VARIOUS ARTISTS
ROCK-A-BALLADS - FLIPSIDE DREAMS AND LOVING SCHEMES VOL.2

Bear Family’s second volume of 1950s rock ballads picks up right where its predecessor left off, surveying the slower side of the genre via classics by some of the greatest names in the field (and incorporating a passel of genuinely obscure gems as well). Even Jerry Lee Lewis had to take a breather once in a while - and he did it in style with his yearning version of Charlie Rich’s I’ll Make It All Up To You. Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps’ immortal weeper I Sure Miss You is so heartfelt that it demands the immediate attention of your tear ducts, and Carl Perkins wrings every ounce of pathos from Forever Yours. Rod Bernard’s This Should Go On Forever, a 1959 hit, was one of the cornerstones of south Louisiana’s swamp pop movement, while The Everly Brothers took their otherworldly sibling harmonic blend to a whole new level on their immortal ’58 smash All I Have To Do Is Dream and Ritchie Valens yearned for his precious Donna in a way that only a teenager could understand, rendering him all too briefly a star at the end of 1958. Speaking of pathos, it’s hard to top Ray Peterson’s tragic tale of death at the stock car oval, Tell Laura I Love Her, on that front. But for every superstar of rock and roll’s primordial era getting all gushy, this collection offers a breathtaking slowie from a name known primarily only to collectors: Kimball Coburn, Johnny Garner, Myron Lee and The Caddies, The Leonard Brothers, Allen Page, and Frank Evans and The Topnotchers more than hold their own with rare inclusions on this delicious 31-song compilation. Pop this anthology into your CD changer and dance closer than close with your main squeeze - it doesn’t disappoint!