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    • The Roulette Story

    11/10/1998

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    All Music Guide Review

    This three-CD, 84-track box set brings together the hits and rarities from Morris Levy's New York indie label that closed down in 1977, after being in business for a 20-year period spanning the history of rock & roll's ascendancy to the top of the charts. Starting off with two million sellers on its first two releases (Buddy Knox's "Party Doll" and Jimmy Bowen's "I'm Sticking With You"), Roulette also made inroads in the folk and pop fields with the success of Jimmie Rodgers and artists like Valerie Carr and Georgia Gibbs. The label also released some of the very best in rockabilly, doo wop, and rock & roll with Ronnie Hawkins' "Forty Days" and "Who Do You Love," Tiny Tim and the Hits' "Wedding Bells," and Jimmy Lloyd's "Rocket in My Pocket." But Roulette was much more than just another indie rock & roll label, as the second disc amply proves with stellar jazz offerings from Count Basie, Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Sonny Stitt, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington peppering the catalog. The third disc picks up the pop/rock story from the early '60s to the label's demise in the late '70s, with hitworthy selections from Lou Christie, the Hullabaloos, Tommy James, and Alive and Kicking. The label also knew a good novelty record when it heard one, as all three discs are peppered with items like the Playmates' "Beep Beep" and the Detergents' "Leader of the Laundromat." For true surrealism, one is directed to Jim Nabors doing a rock & roll version of "There's No Tomorrow," an early stab at what Elvis later turned into "It's Now or Never." Excellent notes, stellar sound; this is one great label overview that tells the story of rock & roll and its place in the pop music scheme of things in microcosm. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide

