TEEN BEAT: 30 Instrumental Rocking`Instrumentals Volume 5

The fifth and final installment of Ace's series of early rock instrumental compilations is one of the best Teen Beat volumes, in large part because about half of these are acknowledged classic hits. Booker T. & the MG's' "Green Onions," Sandy Nelson's "Let There Be Drums," the Pyramids' "Penetration," Link Wray's "Raw-Hide," the Routers' "Let's Go (Pony)," Jack Nitzsche's "The Lonely Surfer," Bill Doggett's "Honky Tonk," the Mar-Keys' "Last Night," Paul Revere & the Raiders' "Like Long Hair": they're all dynamite tunes, and even if they might not be that hard to find on other reissues, it's good to have them all in one place. The 30-track disc is filled out by lesser hits that haven't made it into oldies radio formats, although all but a couple at least entered the charts. Some of them, frankly, are highly derivative and forgettable, even if they actually did quite well. What, then, are the relative rarities here to keep an eye on? There's "Week End" by the Kingsmen, not the "Louie Louie" folks but an entire different outfit comprised of Bill Haley's Comets playing under a different name. New Orleans pianist legend James Booker almost made the Top Forty in 1960 with the highly atypical (for him) "Gonzo," with its organ and flute. Ray Bryant Combo's big band-cum-rock "The Madison Time (Part 1)" was used in the soundtrack of John Waters' Hairspray. Phil Spector did the rare , non-charting Duane Eddy-like tune "Bumbershoot" in 1959, under the pseudonym Phil Harvey. There's even a leap back to the pre-rock era with Arthur Smith's "Guitar Boogie," a 1948 hit that pointed the way to the hillbilly-boogie fusion that would lay a major foundation for rock'n'roll, and was redone as a fully rock'n'roll hit in 1959 by the Virtues (as "Guitar Boogie Shuffle").

LINK: VOLUME 5

TEEN BEAT: 30 Instrumental Rocking`Instrumentals Volume 3 & 4

VOLUME 3

Devoted wholly to rock instrumentals of the late '50s and early '60s, this 30-track disc is a good investment for collectors looking for hits in the genre that didn't crack the Top 20 (and hence don't get played on oldies radio today), or missed the charts entirely. A couple smashes ("Wipe Out," "Pipeline") slip through, but otherwise there's a variety of forgotten hot wordless platters here, like the Astronauts' "Baja" (some of the best instrumental surf to originate outside out of California), the New Orleans-cum-Philly R&B of saxophonist Lee Allen, the creepy organ of the Wailers' "Mau Mau," the minimalist rockabilly of the Rock-a-Teens' "Woo-Hoo," the Ramrods' wacky adaptation of "Ghost Riders in the Sky," and the hard guitar of Duane Eddy associate Al Casey. When all's said and done, though, these aren't as good as the most famous vintage instrumental hits — stick with the more prominent compilations unless you're deeply into the sound.

LINK: VOLUME 3

VOLUME 4

In some ways this series actually gets more interesting with the fourth volume, possibly because the need to fill up so much space (another 30 tracks worth) with instrumental rock oldies meant that more unusual items had to be excavated. There are a few big hits (Bill Justis' "Raunchy," Bill Black's "Smokie"), yet most of these are singles that didn't even make it into the Top 100; over half missed the listings altogether. Not all of these are rock, either; Hank Levine's "Image" is a lost exotica single, Moe Koffman's "The Swingin' Shepherd Blues" is light jazz, and Kokomo's "Asia Minor" is classical boogie. While some of the selections are only average, there are some good nuggets here, like the Megatons' scorching variation of "You Don't Love Me" ("Shimmy, Shimmy Walk"), Travis Wammack's innovative guitar work on "Scratchy" (which has a snatch of backwards vocals that was way ahead of its time for 1964), the Centurians' moody surf instro "Bullwinkle Pt. II" (used in the Pulp Fiction soundtrack), and Lonnie Mack's "Chicken Pickin'." There's also the peculiar belly-dance rock of the Hollywood Persuaders' "Drums-a-Go-Go," which was created by a pre-Mothers Frank Zappa with Paul Buff.

LINK: VOLUME 4

TEEN BEAT: 30 Instrumental Rocking`Instrumentals Volume 1 & 2

VOLUME1
30 instrumentals from the late '50s and early '60s, the era when instrumental rock was at its peak. Most of these were hits, though a few of them didn't make the Top 20, and some didn't even make the Top 100. Hence the selections are often more obscure than what you'll find on Rhino's Rock Instrumentals series. The Rhino series, however, remains not only a much better introduction to this nifty genre, but considerably higher in overall quality. The best songs on Teen Beat are often on the Rhino series as well (the Ventures' "Walk Don't Run," Preston Epps' "Bongo Rock," Link Wray's "Rumble"); the lesser-known ones, though a boon to collectors, simply aren't as good or imaginative. It's a serviceable supplement, though, if you're looking for more of the style, and the best cuts are certainly dynamite.

LINK: VOLUME 1


VOLUME2
This digs way deeper into the cobwebs of history than the first volume of the series. Although a few of these were big hits, over half of the 30 tracks didn't even make it into the Top 100. That doesn't mean they should be dismissed. But in the case of these selections at least, they're simply not nearly as memorable as the best early rock & roll instrumentals, whether hits or flops. There are some nifty highlights, like two raw, bluesy '61 cuts by a young Roy Buchanan, uncommonly rocking items by Chet Atkins, and the early Danelectro bass workout by the Fireballs ("Carioca"). But a lot of these are standard-issue three-chord instrumentals by no-names like the Atmospheres, or forgettable flop followups by one-hit wonders like Dave Cortez, Floyd Cramer, and the Champs. The energy level is always high, but that in itself isn't a high recommendation, although devotees of instrumental rock will certainly find a lot of cuts here that are hard to locate on CD.

LINK: VOLUME 2