VA Hard to Find 45s on CD

Do you ever feel like those standard hits-of-the-70s compilations don’t quite capture the 1970s that you remember? Do you feel like many of your personal favorites, even when they were big hits, are rarely if ever included? That’s why we created Hard To Find 45s On CD, Volume 18: 70s Essentials – to bring back all those seldom-heard classics that other collections seem to have forgotten. And we make them sound better than ever!

Fans of this critically acclaimed series have been waiting a decade for Eric Records to deliver more sonic sensations and stereo rarities from the late 1960s. Now it’s here – Hard to Find 45s on CD, Vol. 17: Late Sixties Classics – and it’s spectacular! You’ll hear 21 beautifully remastered songs, 16 of which were Top 10 hits and 8 that appear in stereo for the first time ever!

The 1950s were fun, the 1960s were wild, and the 1970s were decadent. But the 1980s? The ’80s were big: Big hair; big shoulder pads; big, booming music; and big changes. MTV, compact discs, and digital sampling were brand new, and FM radio blasted the hits of the day to nerds, preppies, and punks alike.

Here's a real grab bag of Top 40 hits from 1960 to 1966, some of them indeed very hard to find on CD or even hear on the radio. Some of them are not really not that hard to find on CD, though this disc (like every one in this series) takes pains to present original 45 RPM single versions, often in stereo.

Pump up the volume! No single phrase captures the sound of the 1980s better. Big, loud, bold, and brash – even the ballads had power! The ’80s were the last golden era of Top 40 radio. This was a magic time when the best music was also the music that filled America’s airwaves. Artists like Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, U2 and Prince were at the absolute zenith of their commercial careers, but that was only half the story.

Twenty-one more really-hard-to-find high-charting Sixties Classics, most in stereo, all superbly mastered from the absolute best sources available! These have never sounded better!

Here’s another ultra-high quality collection from Eric, the first one to venture into the SEVENTIES. Seventeen of these songs made the Billboard Top 20! As usual, all recordings have been digitally remastered from the best available sources in true stereo.

Five long years after Eric Records unveiled the last numbered volume of our flagship series – detours through Music City and Soulsville notwithstanding – we proudly present Hard To Find 45s on CD Volume 9: 1957-1959. This jam-packed platter is a veritable potpourri of pop, reflecting the wide-open world of Top 40 radio before the days of niche marketing and narrow-casting. Within the span of these 23 tracks, you’ll hear rollicking New Orleans rhythm ’n’ blues (Huey “Piano” Smith), irrepressible rockabilly (Carl Mann), and spirited workouts on the Wurlitzer (Dave Cortez’s “Happy Organ”), steel guitar (Santo & Johnny’s “Tear Drop”), and a whole “String of Trumpets” (from, who else, the Trumpeteers).

With the latest installment of our ''Hard-To-Find 45's on CD'' series, Eric Records tackles a broad topic - love songs. After all, most songs are love songs - all about wanting it, finding it, losing it, and every step in between. And, we've got that covered, from John Denver's heartfelt tribute to his wife, ''Annie's Song,'' to Ronnie Dyson's frank discussion of bedroom politics, ''(If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?''

During the early 1960s, rock and roll grew by leaps and bounds. The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and Motown and Stax Records all entered the stage, and soon nothing would be the same. But, the more things change, the more they stay the same, and much of the Top 40 retained the classic ’50s sound – from teen idols like Jimmy Clanton (“Venus In Blue Jeans”) to nascent Tex-Mex by Sunny & The Sunglows (“Talk To Me”). Eric Records’ Hard To Find 45s On CD, Volume 10: 1960-1965 documents it all, from new sounds – like the Sir Douglas Quintet’s “She’s About A Mover” (in true stereo for the first time ever!) – to the loping rockabilly of Harold Dorman’s “Mountain Of Love.”