"Hot Rods & Custom Classics: Cruisin' Songs & Highway Hits" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Music and Car/Drag-Racing Sound Effects Spanning 1946 to 1998 - Including The Duals, Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps, Chuck Berry, Jan & Dean, Robert Mitchum, Dinah Shore, The Rip-Chords, The Beach Boys, Dick Dale, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley, Howlin Wolf, Albert King, Nervous Norvus, Canned Heat, The Doobie Brothers, Golden Earring, Dave Edmunds, War, The Ramones, The B-52s, George Thorogood, John Hiatt, The Green Hornets and many more (March 1999 US Rhino 87-Track 4CD Brick-Shaped Lift-Top Box Set with Booklet, Mooneyes Themed Car Catalogue, Key Chain, A Sheet of Window Clinging Decals and a Pair of Hanging Rearview-Mirror Furry Dice – Bob Fisher Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hot-Rods-Custom-Classics-Various/dp/B00000I5M0?crid=PXVP7S2HOC98&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-tuc_L4uzuXbw9pvCrIYmg.nvE64ydUcKI0j81r4e2bCs_yb31lODocJ7ZPrs3OetE&dib_tag=se&keywords=081227568825&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1729724888&sprefix=081227568825%2Caps%2C85&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=662c7ffbd47ad7a36d5014a47061ef23&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

"…Cruisin' Songs & Highway Hits…"

I have loved and frankly adored at the altar of Rhino Box Sets – and back in the Nineties day when they were big-time active – they came out with groundbreaking themed reissues like this. 

I still rate their zany and thorough efforts as the best fun and audio discovery tomes ever issued across a swathe of genre compilations. "Hot Rods & Custom Classics: Cruisin' Songs & Highway Hits" digs the automobile in music - here we get cars – and dragsters and Cadillacs and Lincoln Continentals and frankly anything to do with pistons, pals and Polly the Molly sat in the open-top back seat with a Pina Colada in hand and her tomboy hair in the wind. As you imagine, there will be skidding and revving of a frankly lascivious hairy-chested nature and undeniable references to shifting sticks that may or may not have to do with gears and transmissions.

This hunk or 4CD burning rubber was first issued Stateside in March 1999 and its packaging alone – a cause for celebration. It has music and sound effects spanning 1946 to 1998 (87 Tracks, most are Music), a 66-Page Booklet crammed with genre themes and essays and Mooneyes-Themed Surf and Drag Car Racing Memorabilia – a Mooneyes Catalogue, Key Chain, A Sheet of Window Clinging Decals and a Pair of Hanging Rearview-Mirror Furry Dice. Yes – you read right – a pair of actual furry dice inset into the inner box! Even the sides of the boxes have reproduced fantastically evocative newspaper and magazine adverts from the Fifties and Sixties selling Conversion Kits, Magnesium Engine Adapters, White Wall Tyres and Torque Wrenches. Time to ride baby – details Daddy-O!

US released 16 March 1999 - "Hot Rods & Custom Classics: Cruisin' Songs & Highway Hits" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Rhino R2 75688 (Barcode 081227568825) is a 4CD 87-Track Brick-Shaped Lift-Top Box Set. It has music and sound effects spanning 1946 to 1998, a 66-Page Booklet and Mooneyes-Themed Surf and Drag Car Racing Memorabilia (Mooneyes Catalogue, Key Chain, A Sheet of Window Clinging Decals and a Pair of Hanging Rearview-Mirror Furry Dice). It plays outs as follows:

CD1 (56:04 minutes):
1. New Car Attitude
2. Action Packed – RONNIE DEE (November 1958 US 45-single on Back Beat 522, A-side)
3. Stick Shift – THE DUALS (June 1961 US 45-single on Sue 745, A-side)
4. Hot Rod Man – TEX RUBINOWITZ (February 1980 US 45-single on Ripsaw 214, A-side)
5. Hot Rod Gang – STRAY CATS (from the August 1983 US LP "Rant N' Rave With The Stray Cats" on EMI America SO-17012)
6. Cruisin' – GENE VINCENT And HIS BLUE CAPS (from the March 1957 US LP "Gene Vincent And His Blue Caps" on Capitol T-811 in Mono)
7. Radar Love – GOLDEN EARRING (April 1974 US 45-single on MCA Records MCA-40202, A-side, 5:01 minute version. Note: the UK 45-single was issued November 1973 on Track 2094 116 and has a shorter version; the LP cut on the 1973 "Moon Tan" UK album is also longer than both the US and UK singles)
8. Mercury Blues – DAVID LINDLEY (from the 1981 US LP "E Rayo-X" on Elektra Records 5E-524)
9. Maybelline – CHUCK BERRY & His Combo (July 1955 US Debut 45-single on Chess 1604, A-side)
10. The Ballad Of Thunder Road – ROBERT MITCHUM (May 1958 US 45-single on Capitol F3986, A-side)
11. Forty Miles Of Bad Road – DUANE EDDY And THE REBELS (May 1959 US 45-single on Jamie 1126, A-side)
12. SS 396 – PAUL REVERE And THE RAIDERS (January 1967 US Split 45-single on Columbia Special Products CSM 466. Was the B-side to The Cyrkle doing "Camaro" on the A-side. The single was specially commissioned by Chevrolet and given to dealers)
13. See The U.S.A. In Your Chevrolet – DINAH SHORE (Advertising song for the 1956 US TV Series Chevrolet Hour)
14. Little Deuce Coup – THE BEACH BOYS (July 1963 US 45-single on Capitol 5002, B-side of "Surfer Girl")
15. Hot Rod – THE COLLINS KIDS (Unissued 1957 recording first released 1982 on the US 2LP compilation "Rockabilly Stars, Volume 3" on Epic Records EG 37984)
16. Mr. Highway Man (Cadillac Daddy) – HOWLIN' WOLF (April 1952 US 78 on Chess 1510, B-side of "Gettin' Old And Grey")
17. Lost Highway – HANK WILLIAMS With His Drifting Cowboys (September 1949 US 78 on MGM 10506, B-side of "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)")
18. Highway Patrol – JUNIOR BROWN (August 1995 US 45-single on MCG/Curb Records D7-76953, A-side)
19. Heavy Traffic Ahead – BILL MONROE And His BLUE GRASS BOYS (July 1949 US 78 on Mercury 20595, A-side)
20. Radar – MR. BEAR & HIS BEARCATS (1955 US 45-single on Groove 0150, A-side)
21. Motor Head Baby – JOHNNY "Guitar" WATSON credited at YOUNG JOHN WATSON (June 1953 US 78 on Federal 12131, A-side)
22. Led Sled – DENNY FREEMAN (from the 1986 US LP "Blues Cruise" on Amazing Records AM 1009)
23. Rev Off – Steve Wertheimer's 1951 Mercury Custom & Mike Young's 1960 Chevrolet "Exotica" Impala - Recorded at Dave's Precision Automotive, Austin, Texas on 23 October 1998 – Plus a Radio Advert for a 60ts Green Valley Raceway meet on a Wednesday night (between Dallas and Fort Worth) – unannounced and attached at the end of Track 23

