Jake Leither 1st Dec 2020 | | 8-TrackRonnie Dove - Long Enough To Say Goodbye | Despite looking very much like a bootleg tape, this is a legitimate issued album.
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Jake Leither 29th Sep 2019 | | Vinyl AlbumThe Dave Clark Five And The Playbacks - The Dave Clark Five And The Playbacks | Track A2, actually a pretty solid track.
[YouTube Video]
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Jake Leither 28th Jul 2019 | | Vinyl AlbumRonnie Dove - New Old-Fashioned Love | This album was never released commercially, only promo copies are known to exist, and they are quite rare.
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Jake Leither 13th Dec 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumRonnie Dove - The Best Of | ReviewMy review for this one will be very short...
1. Excellent songs
2. Piss poor mastering
Skip this one and seek out the originals.
5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
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Jake Leither 6th Dec 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumRonnie Dove - Sings His Greatest Hits | ReviewMost people who know me know that I am a huge fan of Ronnie Dove. Have been since I was a little 12 year old who was digging through his grandparent's records. It all started with this LP. I have since become friends with Ronnie himself, and full disclosure, he is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and he still sounds incredible.
OK, a review of this album...
This LP contains all of Ronnie's Top 40 hits between 1964 and 1967. I will split this review into two sections: the good and the bad.
The good:
All songs are very well mastered.
This is the first place that "I'll Make All Your Dreams Come True" appeared in true stereo. All of the Diamond releases were either in mono or the dreaded fake stereo. And honestly, it sounds incredible in stereo. The CD reissue on Real Gone Music is sourced from this album.
This is also the first place "A Little Bit of Heaven" has also showed up in true stereo. Thankfully, a tape of the song has since surfaced and is used on CD reissues.
This is the first, and so far only, place that a live version of "Kiss Away" was released (even though the cover does not advertise it as being a live recording). It was recorded in 1970 at Roger Miller's King of the Road motel, which had a rooftop night club. It was recorded for a live album that was intended to be released on Certron Records. Given all the trouble the label had because of money issues (due 100% to Aubrey Mayhew and his money laundering) the album was never released. To date, only five songs from this album have surfaced.
[YouTube Video]
The bad:
All LP copies were pressed on super cheap vinyl. Even brand new copies sound poor. Something also went wrong in the plating of the LP, so there is a constant crackle on all the songs. This is not present on the 8-track and cassette versions.
The cover artwork is very bland. I feel they could have done more, but, then again, it is a cheapo budget label.
To conclude, this is an excellent compilation to have if you are wanting to get into Ronnie Dove and his music. It is well mastered (albeit pressed on crap vinyl) and each song that was recorded in stereo is presented as such. Also worth owning for the rare live track. I know this album got me hooked on Ronnie Dove.
5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
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Jake Leither 6th Dec 2018 | | Vinyl Album[no artist listed] - Christmas Disco Party | Max Fagan, the dude who wrote the songs, is also the singer, even though uncredited. No clue who the female singer is.
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Jake Leither 6th Dec 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumVarious Artists - 24 Groovy Greats | Yes the songs are heavily edited. Ronnie Dove's "Hello Pretty Girl" only clocks in at less than a minute and a half
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Jake Leither 21st Nov 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumRonnie Dove - Swingin’ Teen Sounds Of Ronnie Dove And Terry Phillips | ReviewOnce Ronnie began to have some hits, Design Records (a budget label run by Pickwick) issued this album to cash in on his success. The four songs by Ronnie come from two of his three singles recorded before he signed to Diamond Records as a solo. These singles are credited to Ronnie Dove and the Beltones, although the Beltones are not credited on this disc. While it was a great idea to reissue his early singles to cash in on his success (as they did with a lot of other artists), true to budget label form, the mastering is atrocious. It is clearly mastered from the 45s themselves, but with a lot of echo added and the balance adjusted, making it sound very off (this probably isn't a huge issue for mono copies)
Regardless, it is a must have for fans of Ronnie's. It is a great glimpse into his earlier, pre-hit record career.
On another note, the songs sung by Terry Phillips have some involvement with Lou Reed, as he was a session musician and singer on some of these Design/Pickwick issues. I personally do not know how much of an involvement he has in these recordings, and honestly, they just aren't that great. Just typical filler to pad out the rest of the LP.
6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
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Jake Leither 21st Nov 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumRonnie Dove - Swingin’ Teen Sounds Of Ronnie Dove And Terry Phillips | Early Ronnie Dove:
A1:
[YouTube Video]
A2:
[YouTube Video]
B1:
[YouTube Video]
B2:
[YouTube Video]
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Jake Leither 21st Nov 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumRonnie Dove - Right Or Wrong | Added label scans, not the greatest quality but better than nothing.
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Jake Leither 20th Nov 2018 | | Cassette AlbumTommy Roe - Stay Young | Added images, including Tommy Roe autograph from inside j-card.
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Jake Leither 20th Nov 2018 | | Cassette AlbumConway Twitty - Gold | The correct track order is on the cover. Tape labels are incorrect.
