London American years continued (1964&1965)

Hi pop pickers. It's been a while since I posted a series of entries around the Ace Records (and they are Ace!) series "The London American year By Year" series which explores a range of recordings as issued by this most iconic UK label.

By way of a background capsule, London American was a label owned by UK Decca for recording licensed from many at the time small US record labels for marketing and distribution in the UK making use of UK Decca's strong operation.

In time many of the labels whose recordings had been licensed set up their own UK operations such as Atlantic and Liberty while others got absorbed into increasingly big US concerns or with changing tastes the labels ceased to exist as outlets for new recordings such as Sun.

Ace began this series way way back in 2009 with the 1960 volume covering a number of recordings I heard on many 'oldies' shows while I was younger that played material from period immediately before the popularity of Merseybeat and the British Invasion of North America's airwaves had began.

There had been something of a hiatus since 2012's last release the 1956 volume captured much of the initial rock and roll boom witnessed on radio, television and your local movie theatre.

The most recent release like it came out this very week, is this, the 1965 edition which showed how a combination of changing tastes, increased competition by UK EMI and Pye Records for licenses and that British Invasion had reduced the output considerable and the number of genuine hits.

This said the set does include a number of gems such as Dobie Gray's the In Crowd a number of hits by the Righteous Brothers, Shirley Ellis's infectious The Clapping Song which was covered in the early 80's in the UK, a great version of Trains,Boats and Planes by Burt Bacharach and a UK act signed in the States and issued by London American - the Pageboys - and their song When I Meet a Girl Like You

1964 for many of us was when Beatlemania  struck, we got Stoned with Richmond's finest and an English accent was a guarantee of acceptance!

In throws of all that,  even the mighty Beach Boys would struggle chased off the top spots by some many darn fine UK artists however America still had a few tricks up it's sleeve not least Phil Spector's unforgettable productions that were licensed by London American so we're treated to such numbers as Crystals and Ronettes plus hits from Atlantic, Kapp and Monument stables  such as Ben E Kings Around The Corner, the Drifters with One Way Love and Otis Redding's  Come To Me.

It was also event licenses that had been profitable such as those to Sun Records and Cadence  from the 50's were becoming irrelevant.

Although it had taken some time to put together this compilation - licensing often is complex - the result is highly enjoyable adding a  fine collection of songs to ones collection of favourite oldies.

London American Year by Year series 1963

 It's kind of funny how you remember not just when and where you first saw or heard something and for me many of what some people call oldies - music from the 1950's and early 1960's - is what I grew up hearing not when I was around as I hadn't been born then but on the radio as revived oldies.

Presented by people who grew up with them first hand, I often spent official day long vacation days listening to their shows as well as whenever I was ill as a child, listening to their stories and gaining at the same time an appreciation of the music that preceded the Beatles and Rolling Stones over in England.

To this end I've been collecting the ACE Records London American label series compilation cds of which this one is the latest instalment.

This instalment such hits as Little Town Flirt, Then He Kissed Me, Let's Turkey Trot, Be My Baby and I'll take You Home plus others that were bubbling under but none the less are fascinating to hear. The great beauty is this series is in strict chronological order so you hear them pretty much as folk did back then and their from the original UK masters used for the singles which were mono only.

The two previous instalments were 1962 and 1959.

London American label Year By Year series

In 2009 Ace Records a leading UK based speciality cd re-issue label commenced its new project the London American year by year series. 

The London American label was an imprint of UK Decca Records that licensed recordings from the very many independent companies in the States and promoted them for the UK market at a time when very few US companies had UK operations of their own and the global multi-market companies we have today just didn't exist. 

London American had many deals with companies such s United Artists, Liberty, Big Top, Chess and Cadence that were the home to many of the stars of the late 1950's and early 60's such as the Everly Bros, Bobby Vee, Del Shannon, Chuck Berry and Johnny and the Hurricanes who were really popular some more popular than back home in the States. 

So a series like this is really valuable for giving you a taste of what the music of this era the one before the Beatles was really like and what is more they have deliberately gone for the previously unissued on cd tracks. 

As a really good move they have also got access to the UK Decca tape vaults where the tapes used to manufacture the original 45's were stored and used them so we have the original monaural sound those who bought and collected the 45's expect which has been expertly re-mastered. 

To date three titles have been issued 1960, 1961 and 1962 which came out last week landing in my mailbox on Monday. 

Hear we go again rewinding to the past with this the latest instalment of ACE's London American year By Year series. 28 tracks some hits some misses that haven't been re-issued on cd from 1958 from the original UK masters. 

Artists featured are Duane Eddy, The Mills Bros, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, Chuck Berry, The Drifters and Eddie Cochrane with his Summertime Blues. What's great about the series is there's very little duplication with other ACE London American compilations