If you're fed up with the usual party mix - Dancing Queen, YMCA, Hi Ho Silver Lining, same old same old - you need a copy of this. Your audience may not have heard many of these tracks before unless they're afficianados of the genre, but you can rest assured that if you want toes to tap at your party, this is a surefire soundtrack to that objective; from start to finish too! Everyone knows Elvis and Eddie Cochran of course, most know Johnny Burnette and Carl Perkins too, but there is so much more than just the big names who made it primarily as rock 'n' roll's innovators. Charlie Feathers and Mac Curtis are prime examples of the sadly neglected (in Britain at least), and some barely register a Wikipedia entry. But every one deserves a place on here.
The best thing for me personally was my introduction to the rip it up sound of Sonny Burgess who just makes you want to go back in time and go crazy in the dancehall. We Wanna Dance is a classic, a distinctly American sound of the 50s, but with roots that go back to the 20s, and still manage to be evocative of what the Stray Cats would bring as part of the rockabilly revival of the late 70s.
If you're looking for Dylanesque lyrics or ten minute long psychedelic swirling keyboard trips, you've come to the wrong place for sure here. The lyrics are simple, even slightly silly or downright childish in one or two cases, but this is music for hearing and reacting, not listening and musing. Fifty funpacked tracks that, even if you can't name all the artists, you'll still find yourself coming back to this time and again.