds like he's not really bothered

3 Lonnie Donegan Tom Dooley A true story about a condemned man - Lonnie makes it as fun as it possibly can be but still not my thing

2 The Kingston Trio Tom Dooley We get even more of the story in this one - not quite sure why anyone would enjoy listening to it but both versions were big hits

 

 

 

Last group of 1958:

 

#860 22/11/1958 Perry Como Mandolins In The Moonlight 13 29-19-21-16-17-15-14-{13}-13-18-15-27->12

#861 29/11/1958 Russ Conway More Party Pops 10 30-25-21-16-18-{10}-21->7

#862 06/12/1958 Jane Morgan The Day The Rains Came 1 24-14-11-8-6-5-2-{1}-4-7-9-10-16-18-24-25->16

#863 06/12/1958 Cozy Cole Topsy (Parts 1 And 2) 29 {29}->1

#864 06/12/1958 Pat Boone Gee, But It's Lonely 30 {30}->1

#865 13/12/1958 Ruby Murray Real Love 18 {18}-18-20-30-22-26->6

#866 13/12/1958 Harry Belafonte The Son Of Mary 18 27-{18}-24-21->4

#867 20/12/1958 Johnny Mathis Winter Wonderland 17 25-{17}-29->3

#868 20/12/1958 Shirley Bassey As I Love You 1 28-27-25R(2)-16-9-6-3-2-{1}-1-1-1-2-3-4-6-12-14-19->19

#869 20/12/1958 Jimmie Rodgers Woman From Liberia 18 28-26-27-{18}-18-30->6

#870 20/12/1958 The Teddy Bears To Know Him, Is To Love Him 2 30-25-20-10-5-4-{2}-2-4-6-7-12-16-23-27-26->16

#871 27/12/1958 Shirley Bassey Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me 3 22-17-14-9-6-4-{3}-3-5-5-5-6-12-16-19-23-23->17

#872 27/12/1958 Connie Francis You Always Hurt The One You Love 13 23-17-14-{13}-15-17-26->7

#873 27/12/1958 Big Bopper Chantilly Lace 12 30-23R(2)-18-16-{12}-17-26-23->8

 

 

TIL that MJ wasn't the original version of Rockin Robin! :o

Rockin' Robin is fun, though for me it was MJ's version I knew first and best. That also goes for Conway twitty's It's Only Make Believe, it was the Glen campbell cover I loved to bits and still do, nobody builds a record like Glen could do, unless they had the initials R.O. or G.P. The originals, though, had to be good to inspire the covers!

 

Summertime Blues is a rocknroll cornerstone, much-covered but never bettered. I'm not that familiar with Cliff's follow-up (and he didn't do it when I saw him 2 years ago, unlike Move It) but as jade quoted, Cliff kick-started the British invasion by showing home-grown songs could compete.

 

Come On Let's Go I assume is the Ritchie Valens song, soon to be tragically killed in the Buddy Holly crash, and just a teenager. Los Lobos did a good cover from the movie biopic, but I'd stick with Ritchie's overall esp since he wrote it at such a young age. I did love Tommy back as a kiddie though (looking forward to Little White Bull popping up :) )

 

The other major song I know is Tom Dooley - no getting away from that one back in the day. As will become very apparent, death songs all the rage throughout the 60's, but never been much of a fan of this one.

 

 

 

 

Another one hit wonder klaxon today.

 

8 The Teddy Bears To Know Him, Is To Love Him A much covered classic Phil Spector song written for this one hit wonder American group - the female lead delivers it beautifully

7 Big Bopper Chantilly Lace He will die in a plane crash with Buddy in a couple of months; a great catchy and cheeky rock 'n' roll number

7 Shirley Bassey Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me This is almost irritatingly catchy; more so than her chart topper, and the orchestra gives it a nice Latin feel

7 Cozy Cole Topsy (Parts 1 And 2) #3 in America, a delightful big band instrumental with a strong melody and some great playing

6 Jimmie Rodgers Woman From Liberia The "uh oh" is similar to his last hit which also reached #18 - I really like his style though, apparently known as "rhythmic yodeling"

6 Ruby Murray Real Love A very sweet tune with nice harmonies from the multi-tracking and a gentle accompaniment; a feel good record

6 Jane Morgan The Day The Rains Came 79th #1: translated from a French song and it's a really nice tune well delivered by Jane who is still alive aged 98!

5 Pat Boone Gee, But It's Lonely He's been dumped poor guy: surprisingly convincing from Pat and one of his better ones for sure- you can almost feel his pain

5 Shirley Bassey As I Love You 80th #1: I find this very pleasant but nothing special; really enjoy the brass part in the chorus though

5 Harry Belafonte The Son Of Mary A vocal version of "Greensleeves" - I can't say I love the concept but Harry's storytelling is so good that it's an enjoyable listen

4 Johnny Mathis Winter Wonderland Perfectly decent version of this but it's not a song I especially enjoy - surprisingly this is the only time it has ever made the Top 40

4 Connie Francis You Always Hurt The One You Love Another ballad from Connie with her crystal clear voice over backing ahs and a mid tempo accompaniment; just doesn't quite pop

3 Russ Conway More Party Pops The usual piano medley formula done to death almost every Christmas first by Winifred and now Russ; feels unnecessary

3 Perry Como Mandolins In The Moonlight Another hit about Italy and the evening which seem to be Perry's favourite subjects, but this isn't catchy enough and feels clichéd