A best of full of early rock n roll hits (Best Of Freddy Cannon - Freddy Cannon)

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Best Of Freddy Cannon - Freddy Cannon
Date:	20/04/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good selection of songs

Disadvantages: Some recordings are a bit dodgy

The Best of Freddy Cannon is hit after hit and a great service to a very much alive rock n roll star of the late 50s and early 60s. Whilst these tracks may seem like snippets compared to today's average song at many just coming in above 2 minutes, do we really need that extra 2 or 3 minutes of a talentless fool like Will Young wittering on?

I'm very much of the mind that rock n roll tracks should be short and to the point and anything that variates has to be by someone incredibly talented to work. Cannon's short and sweet catchy tracks would go on to influence generations of stars from The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys through to punk artists. He, himself was influenced by a mixture of Chuck Berry and earlier pop work.

To the casual listener it may sound like a lot of the tracks sound similar but that's mostly due to the format of the lyrics of the time, some tracks are guitar-heavy, whilst others have a focus on piano or in the case of "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" a full brass section. Not only that but Cannon's slightly aggressive gruff vocals tend to give his hits a bit of balls and I once amusingly saw him labelled as "a logical predecessor to black metal" by a humorous Scandinavian, whilst I wouldn't go that far his vocals certainly do pack a punch which are contrasted by his gimmick woo's.

It's tricky to pick out a best song but I'd probably go for Palisades Park, the song is pure fun and there's little doubt in my mind as to why The Ramones liked it so much!

1. Tallahassee Lassie
2. Okefenokee
3. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
4. Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy
5. The Urge
6. Jump Over
7. Happy Shades Of Blue
8. Humdinger
9. My Blue Heaven
10. Muskrat Ramble
11. Buzz Buzz A-Diddle-It
12. Transistor Sister
13. For Me And My Gal
14. Teen Queen Of The Week
15. Palisades Park
16. What's Gonna Happen When Summer's Done
17. If You Were A Rock And Roll Record
18. Patty Baby
19. Everybody Monkey
20. Sweet Georgia Brown
21. Charged-Up, Turned-Up Rock-N-Roll Singer
22. Abigail Beecher
23. Boston My Hometown
24. Action
25. The Dedication Song

Summary: Nice bit of early rock n roll