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Philadelphia was a hugely active, powerful and influential city in the pop music of the late 1950s and early ‘60s, partly reflecting the creative and commercial energy of the Italian-American community there. A number of successful independent record companies were established there, which mostly had one or two highly successful acts and a number of lesser-known ones, who also had hits. Acrobat has compiled two 3-CD collections to bring together all the hits from these labels during these years, and this second volume is devoted to the Cameo label, founded by the songwriting and production team of Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe, assisted by David Appel, and its sister label Parkway, with the same personalities at its head, plus the Jamie label, founded by Harold Lipsius, who also acquired Guyden. Cameo’s biggest stars, who had multiple hits were Charlie Gracie and Bobby Rydell, plus notable names like Dee Dee Sharp and The Orlons, along with many who had one-off successes. Parkway’s principal star was Chubby Checker, along with The Dovells, while many of Jamie’s hits came from guitarist Duane Eddy. Just about every track in this 94-track 3- CD set was a Top 100 or Hot 100 chart entry, so it’s a thoroughly entertaining insight into a particular aspect of the music scene of the time, with plenty of collectable obscurities alongside the big names.
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