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Jake Leither 9th Nov 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumVarious Artists - A Swingin' Summer | Track A2:
[YouTube Video]
Track B2:
[YouTube Video]
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Jake Leither 1st Nov 2018 | | Cassette AlbumTommy Roe - Greatest Hits | To further the sentiment of the previous comment, these are also pretty poorly done re recordings IMO. It's like they were barely even trying to recapture the spirit of the originals.
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Jake Leither 1st Nov 2018 | | 8-TrackRonnie Dove - Ronnie Dove Sings His Greatest Hits | Track 9/10 is a live recording
Track 3 is in true stereo, this tape, the cassette and LP versions were the first place this mix appeared.
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Jake Leither 1st Nov 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumPeter Lemongello - Do I Love You | ReviewAfter selling roughly 43,000 copies of his self produced debut LP via television advertisements in the New York area, Lemongello signed to Private Stock Records. In late 1976, this album was issued. While it does have it's shining moments (the title track, A1, A4 and A5 being those that stand out), overall this is a very bland album. The other tracks on the album just kind of fall flat and aren't at all memorable. After this album's failure to chart, he was dropped from Private Stock.
This album and all of the singles from it all failed to chart on Billboard and Cashbox. Peter Lemongello claims the Beach Boys sang backup vocals on it. No former or (then) current members are listed on the LP's back cover, and if you listen to the album, it doesn't sound at all like their harmonies.
6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
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Jake Leither 1st Nov 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumVarious Artists - The Best Of Country Music, Vol. 7 | "Jukebox Charlie" is a different recording than the hit recording on Little Darlin'. I'm not sure where this rerecording came from though, I'm unaware of him rerecording it on Epic.
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Jake Leither 1st Nov 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumThe Dovells - Discotheque | ReviewI purchased this album thinking it would be a fun listen. I was quite wrong. I should've expected that when I saw the name "Wyncote" on the sleeve (Wyncote being a cheapo label owned by Cameo/Parkway). The disappointment was for two big reasons:
1. The LP jacket says mono, the disc says mono, but the whole disc is in crappy fake stereo. Add to that the very cheap vinyl, and
2. The songs all awkwardly and abruptly cut into each other, kinda like those K-tel nonstop disco LPs, but instead of fading, it just cuts right to the next song.
If you want a good Dovells compilation, try the "Len Barry Sings With The Dovells" LP (preferably a mono copy). This ain't it.
6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
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Jake Leither 29th Aug 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumJohnny Paycheck - At His Best | Recordings he made for Little Darlin’ and Certron Records.
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Jake Leither 29th Aug 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumRonnie Dove - Ronnie Dove | Only differences between this and the “Promo Records” issue are the labels and the company logo above the “side one” notation on back cover.
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Jake Leither 29th Aug 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumRonnie Dove - Greatest All-Time Hits | Added front and back cover images
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Jake Leither 12th Jul 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumGene Pitney - The Many Sides Of Gene Pitney | Sylvester_C, I have the stereo LP, the entire LP is in fake stereo. It’s just the mono version with the frequencies tampered with and balance off.
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Jake Leither 11th Jul 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumRoger Williams - Love Theme From "The Godfather" | Track A4:
[YouTube Video]
Track A5: excellent rendition of the Carpenters hit
[YouTube Video]
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Jake Leither 11th Jul 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumRoger Williams - Virtuoso | Track 1
[YouTube Video]
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Jake Leither 27th Mar 2018 | | CinemaJetsons The Movie (1990) | Original trailer:
[YouTube Video]
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Jake Leither 10th Jan 2018 | | Vinyl AlbumJan And Dean - Golden Hits Volume Three | ReviewJan and Dean’s last album for Liberty. I generally like, if not love, Jan and Dean, but this album is very hit and miss. The title is very misleading, as only one track (Batman) was a J&D single, and that single failed to make the Top 40 (#66). The rest of the album is made of covers of other people’s hits, some of them live. Their version of Detroit City, in my opinion, did not need to happen. The same can be said about their rendition of Eve of Destruction (which uses the same instrumental backing as the Barry McGuire hit). I did, however, like their rendition of Yesterday. Overall, this album is very uneven, poorly titled, and is noticeably missing their song “Popsicle”, which was a Top 40 hit Around this albums release. This album was without a doubt a ploy by Liberty Records to milk the Jan and Dean name as much as possible after Jan’s accident. As I stated before, I love Jan and Dean, and I think they are great, but this album is not.
6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
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Jake Leither 30th Dec 2017 | | Vinyl AlbumGene Pitney - The Many Sides Of Gene Pitney | Entire album is fake stereo
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Jake Leither 5th Dec 2017 | | Vinyl AlbumCarpenters - Ticket To Ride | Under it's original title, it failed to chart. After their second album was a smash hit, A&M reissued the LP with a new title and artwork, and it peaked at #150, The only single from this album (Ticket to Ride) only made it to #54 (vocals for this one were rerecorded for their first compilation LP)
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Jake Leither 13th Nov 2017 | | CinemaHerbie Goes To Monte Carlo (1977) | My favorite of the entire series
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Jake Leither 30th Oct 2017 | | Vinyl Album[no artist listed] - The Heart & Soul Of Jan & Dean And Friends | This exact same Lp was also issued on Design's "International Award Series" label, with same track listing and no other artists listed. The only difference is the front cover art (which is of a man surfing)
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