An instantly recognizable bargain bin staple since the late '70s, thanks to their colorful comic book covers tracing the romantic life of an Everycouple named
Peg
and
Eddie
, the
Cruisin'
series of discs are built on a brilliant concept: each disc is devoted to a single year, with hit songs, local commercials, station jingles, and news headlines all presided over by a noted DJ from the era for a near-perfect re-creation of that year's AM radio experience.
Cruisin' 1964
stars
Johnny Holiday
of
WHK
in Cleveland, OH, whose genial, almost avuncular delivery makes him sound almost anachronistic, a '50s throwback set in the pivotal year of 1964. Though the album contains no British Invasion hits (oddly, there's not a single British artist on any volume of the
series), it's still a varied and exciting program, from the proto-
funk
Bob and Earl
's classic
"Harlem Shuffle"
to
Roger Miller
's
country
novelty
"Dang Me"
to the
bossa nova
slinkiness of
Stan Getz
Astrud Gilberto
"The Girl From Ipanema."
Oddball ads, like a commercial for the American Lamb Council starring
Jane Wyatt
, and a weird station promo featuring a child's voice make this one of the more interesting entries in the series in terms of its audio ephemera. ~ Stewart Mason