Just Another Classroom Teen

Absolutely amazing! Andy sings in every rock n' roll style from Elvis to Bubble Gum to Bobby Darin. Why did he never make it big in those days with his talents? A joy from start to finish.

It's sometimes hard to figure out what motivates some distributors when selecting oldies artists for a CD compilation. I mean, take Billy Joe & The Checkmates and Ar t & Dotty Todd as examples. The former, a session band, had one major Top 10 hit in early 1962 with the # 10 Percolator (Twist) for Doré Records and, despite some 22 subsequent singles would never chart again. The Todds also only had one U.S. hit, Chanson d'Amour (Song Of Love), a # 6 To 100/# 9 R&B in May-June 1958. And, I suppose with sound reason, neither has ever been the subject of a dedicated CD.But here we get a 31-track 2011 volume from Cat King Kole Records covering Andy Rose, a Paul Anka-like vocalist whose lone claim to fame was a low-ranking # 69 Hot 100 in October 1958 with Just Young on Aamco 100 (b/w Love-A Love-A Love, a tiny New York label owned by Carl LeBow and more of an album outlet during their existence. In fact, they would only ever issue 4 singles, all in 1958, two of which were by Rose. The follow-up My Devotion (The Promise)/Classroom Cutie on Aamco 103 did not chart.That modest success, especially for a label with limited promotional funds, certainly seemed to interest the much larger Decca subsidiary, Coral, who signed him in 1959. But despite releasing 10 singles into 1962, and with all their promotional clout, he could never nudge himself back into the Billboard Hot 100 as these all failed: Dance On Pretty Clown/I'm Waiting For You - Coral 9-62109 - 1959; Perfidia/With Feelings - Coral 9-62142 - 1959; Undecided/Lifetime Of Happiness - Coral 9-62189 - 1960; A Wonderous Place/A Rose And A Thorn - Coral 9-62227 - 1960; I Can't Forget You/I'm Right Behind You - Coral 9-62254 - 1961; Crazy For You/This Is The Nite - Coral 9-62271 - 1961; Don't Ask Me (To Be Lonely)/You Weren't There - Coral 62284 - 1961; I Was The One/The Bootie Green - Coral 62297 - 1961; Lili Marlene/Same Old Orange Peels (On The Tabbi) - Coral 9-62308 - 1962; and Being Young/Say What's New - Coral 9-62338 - 1962.In 1964 he tried twice more with No Need To Go To Kansas City/Everybody But You on Ember 1112, and Hooty Sapperticker/Hey Scooter, billed as Andy Rose & The Thorns, on Golden Crest 590. But no cigar.With the exception of Lili Marlene, all the foregoing tracks are in this release, the contents of which are - in order: 1. Classroom Cutie; 2. The Promise (aka My Devotion); 3. Just Young; 4. Lov-A-Lov-A Love; 5. Undecided; 6. Lifetime Of Happiness; 7. No Need To Go To Kansas City; 8. Everybody But You; 9. A Wonderous Place; 10. A Rose And A Thorn; 11. Beware My Heart; 12. This Is The Nite; 13. Crazy For You; 14. I'm Right Behind You; 15. I Can't Forget You; 16. You Weren't There; 17. Let's Runaway And Get Married; 18. Don't Ask Me (To Be Lonely); 19. Being Young; 20. Say What's New; 21. Same Old Orange Peels; 22. With Feelings; 23. Perfidia; 24. No Need To Go To Kansas City; 25. I'm Waiting For You; 26. Dance On Pretty Clown; 27. I Was The One; 28. The Bootie Green; 29. Searching For A New Love (as The Sandmen); 30. Everybody But You; 31. If You Want Me.Tracks 11, 17, 24 and 30 were previously unreleased, with 24 and 30 also being alternate takes. I could find no release details on track 29, apparently released under the billing The Sandmen. The sound quality is reasonably good. But if all you want is that one charted hit, then I would suggest Volume 1 of the multiple-volume Mavis series Hey! Look What I Found where you'll at least get 26 other cuts by various artists, all in the same vein (i.e., non-charting or low entries).