Ace
is a pretty hip reissue label, but the
Teenage Crush
must be one of the least hip reissue series going. No series can get up to five volumes, however, without getting at least some form of consumer support, so these extensive compilations of the fluffiest sort of rock music from the late 1950s and early '60s must be filling a need for somebody. And, hard as it might be to believe when listening to this fifth volume, all of these 28 tracks found some sort of national audience in their day, each one of them charting (albeit mostly lower than the Top 40). It's not all teen idol pap, but much of it is, to be blunt, and though there was a lot of great rock music made during this time, you'd certainly suspect otherwise if this was your intro to the era. There are actually a few fine performers here, most notably
Dion
(whose
"Donna the Prima Donna"
is a bona fide ear-burner in this company) and
Dale Hawkins
"A House, A Car and a Wedding Ring,"
alas, is not). Also pretty respectable is
Johnny Dee
's (aka
John D. Loudermilk
's) original version of
"Sittin' in the Balcony,"
though it's not as good as
Eddie Cochran
's higher-charting cover; there's
Dean & Marc
's quite decent
Everly Brothers
imitation
"Tell Him No,"
though the original by
Travis & Bob
charted much higher; and a poppier
soundalike in
"Love or Money"
by
the Blackwells
. But most of the rest is pretty forgettable, innocuous whitebread pop/rock of the mildest shade, most of the songs failing to find a later home on oldies radio playlists, though a few (most notably
Steve Lawrence
's
"Footsteps,"
Frankie Avalon
"Just Ask Your Heart,"
and
Paul & Paula
"Young Lovers,"
both Top Ten singles) were pretty big hits. For serious pop scholars, a few interesting oddities are on board, particularly
"The Search"
Dean Reed
, the sole single to sneak into the Top 100 by a singer noted for having subsequently become a star in South America and Communist countries (though the song itself is eminently disposable). But on the whole, the CD could only be enthusiastically recommended to those collectors looking to collect every single from the era that made the national charts, regardless of quality. ~ Richie Unterberger