    Track Listing

  • Track#
  • Title
  • Artist
  • time
  • 1
  • Party Doll
  • Knox, Buddy
  • 2:11
  • 2
  • I'm Stickin' With You
  • Bowen, Jimmy
  • 2:06
  • 3
  • Rockabilly Party
  • Hugo And Luigi
  • 2:29
  • 4
  • I'm Walkin'
  • Storch, Larry
  • 2:12
  • 5
  • Honeycomb
  • Rodgers, Jimmie [2] F.
  • 2:15
  • 6
  • Doodle Doodle Doo
  • Cogan, Shaye
  • 2:09
  • 7
  • Jo-Ann
  • Playmates
  • 2:29
  • 8
  • Nairobi
  • Merrill, Bob
  • 2:08
  • 9
  • Screamin' Ball (At Dracula Hall)
  • Duponts [R&B]
  • 2:19
  • 10
  • I Got a Rocket in My Pocket
  • Lloyd, Jimmy
  • 2:21
  • 11
  • When the Boys Talk About the Girls
  • Carr, Valerie
  • 2:37
  • 12
  • One Day Next Year
  • Heartbeats
  • 2:18
  • 13
  • Torero
  • Angeli, Pier
  • 2:36
  • 14
  • There's No Tomorrow
  • Nabors, Jim
  • 1:52
  • 15
  • The Hula Hoop Song
  • Gibbs, Georgia
  • 2:18
  • 16
  • To Know Him Is to Love Him
  • Carr, Cathy
  • 2:25
  • 17
  • Beep Beep
  • Playmates
  • 2:30
  • 18
  • Wedding Bells
  • Tiny Tim & The Hits
  • 2:23
  • 19
  • The Hucklebuck
  • Gibbs, Georgia
  • 2:12
  • 20
  • Forty Days
  • Hawkins, Ronnie
  • 2:16
  • 21
  • Woo-Hoo
  • Rock A Teens [2]
  • 2:05
  • 22
  • Little Bitty Pretty One
  • Lymon, Frankie & the Teenagers
  • 2:40
  • 23
  • You Talk Too Much
  • Jones, Joe
  • 1:58
  • 24
  • That's All I Want from You
  • McNeir, Barbara
  • 2:35
  • 25
  • Flight 1203
  • Beverley Sisters
  • 2:59
  • 26
  • Little Boy of Mine
  • Delicates
  • 2:52
  • 27
  • English Country Garden
  • Rodgers, Jimmie [2] F.
  • 2:42
  • 28
  • Rip Van Winkle
  • Devotions
  • 2:18
  • 29
  • Peppermint Twist, Part One
  • Dee, Joey And The Starlighters
  • 2:01
  • 30
  • Easier Said Than Done
  • Essex [1]
  • 2:05
  • 31 (2)
  • Every Day I Have the Blues
  • 4:41
  • 32 (2)
  • Lil' Darlin'
  • Basie, Count
  • 3:42
  • 33 (2)
  • Hallelujah, I Love Her So
  • Williams, Joe
  • 2:37
  • 34 (2)
  • M-Squad (Theme)
  • Basie, Count
  • 2:26
  • 35 (2)
  • Jumpin' at the Woodside
  • 3:19
  • 36 (2)
  • Petite Fleur
  • Herman, Woody
  • 2:40
  • 37 (2)
  • A Woman, a Lover, a Friend
  • Johnson, Buddy
  • 2:13
  • 38 (2)
  • Shake, Rattle & Roll
  • 2:12
  • 39 (2)
  • I Apologize
  • Eckstine, Billy
  • 3:16
  • 40 (2)
  • Teach Me Tonight
  • 2:51
  • 41 (2)
  • Serenata
  • Vaughan, Sarah
  • 2:38
  • 42 (2)
  • Christmas for Moderns, Pt. 1
  • Ferguson, Maynard
  • 3:09
  • 43 (2)
  • African Waltz
  • Dankworth, Johnny
  • 2:20
  • 44 (2)
  • Duke's Place
  • 3:17
  • 45 (2)
  • Twist Changa
  • Machito
  • 2:12
  • 46 (2)
  • The Basie Twist
  • Basie, Count
  • 2:23
  • 47 (2)
  • Alexander's Ragtime Band
  • 2:52
  • 48 (2)
  • (Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean
  • Vaughan, Sarah
  • 2:40
  • 49 (2)
  • Soulville
  • Washington, Dinah
  • 2:18
  • 50 (2)
  • Get Me to the Church on Time
  • Puente, Tito
  • 2:14
  • 51 (2)
  • Where Are You?
  • Washington, Dinah
  • 2:12
  • 52 (2)
  • A Taste of Honey
  • Vaughan, Sarah
  • 2:52
  • 53 (2)
  • Morgan's Song
  • Stitt, Sonny
  • 2:29
  • 54 (2)
  • That Sunday, That Summer
  • Washington, Dinah
  • 3:33
  • 55 (2)
  • Blues for M.F., Pt. 1
  • John Handy Quartet
  • 2:22
  • 56 (2)
  • Koko
  • Doggett, Bill
  • 3:03
  • 57 (3)
  • Who Do You Love?
  • Hawkins, Ronnie
  • 2:41
  • 58 (3)
  • Don't Stop the Wedding
  • Cole, Ann
  • 2:08
  • 59 (3)
  • The Gypsy Cried
  • Christie, Lou
  • 2:08
  • 60 (3)
  • My Beatle Haircut
  • Twiliters
  • 2:27
  • 61 (3)
  • San Francisco Bay Blues
  • Au Go Go Singers
  • 1:59
  • 62 (3)
  • Shame and Scandal in the Family
  • Elliott, Shawn
  • 2:39
  • 63 (3)
  • I'm Gonna Love You Too
  • Hullabaloos
  • 2:01
  • 64 (3)
  • Santa Bring Me Ringo
  • Hunter, Christine
  • 2:36
  • 65 (3)
  • Leader of the Laundromat
  • Detergents
  • 3:10
  • 66 (3)
  • Walkin'
  • Jones, Jimmy
  • 2:48
  • 67 (3)
  • You Know
  • Martin, Derek
  • 2:05
  • 68 (3)
  • Stay Together Young Lovers
  • Aiken, Ben
  • 2:52
  • 69 (3)
  • Soul Heaven
  • Dixie Drifter
  • 2:38
  • 70 (3)
  • Hanky Panky
  • James, Tommy & the Shondells
  • 2:52
  • 71 (3)
  • Dance, Dance, Dance
  • Casualeers
  • 2:40
  • 72 (3)
  • It's Cold Outside
  • Choir
  • 2:49
  • 73 (3)
  • Seven Days Too Long
  • Woods, Chuck
  • 2:20
  • 74 (3)
  • Mony Mony
  • James, Tommy & the Shondells
  • 2:51
  • 75 (3)
  • Footsee (Instrumental)
  • Chosen Few
  • 3:04
  • 76 (3)
  • Tighter, Tighter
  • Alive 'N Kickin'
  • 2:44
  • 77 (3)
  • Where Are We Going
  • Bloom, Bobby
  • 2:17
  • 78 (3)
  • Maybe (Single Edit)
  • Three Degrees
  • 3:38
  • 79 (3)
  • Draggin' the Line
  • James, Tommy [Rock]
  • 2:44
  • 80 (3)
  • I Wouldn't Give You Up
  • Ecstacy, Passion, And Pain
  • 3:25
  • 81 (3)
  • Bang Bang
  • Love Child's Afro-Cuban Blues Band
  • 3:16
  • 82 (3)
  • My Baby's Got E.S.P.
  • Four Below Zero
  • 3:30
  • 83 (3)
  • One Night Affair
  • Black, Jay
  • 4:03
  • 84 (3)
  • Benihana
  • Chambersm Marilyn
  • 4:17

  • Credits



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