Still Dead! The Grim Reaper's Jukebox

by N/A

Overview

Ace's 2006 compilation Dead! The Grim Reaper's Greatest Hits doesn't automatically seem like the kind of concept that would generate a sequel. But there were certainly enough rock & roll "death" discs in the 1950s and 1960s to fill up a series, and two years later, the label was back with 24 more such novelties from 1952-1969. As theme-concept various-artists rock anthologies go, songs about death certainly rank among the odder and more interesting subjects available, owing both to their morbidity and the sheer difficulty of making a record about death that's both commercial and avoids bad taste. Actually, such discs (including many of the ones assembled for this CD) usually weren't all that successful at doing so, but they're at least amusing to hear for their sheer weirdness, assuming they don't catch you in the wrong frame of mind. There is one out-and-out classic here, the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack," as well as a couple other hits, Thomas Wayne's "Tragedy" and Billy Ward & the Dominoes' ridiculously over the top weeper "The Bells." Otherwise, you're likely to be hearing most of these ditties for the first time, and frankly, quite a few of them aren't all that good, with some exceptions. Little Caesar's "Goodbye Baby" is an incredibly risque early-'50s R&B murder tune, while the same singer's 1960 rarity "The Ghost of Mary Meade" is an effectively spooky outing. The Whyte Boots' "Nightmare" is well known to girl group collectors as one of the best Shangri-Las imitations, and Vern Stovall's 1961 single "Long Black Limousine" was famously covered by Elvis Presley. Beyond that, it's very uneven sledding, perhaps highlighted, if that's the right word, by the "so bad it's fascinating" 1969 single "The Year 2000" by Estelle (aka Estelle Bennett of the Ronettes), in which she awkwardly details the end of the human race by the end of the millennium. Likewise stretching the boundaries of good taste is an "answer" record to the Everly Brothers' hit "Ebony Eyes," the Beverley Sisters' "Flight 1203," in which it turns out that Miss Ebony Eyes has missed the flight on which everyone else has died. Much of the rest falls into the "fun to hear once or twice" (or less) category, preferably on Halloween, when you need an offbeat selection of seasonal tunes to impress your record-collector friends. But it's good fun, if not exactly clean, with appropriately irreverent detailed liner notes as to the backgrounds of these unlikely deathsploitation records. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	10/14/2008
Label:	Ace
UPC:	0029667034722
Rank:	149584

Tracks

1. Goodbye Baby  -  Little Caesar  - Que Martyn  -  Martyn
2. In the Rain  - Ronnie Dante
3. The Singing Star  - Elaine Arthur
4. The Ghost of Mary Meade, Pt. 1  - David Block  -  Little Caesar & the Ark Angels  - Jack Stern
5. Too Young to Be a Widow  - Cobey Carson  - Trade Martin
6. Tragedy  - Fred Burch  -  DeLons  - Gerald Nelson  - Thomas Wayne
7. The Hero  - Bernadette Carroll  - Pierre Maheu
8. Long Black Limousine  - Bobby George  - Vern Stovall
9. White Gardenia  - Hoagy Lands  - Bert Russell  - Carl Spencer
10. The Year 2000  - Teddy Vann
11. The Grave  - Tony Casanova
12. My Friend Bobby  - Pamela Blue  - Geoff Goddard
13. Nightmare  - Lori Burton  - Pam Sawyer  -  Whyte Boots
14. The Prom  - Del Shannon
15. A Thousand Feet Below  - James Foster  - Terry Tyler
16. Leader of the Pack  - Jeff Barry  - Ellie Greenwich  - George "Shadow" Morton  -  Shangri-Las
17. Little Gold Locket  -  Darwin  - John Winfield
18. Susie Darling  - Ronnie Cook
19. Six Feet Under  - Bob Fryfogle
20. Car Carsh  -  Cadets  - Joe Josea
21. Flight 1203  -  Beverley Sisters
22. Laurie (Strange Things Happen)  - Milton Addington  - Dickey Lee
23. The Bells  -  Ward
24. Dead  -  Poets

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Pamela Blue   Primary Artist
DeLons   Primary Artist
Whyte Boots   Primary Artist
Little Caesar   Primary Artist
Hoagy Lands   Primary Artist
The Cadets   Primary Artist
Thomas Wayne   Primary Artist
The Shangri-Las   Primary Artist
Vern Stovall   Primary Artist
The Poets   Primary Artist
Dickey Lee   Primary Artist
Del Shannon   Primary Artist
Billy Ward & the Dominoes   Primary Artist
Terry Tyler   Primary Artist
Bob Fryfogle   Primary Artist
Que Martyn & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Darwin   Primary Artist
Ronnie Cook   Primary Artist
Cobey Carson   Primary Artist
Elaine Arthur   Primary Artist
Little Caesar & the Ark Angels   Primary Artist
The Beverley Sisters   Primary Artist
Bernadette Carroll   Primary Artist
Tony Casanova   Primary Artist
Ronnie Dante   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Fred Burch   Composer
Pam Sawyer   Composer
Del Shannon   Composer
David Block   Composer
Geoff Goddard   Composer
Jack Stern   Composer
Joe Josea   Composer
Rob Shread   Audio Restoration
Bobby George   Composer
Gerald Nelson   Composer
John Winfield   Composer
Carl Spencer   Composer
Duncan Cowell   Mastering
Que Martyn   Composer
Jools DeVere   Package Design
Milton Addington   Composer
Pierre Maheu   Composer
Mitch O'Connell   Cover Art
Vern Stovall   Composer
Jeff Barry   Composer
James Foster   Composer
Teddy Vann   Composer
Mick Patrick   Photo Courtesy
Bert Russell   Composer
Brian Nevill   Liner Notes
Trade Martin   Composer
Lori Burton   Composer
Tony Casanova   Composer
George "Shadow" Morton   Composer
Ellie Greenwich   Composer