Your free collectors guide to the essential and recommended music to have in your collection - vintage rock ,rock and roll, rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, soul, classic sixties, contemporary rock and roots music. With FREE music download samples
Packed full of amazing tracks, the late 50's and early 60's really was a golden period in music and one that deserves a bigger revival. These 15 tracks were all covered by The Beatles at various stages of their career, in particular their earlier "pre-fab" days. All original tracks by the original artists. 1 The Isley Brothers - Shout (Part One) 2 Little Richard - Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey (Going Back to Birmingham) 3 Larry Williams - Bad Boy (Junior Behave Yourself) 4 Chuck Berry - Rock and Roll Music 5 Carl Perkins - Everybody's Trying to be My Baby 6 Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want) 7 The Shirelles - Boys 8 The Marvelettes - Please Mr. Postman 9 Richie Barrett - Some Other Guy 10 Ray Charles - Hallelujah I Love Her So 11 Arthur Alexander - A Shot of Rhythm and Blues 12 The Coasters - Searchin' 13 The Cookies - Chains 14 Buddy Holly - Crying, Waiting, Hoping 15
R'n'B innovator Ray Charles was one of the most important musicians of the 1950's. Despite being blind from childhood, he was hugely successful at fusing elements of blues, country, gospel and doo-wop together to form a kind of proto-soul.
Despite losing his sight at an early age, he never let his disability stop him from being a success and scored several Rn'B chart hits in the early 50s –- including “It Should Have Been Me”, “Mess Around”, “I Got a Woman” and “Lonely Avenue” -– all recorded on Atlantic Records. These songs were among the early blueprints for soul music, alongside the work of artists like James Brown and Sam Cooke. In 1959 Charles enjoyed his biggest hit yet, when “What I’d Say” topped the R'n'B chart and reached No.6 in the main singles chart.
After leaving Atlantic for a better contract at ABC Records, Charles enjoyed more crossover successes, including the pained ballad “Georgia on my Mind”, the swinging pop chart-topper “Hit the Road Jack”, and the pleading “Unchain My Heart”. His 1962 record, Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, was a smash hit, topping the album charts for 12 weeks. It is remembered as one of the greatest albums of the early 60s.
