When
RCA Records launched a new series of CD and cassette compilation albums under the name
All Time Greatest Hits in March 1988, its first entries were by
Neil Sedaka,
Harry Belafonte, and
Jose Feliciano. The
Sedaka album is just about foolproof, at least as far as the artist's 1960s
RCA recordings are concerned. Among its 14 selections are all 12 of the tracks found on the late-1962 LP
Neil Sedaka Sings His Greatest Hits, the two additions being the early-1963 singles
"Alice in Wonderland" and
"Let's Go Steady Again." That means 14 of
Sedaka's first 15
Billboard chart singles are included (the exception being
"I Go Ape," which got to number 42), accounting for all of his Top 40 hits prior to the 1970s except
"Bad Girl," which reached number 33 late in 1963. With new digital processing for the CD era, the album's sound is excellent, making the collection a scrapbook of early-'60s
pop.
Sedaka is a master at
doo wop-styled and light
rock & roll arrangements, and he sings engagingly in his light, soaring tenor, frequently double-tracked. There is nothing here of any emotional weight, despite the constant focus on teenage romantic concerns, but the songs are irresistibly catchy. One might have hoped that
RCA would take advantage of the CD's greater possible length to create a collection longer than 35 minutes, and there are no annotations at all (the inside of the one-page CD booklet is blank). But it's hard to argue with the contents, which neatly encapsulate
Sedaka's first hitmaking era. ~ William Ruhlmann
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