Hard to Find 45

The first installment of the Hard to Find 45's series is, like all of them, a smorgasbord of Top 40 hits, some of them indeed very hard to find on CD or even hear on the radio. Some of them are 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. This volume concentrates on the first five years or so of rock & roll's popularity, and though rather pop-oriented, it does cover a good amount of variety within that scope.

It’s been a little while since Eric Records’ acclaimed “Hard-To-Find 45s on CD” series visited the 1970s. And, we’ve never stretched into the ’80s! That makes Hard-To-Find 45s on CD Vol. 14: 70s & 80s Pop Classics a welcome addition to the family, as it celebrates the glittering decades that found popular music getting more popular – and unpredictable – than ever before. Hold on tight – or you might get whiplash as we survey nearly 20 years’ worth of pop rarities!

Pop radio in the late 1960s and early 1970s was a delightfully diverse thing. Tune in your transistor to your local Top 40 station and you’d hear everything from easy listening to acid rock. But lost amidst the mythology of that tempestuous time are dozens of sweet, catchy, lightning-in-a-bottle hit records – we call them “Sugar Pop.” Many of these artists scaled the upper reaches of the charts and were never heard from again. But, one-hit wonders or not, these are some finest records of their era – and we’ve rescued them from obscurity and polished them to a fine-sounding gleam for the latest installment of Hard To Find 45s On CD.

The quintessential sounds of the Seventies are here in the most wide-ranging collection of AM radio classics ever heard on a single disc! Hard to Find 45s on CD, Vol. 19: More 70s Essentials has 21 beautifully remastered stereo songs, 11 of which were Top 10 hits and five of which appear on CD for the first time ever! In a word, it’s dy-no-mite!

Pop music in the ’60s and ’70s was a kaleidoscope of sound – a dizzying, diverse wonderland unthinkable in these days of targeted demographics and niche marketing. Whereas Hard To Find 45s on CD Volume 11: Sugar Pop Classics focuses on a specific – if ephemeral – slice of the pop pie, Volume 12: 60s & 70s Pop Classics embraces the cacophony, culling nearly an hour’s worth of wildly divergent Top 20 Hits not commonly found on other collections.

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).

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).

In early 2018, Eric Records revisited one of our most popular early collections to improve the overall sound and upgrade specific tracks. Originally released in 1996, this collection offers 21 hard-to-find pop hits from the early sixties, 12 in full stereo. This newly re-mastered CD contains the ORIGINAL HIT SINGLE versions of #1 hits like “Sugar Shack” by Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs, “Wooden Heart” by Joe Dowell, “I Will Follow Him” by Little Peggy March and “Dominique” by The Singing Nun. Every song has been lovingly re-mastered from the original master tapes for brilliant clarity and full, rich sound.