Loading home…
The Great Rock & Roll Time Machine is something new in rock entertainment. It's a "multimedia" show, combining slides, film computer animation, and special effects on multiple screens to create an overwhelming flow of impressions on your senses. Over 100 images a minute flash by your eyes, depicting the key events, fads, fashions, and stars of the past 25 years, the rock & roll era. Aided by a specially designed stag set with a variety of dazzling lighting effects to enhance the visual experience, the Great Rock & Roll Time Machine transports you through time, bringing the rock & roll experience to life. The show's unique soundtrack ties the experience together, based on the theory that for the last 25 years rock& roll has been the soundtrack to all our lives. 214 of the most memorable hits of all time, compressed to capture the essence of each song, will rekindle your memories of the sights and sounds of the past. As a remembrance and souvenir of the Great Rock & Roll Time Machine experience, we've put together an LP made up of classic hits' in full-length versions, spanning the 25-year history of rock. 1. Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley & The Comets (1955-56) The first rock & roll explosion, the one song that revolutionized the hit parade, made rock a legitimate musical forces, and made an international star of a Pennsylvania country singer. 2. Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran (1958) Cochran, who died in a car accident in 1960, was a classic rocker who in "Summertime Blues" captured the frustration of restless youth like no one else before or since. 3. The Twist* - Chubby Checker (1960) Ernest Evans of Philadelphia changed his name, recorded his version of a Hank Ballard & The Midnighters song, and dancing was never the same again. The Twist caught the fancy of an entire nation, spawning hundreds of dance fads to follow, and we haven't stopped dancing yet! 4. Runaway* - Del Shannon (1961) This slice of raw-edged rock contained the wildest keyboard sounds ever heard up to its time (played on a "musitron," an ancestor of today's synthesizer). Del, from Battle Creek, MI, went on to score numerous other hits. 5. Surfin' USA - The Beach Boys (1963) The Beach Boys brought California sun, surf, and dun to the nation's airwaves, aided by some of the best harmony singing in rock. Surfin' USA one of countless hits by the group of Hawthorne, CA brothers, relatives and friends, takes a Chuck Berry tune and pays tribute to every hot surfing spot on the west coast. 6. One Fine Day* - Chiffons (1963) One of the most delightful records of the girl-group era in the 60s. One Fine Day was a career high-point for New York's Chiffons, and was a hit again in 1980 for its composer Carole King. 7. Dancing In The Street* - Martha & The Vandellas (1964) The Motown sound, developed by Motown Records in Detroit, was described on the records as the Sound of Young America, and the boast was justified. No record company ever had a higher percentage of huge hits, and no one ever devised a more danceable sound, as you can hear for yourself on this record. 8. Wild Thing* - Troggs (1966) From 1964 through 1966, America was bombarded by an invasion of British rock groups, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and many more. The Troggs hit the jackpot with their first US release, scoring a number one with this primitive power packed rocker. 9. Cherish* - Association (1966) The 60s weren't all hard rockers and piercing guitars. There was a romantic side to rock as well, with this Association hit a superb example, a record that thousands of couples cherished as "our song." 10. Soul Man* - Sam & Dave (1967) Black music came into its own in the 60s, and one of the style-setting records was this one by a dynamic duo whose "Memphis Sound" influenced contemporary musicians everywhere. The song was a hit again in 1976 by the Blues Brothers, using some of the same musicians as the original. 11. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown - Jim Croce (1972) Croce, who died in a plane crash in late 1973, was famous for his colorful tales of hustlers, street fighters, and other bad, bad characters, of whom Leroy Brown is the best known. 12. My Sharona - Knack (1979) The debut record by this LA band became one of the first number one hits in the new wave rock style, a broad collection of attitudes and musical forms which stressed a return to the simplified, direct, concise, values of early rock & roll. In many ways Rock Around The Clock, and My Sharona though separated by almost 25 years still have a lot in common, the same driving spirit of Rock & Roll, still thriving as it enters the future. *Re-recorded by original artists.