ALBUMS OF THE 50S

by Charlotte Greig

Los años 50 fueron, entre otras cosas, testigo privilegiado del nacimiento de una nueva corriente musical totalmente el rock & roll. Protagonistas como Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley o Nat King Cole se dan cita en este libro que recopila los 100 discos más vendidos en esa década reproduciendo la portada original y con una completa ficha informativa.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[John Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having seen from this what was on offer then, it was clear that the world needed ROCK! - even if it (The USofA) didn’t particularly want it. There were some weak signs in the album repertoires – 2 Elvis rockish albums in 1956, bought by cash-strapped teens no doubt – but their parents had the dosh. They favoured the crooners, the musicals, light classical and good wholesome Christmas albums. Elvis’ Christmas album was the best-seller.. at 7million, so a compromise, I guess.

Good to see the album covers on display here and a load of folks I’d never heard of (don't blame me I'm British!) ..Tennesse Ernie Ford – singing hymns, spirituals and dewey eyed religious songs and looking oh so wholesomely creepy..selling millions. And then there was Mitch Miller and the Gang singing along.
The world of TV was growing and TV stars were cashing in – eg Jackie Gleason, a virtual non-musician but with 4 hit albums;his Lonesome Echo album cover by Salvador Dali.

Fascinating – but bring on the 60s!

[Chris Romberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok - a little sparse on the factual details- and my main complaint: for several of the albums the original artwork from the 50’s was not used.

[C. John Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is part of a series of books, one for each decade from the fifties to the nineties. Since the LP made its debut in this decade there are no volumes for previous decades. One interesting observation is that despite its popularity there is very little rock and roll in this list. This is due to the fact that teenagers tended to buy mainly 45’s while their parents were the ones buying LP’s. There is some rock and roll but only about a half dozen, from Elvis, Ricky Nelson and Pat Boone. We also find jazz, folk, country, soundtracks, easy listening and classical on this list as well.
Each album is allotted two pages, one of which is for the album’s cover. The other page contains the track listing, a small box containing some basic information and a write-up on the album. This last item contains a bit of history of the album and some comments about it. No this not an in-depth analysis but given the book is the size of a CD that should come as no surprise.
A few tidbits from my reading of this book. Although some of the artists (Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, Miles Davis, Elvis Presley) are still well-known today others (Crazy Otto) have become rather obscure. Elvis’ best selling album is a Christmas album and would have thought that would be the case. Speaking of Christmas albums there are nine on this list. I am pretty sure that would be the case nowadays. Finally on a personal note, I have four of these albums. Two by Harry Belafonte and the entries from Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis.
All in all this is a fun book. It gives a nice taste of what was popular during this decade. Depending on your age this is a good one to sit down and look at with you parents or grandparents and see what memories it brings back.

[William Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read