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Have you ever heard Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver sing a bonafide rock ‘n’ roll tune? Have you wondered what Eleanor Roosevelt thought about rock ‘n’ roll? Or what Jimmy Page was doing before The Yardbirds?
Take a guess how many versions of “Surfin’ Bird” you can get on one album.
All these mysteries are answered in a pack of new compilation albums on a variety of record labels. From an anthology of the Pa-Pa-Um-Mau-Mau “Surfin Bird” standard to a collection of obscure 1960s recordings, compilation albums are bringing all manner of rock oddities, obscurities and marginalia to light in the name of preservation and, of course, a bunch of laughs.
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Likewise, “Hipsville 29 B.C.” is on Kramden Records. It contains another load of the rare and the weird, all classics in their own, demented, truly rocked-out way. There’s the blatant “Gloria” ripoff in “Fight Fire” by the Dee-Jays, and a primitive yet effective surf groove in “Land Beyond” by The Motions. An early form of The Cowsills contributes a striking “All I Wanna Be Is Me,” which only highlights how far they slid after becoming television stars. The Prodigal may be an unknown band now, but “You Got Me” is a heavenly bit of rock history, with a hot organ and driving guitars – a sound that’s served two decades well.
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