Most of Cannon's best-known, and best, hits were done for Swan Records in the late '50s and early '60s. This CD can't help but suffer in comparison, focusing on his post-Swan career, a period that saw him land just two big hits ("Abigail Beecher" and "Action," both here naturally). All but two of these 18 tracks came out between 1964-1970, a time in which Cannon's brand of everyman teen idol rock became increasingly irrelevant. This compilation's chief drawback is not so much its unfashionability as the general running-in-place mediocrity of its mainstream pop/rock, though Cannon did attack everything with his customary let's-have-a-good-wholesome-time energy. "Abigail Beecher," though, was about as good as it got, the songs often sounding unmemorably similar to each other in their slick teen rock production. Some slight surf/hot rod influences impinge on songs like "All American Girl," "Let Me Show You Where It's At," and "Beachwood City"; "In My Wildest Dreams" sounded like Gary Lewis, perhaps unsurprisingly, as Leon Russell (who also worked with Lewis) arranged. By the late '60s the ideas were getting more contrived, like a remake of "Rock Around the Clock," "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" (based around a running joke on the Laugh-In TV show), and the medley of some his old hits that passed for "Charged-Up, Turned-Up Rock-n-Roll Singer"; the 1974 single "Rock & Roll ABC's" wasn't any improvement. Three of the songs, including a 1967 remake of "Rockin' Robin," were previously unreleased.
Where the Action Is: The Very Best, 1964-1981
Freddy Cannon
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Where the Action Is: The Very Best, 1964-1981 Review
by Richie Unterberger
Track Listing
Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | Stream | |||
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1 |
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Freddy Cannon | 02:26 | Amazon | |||
2 | Freddy Cannon | 02:51 | Amazon | ||||
3 |
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Freddy Cannon | 02:53 | Amazon | |||
4 | Freddy Cannon | 02:09 | Amazon | ||||
5 |
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Freddy Cannon | 02:04 | Amazon | |||
6 | Freddy Cannon | 01:55 | Amazon | ||||
7 | Freddy Cannon | 02:07 | Amazon | ||||
8 |
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Freddy Cannon | 02:57 | Amazon | |||
9 | Freddy Cannon | 02:06 | Amazon | ||||
10 | Freddy Cannon | 02:38 | Amazon | ||||
11 | Freddy Cannon | 03:05 | Amazon | ||||
12 | Freddy Cannon feat: Irwin Levine / Neil Sheppard | 02:54 | Amazon | ||||
13 | Freddy Cannon | 02:39 | Amazon | ||||
14 | Freddy Cannon | 01:52 | Amazon | ||||
15 | Freddy Cannon | 02:15 | Amazon | ||||
16 |
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Freddy Cannon | 03:18 | Amazon | |||
17 | Freddy Cannon | 02:47 | Amazon | ||||
18 | Freddy Cannon | 03:43 | Amazon |