Top Hits, Parade SP-101. Or is it Top Tunes? Top hits, by any other name, are fake hits, and Parade (by the time this was issued--I'm guessing 1958) was SPC in disguise. We know this because of the back-jacket logo: Fine records needn't be expensive. I wonder if that was SPC's way of saying, "Don't expect us to put money into these things"?
I won't admit that I tossed this together, but I tossed this together. I'd planned to feature a twist LP (can't have too many of those) on the amazingly (but lovably) cheap Palace label, and mainly because the tracks genuinely rock. But I'll have to do comparison listening to figure out the sources and actual titles, since the LP in question uses older material from another label. Or, the standard older-material-repackaged-as-twist-music-to-cash-in-on-Chubby-Checker ploy. You've heard of that one. So, for now it's Top Hits, aka Top Tunes.
This baby has been waiting for some time to see the light of blog, and I've been meaning to post it but somehow haven't, and now it has me feeling all guilty. And the lady on the front looks SO happy. Just like she looks on all of the SPC EP sleeves which carry the exact same image. For a flat-fee photo, SPC sure got its money's worth, even if this redhead did not.
These are all quite decent sound-alikes, even if Witch Doctor (as far as I can tell) uses a soprano in place of the requisite sped-up tape. Not that "requisite" is a concept which resonated with the jobber-rack labels, though thankfully this version of The Purple People Eater has the expected doubled-speed effect. And I've always wanted to type, "the expected doubled-speed effect." I can now scratch that off my Things I Want to Type list.
SPC, posing as Parade, has provided the artists' aliases, which include The Wright Bros., Shep Wild, and the no-relation-to-Alan Al Freed. (Just checked Discogs to make sure there wasn't an actual Shep Wild, and it appears I was correct.) The Wright Bros.--wow. They had to be quite up there (up there--right) by 1958. In fact, they were no longer with us. But did such things deter SPC? Of course not.
And, boy, Do You Wanna Dance sure brings back memories--of the 1965 Beach Boys hit version, that is. It was a while before I heard the original Bobby Freeman 1958 hit (called Do You Want to Dance). I guess, in anticipation of the Beach Boys' version to come, SPC opted for "wanna."
And what role does Johnny Sullivan's Orchestra play (no pun intended) in all this? Was Johnny and his orchestra even for real? Doubtful--Discogs gives "Johnny Sullivan" two credits, both of them on Parade. But I love the way the label credits Johnny, only to put other names on the tracks--as if to say, "Just kidding!" Just in case we weren't clued in by the two deceased aviation pioneers in the performer roster. However, this is fun stuff, so... to the Top Hits/Tunes!
DOWNLOAD: Top Hits (or, Top Tunes)--Johnny Sullivan and His Orch. (Parade SP-101; prob. 1958)
All I Have to Do Is Dream--The Wright Bros.
Return to Me--Richard Deane
Chanson D'Amour--Al and Betty Wright (any relation to the Bros.?)
Who's Sorry Now--Terry Frank
Witch Doctor--John Logan
Secretly--Bob Mitchell
Do You Wanna Dance--Al Freed
For Your Love--Michael Reed
The Purple People Eater--Shep Wild
Looking Back--Bill King
Lee