"Ace Story" Vol. 2

To clear up a couple possible points of confusion about this 2010 release: although it came out on the British Ace label, it's actually a compilation of material that came out on the American Ace label between the mid-'50s and mid-'60s (with the exception of a couple cuts that didn't appear until the early '70s)...
...Also, it's not identical to the 12-track LP titled The Ace Story, Vol. 2 that came out in the '70s. This edition adds 12 bonus tracks, making it a more comprehensive sampler of the label's rock and R&B. Note, however, that this is more a sampler than a best-of. It does include cuts by Ace's most popular artists (Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Ford, Huey "Piano" Smith, and Bobby Marchan), but with the exception of Clanton's "Go, Jimmy, Go," none of the company's biggest hits. So it's more something for the specialist enthusiast and collector of early rock & roll, especially early rock & roll with a New Orleans/swamp pop flavor, than more general rock & roll fans. If you're familiar with the aforementioned singers' hits, but not much else on the label, it gives you the opportunity to go deeper into their catalog, though not much of it's up to the level of those hits. Points of interest include the grinding "Bad Boogie" by Lightnin' Hopkins, Ace being one of many labels at which he made a pit stop; Frankie Ford's "Roberta," covered by the Animals in the mid-'60s; the mild novelty value of Marchan's "Rockin' Behind the Iron Curtain"; and the whirling organ instrumental "Teen Age Rock" by Little Booker, aka famed New Orleans keyboardist James Booker. Little Shelton's 1971 cover of the great Ford hit "Sea Cruise," replete with fake applause, is an abomination compared to the original, but anyone interested in the Ace label is likely to have the Ford version elsewhere already. - Review by Richie Unterberger

trax:
1 Blow Wind Blow - Junior Gordon 2 Bad Boogie - Lightnin' Hopkins 3 Silly Dilly Woman - Mercy Baby 4 Roberta - Frankie Ford 5 I Love To Rock & Roll - Eddie Bo 6 Rockin' Behind the Iron Curtain - Bobby Marchan 7 Please Don't Tell 'Em - The Blue Dots 8 Mercy - Gene & Al's Spacemen 9 Sea Cruise - Little Shelton 10 Looped - Joe Dyson/Johnny Collins 11 Educated Fool - Amos Milburn/Charles Brown 12 Go, Jimmy, Go - Jimmy Clanton 13 Would You Believe It (I Have a Cold) - Huey "Piano" Smith & the Clowns 14 Teen Age Rock - Little Booker 15 Sleeping In the Ground - Sammy Myers 16 My Talk Didn't Do Any Good - Frankie Lee Sims 17 I Want To Be Your Man - Frankie Ford 18 Little Girl - Earl King 19 Honey Honey - The Supremes 20 Chickee Wah-Wah - Bobby Marchan 21 I Trusted You - Jimmy Clanton & His Rockets 22 New Orleans - Big Boy Myles 23 Curiosity - Joe & Ann 24 The Second Line - Huey & Curley
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