Kingsmen Louie Louie

Like volume one, this is a high-grade assortment of hits, all but one by American artists, from the five years or so following the Beatles' invasion of the United States (though a couple of the tracks are from 1963). If there's one thing that might keep some listeners from lavishing unrestrained praise on this collection, it's that there's no real theme other than they were all, or virtually all, big hits and all pretty good. (You can't even say that the theme is American pop and rock, due to the inclusion of the Zombies' "Time of the Season.") Naturally, part of what makes rock and '60s rock in particular interesting is its diversity, and this 29-song anthology covers a lot of bases. Among them are folk-rock (the Byrds' "Mr. Tambourine Man"), blue-eyed soul (the Rascals' "Good Lovin'," the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"), Motown (Martha & the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street"), psychedelia (the Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love"), hard rock (Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride"), hot rod (Jan & Dean's "Little Old Lady from Pasadena"), and garage rock (the Syndicate of Sound's "Little Girl," the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie"). Plus there's good old pop/rock in the Turtles, one-shots like John Fred's "Judy in Disguise" and the Newbeats' "Bread & Butter," and even a little non-rock in Mongo Santamaria's "Watermelon Man" and Lalo Schifrin's "Mission: Impossible." Nothing here's real rare; even the few low-charting items, like Jerry Jeff Walker's original version of "Mr. Bojangles" and the Gants' cover of "Road Runner," aren't hard to get elsewhere. But if you're not a specialist collector yet are on the lookout for '60s oldies anthologies, this series and this volume are recommended above most others. That's due to the exceptional quantity (29 songs on a single disc), consistent high quality (even the novelties and light pop tunes here are fun guilty pleasures), and packaging (excellent annotation provides the stories, some relatively little known, behind each track).

“Leo Fender’s contribution to the sound of modern music is immeasurable. The pop music explosion of the 1950s and 60s would not have happened without the electric guitar and, perhaps more importantly, the electric bass.”
So begins Martin Kelly’s notes for the CD of his book about Fender guitars. A book about music of course lacks the medium that it describes, so Martin came to Ace with a proposal to produce an accompanying CD that would make his pages even more vibrant. We were more than happy to celebrate the great sounds that Leo Fender helped conceive through his inspirational instruments.

Fun House is the second album by the American rock band The Stooges. It was recorded in May 1970 and released in July of the same year. Like its predecessor, The Stooges (1969), Fun House did not sell well. In subsequent years, however, it has been cited as very influential on later musicians, notably in punk rock. In 2007, the album was voted Loudest Album Ever by Q Magazine.

Ministry Of Sound's successful 'Anthems' series returns with this genre defining collection from the 1960's and 70's. CD1 is Mod featuring The Kinks, Small Faces, The Jam, Booker T, The Kingsmen, Secret Affair and more. CD2 is Ska and features Madness, The Clash, Jimmy Cliff, The Beat, Dexys Midnight Runners, Desmond Decker and more. CD3 is Northern Soul featuring Al Wilson, The Supremes, Billy Ocean, Edwin Starr, Sam & Dave, Smokey Robinson and more.

Fun House is the second studio album by American rock band The Stooges. It was released on July 7, 1970 by Elektra Records. According to Billboard magazine, Fun House is set in hard rock and improvisation. Music critic Robert Christgau characterized the album as "genuinely 'avant-garde' rock" because of the music's apt "repetitiveness", "solitary new-thing saxophone", and "L.A. Blues", which showcases the "old avant-garde fallacy … trying to make art about chaos by reproducing same." Greg Kot called Fun House "the Stooges' punk jazz opus". In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked Fun House number 191 on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The Statler Brothers (sometimes simply referred to as The Statlers) were an American country music, gospel, and vocal group. The quartet was formed in 1955 performing locally and, from 1964-72, they sang as opening act and backup singers for Johnny Cash.Originally performing gospel music at local churches, the group billed themselves as The Four Star Quartet, and later The Kingsmen. In 1963, when the song "Louie, Louie" by the garage rock band also called The Kingsmen became famous, the group elected to bill themselves as The Statler Brothers. Despite the name, only two members of the group (Don and Harold Reid) were actual brothers and no member has the surname of Statler. The group actually named themselves after a brand of facial tissue they had noticed in a hotel room (they later quipped that they could just as easily have named themselves “the Kleenex Brothers”). Don Reid sang lead; Harold Reid, Don's older brother, sang bass; Phil Balsley sang baritone; and Lew DeWitt sang tenor and was the guitarist of the Statlers before being replaced by Jimmy Fortune in 1983 due to DeWitt's ill health.