Before he broke through to stardom in 1963 with "If I Had a Hammer" and a kind of folk-pop-party sound, Trini Lopez had a surprisingly extensive body of non-hit recordings to his credit. This 29-track collection has most of them, most of which first appeared on King Records, though a few were done for the DRA label. Does this anthology show Lopez to be a closet rock & roller who switched to another style in time to ride the end of the folk boom? Not exactly, though it's certainly more pop/rock-oriented than the subsequent ...
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Before he broke through to stardom in 1963 with "If I Had a Hammer" and a kind of folk-pop-party sound, Trini Lopez had a surprisingly extensive body of non-hit recordings to his credit. This 29-track collection has most of them, most of which first appeared on King Records, though a few were done for the DRA label. Does this anthology show Lopez to be a closet rock & roller who switched to another style in time to ride the end of the folk boom? Not exactly, though it's certainly more pop/rock-oriented than the subsequent hit recordings for which he became famous. On some of his cuts from the late '50s and early '60s, he plugged into a rather mild rock sound, without exactly working up too much of a sweat or finding memorable material, whether he wrote the songs or not. "Sinner Not a Saint" (written by Shel Talmy, soon to move to the U.K. and produce the Kinks and the Who), "Rock On," and "Nobody Loves Me" are adequate, though not exciting, efforts along those lines, while "The Search Goes On" gets into a slightly more interesting moody vibe, somewhat along the lines of some of Rick Nelson's darker material (as does, yet more slightly, "Won't You Be My Queen for a Day"). "Jeanie Marie" hints lightly at the Latin rhythmic lilt that would become one of his trademarks, without getting into it whole-hog. Much of this, however, is quite ordinary, at times even drably generic teen idol-ish pop/rock. While it's true the production and songwriting aren't too inspired, it also seems Lopez just wasn't really cut out to make it with straight pop/rock. So although Ace does its usual good job with the liner notes and packaging, it's really one for serious Lopez fans only, and even some of them might be disappointed by its lack of similarity to his hit singles and albums. Note that this doesn't quite have everything he did before signing to Reprise, missing a 1958 single he did for the Volk label. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi
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Add this copy of Sinner Not a Saint: Complete King Rec 1959-1961 to cart. $18.94, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Ace Records Uk.
Add this copy of Sinner Not a Saint: the Complete King & Dra Recordings, to cart. $27.82, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2011 by Lopez, Trini: CDCHD1314.
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