Teenage Crush, Vol. 3

Performers include: Glen Campbell, Rod Lauren, Tommy Roe, Floyd Robinson, Ken Copeland, Kenny Chandler, The Fireflies, The Echoes, Bobby Hamilton, Ray Peterson, Randy Starr, The Innocents, Gino & Gina.
Recorded between 1957 and 1964.
Contains 28 tracks.
The third installment of this series has 28 more big and small chart hits from 1957-1964, exemplifying the most clean-cut aspects of early rock & roll. The adjective "clean-cut" is not a pejorative presumption; it's taken right from the banner on the back sleeve. There are a few teen idols here (Fabian, Johnny Crawford), but actually the sounds take in much more than teen idol rock, covering string-drenched early soul (Little Willie John's "Talk to Me, Talk to Me" and Dee Clark's "Raindrops"), Elvis Presley impersonations (Terry Stafford's "Suspicion" and Ral Donner's "Girl of My Best Friend"), a Buddy Holly impersonation (Tommy Roe's "Sheila"), and group-vocal hits with a dab of doo-wop (the Echoes' "Baby Blue" and Donnie & the Dreamers' "Count Every Star"). Most of the best songs on the disc are mentioned in the preceding sentence, but for collectors, the main attractions might be the relative abundance of high and low chart hits that don't often make it onto compilations, like Donnie Brooks' "Mission Bell," Jerry Wallace's "Primrose Lane," Ken Copeland's "Pledge of Love" (covered in the early '60s by Bobby Fuller), Glen Campbell's original small hit version of "Turn Around, Look at Me" (from a 1961 Crest single), and Kenny Chandler's "Heart" (also a low-charting single for Wayne Newton). It's certainly true that, other than the odd classic, this is certainly innocuous and lightweight fluff. But as such compilations (including some others on Ace) go, it has more variety than most, and can therefore be recommended for those who want to dig into these kinds of sounds and pick up some material to which they might not have been overexposed. ~ Richie Unterberger