Drugstores Rockin: A Big Date

-As a seven-year-old, Tommy Sands, born in 1937, appeared on the legendary country show 'The Louisiana Hayride'. -At age 20, he starred in the NBC television show 'The Singing Idol' in Hollywood, based on Elvis' life story - and landed a huge hit with Teen-Age Crush. -Bear Family Records® collects on this CD all the great rockers and teen rockers he recorded for Capitol. -With The Raiders (later to become The Sharks) and outstanding lead guitarist Scotty Turner, he recorded some of the best West Coast-produced rockers like Blue Ribbon Baby, The Worrying Kind and Wicked, Wicked Woman! -Extensive liner notes by Bill Dahl; comprehensive booklet with lots of pictures and illustrations and a discography on the recordings. -Carefully remastered from the best accessible sources. Capitol Records was in the enviable position of having two challengers to Elvis' regal status in 1957: Gene Vincent, who may have appeared just a little too threatening for full-on mainstream embrace in the states, and the more clean-cut Tommy Sands. He was no mere teenage idol; Tommy really did possess the vocal chops to convincingly rock, as he proves throughout this jam-packed compilation. Although it seemed that Sands burst upon the scene like a hydrogen bomb with his early 1957 smash Teen-Age Crush, he'd actually been recording since 1951, initially as a pubescent country singer in Houston, before he and his mom moved to Los Angeles to properly break into show biz. Tommy's records actually got tougher as time went on; his incredible '58 album 'Sands Storm!' rocked like crazy (his cover of The Clovers' Hey, Miss Fanny sported a jaw-dropping guitar solo that was likely the work of Joe Maphis). Once he hooked up with The Raiders who later became The Sharks and led by guitarist Scotty Turner, Sands really got down to rocking business on Blue Ribbon Baby, The Worrying Kind, and Wicked, Wicked Woman. You won't find any of Sands' sedate pop crooning on this collection!