CD2 (69:21 minutes):
1. Rocking Down The Highway – THE DOOBIE BROTHERS (November 1972 US 45-single on Warner Brothers WB 7661, B-side of "Jesus Is Just Alright")
2. Hey Little Cobra – THE RIP CHORDS (November 1963 US 45-single on Columbia 4-42921, A-side)
3. Hot Rod Queen – DEKE DICKERSON & THE ECCO-FONICS (from the 1998 CD Album "Number One Hit Record!" on HMG 3005))
4. Hot Rod Lincoln – JOHNNY BOND (June 1960 US 45-single on Republic 2005, A-side)
5. Hot Rod Race - RAMBLIN' JIMMIE DOLAN (June 1951 US 45-single on Capitol 1322, A-side)
6. Drag Race (excerpt from the 1960 Motion Picture "High School Caesar")
7. Draggin' – CURTIS GORDON (April 1956 US 45-single on Mercury 70861 X 45, A-side) 
8. Dragster – JOHNNY FORTUNE (November 1963 US 45-single on Park Avenue PA-130, B-side of "Siboney")
9. Race With The Devil – GENE VINCENT & HIS BLUE CAPS (August 1956 US 45-single on Capitol F3530, A-side)
10. Devil In My Car – THE B-52's (from the August 1980 US Album "Wild Planet" on Warner Brothers BSK 3471)
11. Ride On Josephine – GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS (from the September 1977 US Debut Album "George Thorogood & The Destroyers" on Rounder 3013)
12. Rocket "88" – JACKIE BRENSTON & HIS DELTA CATS (1956 US 45-single on Chess 1458, A-side)
13. Key To The Highway – LITTLE WALTER & HIS JUKES (September 1958 US 45-single on Checker 904, A-side)
14. Low Rider – WAR (August 1975 US 45-single on United Artists UA-XW706-Y, A-side)
15. Whitter Blvd. – THEE MIDNITERS (June 1965 US 45-single on Chattahoochie CH-684, A-side)
16. Every Woman I Know – BILLY "The Kid" EMERSON (January 1957 US 45-single on Vee Jay VJ 219, B-side of "Tomorrow Never Comes")
17. One Piece At A Time JOHNNY CASH & THE TENNESSEE THREE (March 1976 US 45-single on Columbia 3-10321, A-side)
18. Cadillac Assembly Line (January 1976 US 45-single on Utopia UB-10544, A-side)
19. I Want A Lavender Cadillac - MAURICE KING & HIS WOLVERINES (June 1951 US 45-single on 4-6800, A-side)
20. Bring My Cadillac Back – BAKER KNIGHT And THE KNIGHTMARES (November 1956 US 45-single on Decca 9-30135, A-side)
21. Pink Cadillac – SAMMY MASTERS & HIS ROCKING RHYTHM (April 1956 US 45-single on 4-Star 1695-45, A-side)
22. Transfusion – NERVOUS NORVUS (May 1956 US 45-single on Dot 45-14570, A-side)
23. Crawling From The Wreckage – DAVE EDMUNDS (from the July 1979 US album "Repeat When Necessary" on Swan Song SS 8507)
24. Dead Man's Curve – JAN & DEAN (February 1964 US 45 on Liberty 55672, A-side)
25. James Dean 1955 Interview (from the 1993 video to "Rebel Without A Cause") – unannounced and uncredited "Signal Mid Ethyl Gas" advert from the 60ts is attached at the end of Track 25

CD3 (51:55 minutes):
1. Let's Go For A Ride – THE COLLEGIANS (1957 US 45-single on X-Tra 108, A-side)
2. On The Road Again – CANNED HEAT (April 1968 US 45-single on Liberty 56038, A-side)
3. Drive South – JOHN HIATT (from the 1988 US album "Slow Turning" on A&M Records SP 5026)
4. I Gotta A New Car – BIG BOY GRAVES and Band (May 1955 US 45-single on Spark 114, A-side)
5. No Money Down – CHUCK BERRY & His Combo (January 1956 US 45-single on Chess 1615, A-side)
6. Dear Dad – DAVE EDMUNDS (from the April 1982 US album "D.E. 7th" on Columbia PC 37930)
7. Little Forty Four – LEON SMITH With The Ponsonby Sisters (July 1959 US 45-single on Epic 5-9326)
8. '41 Ford – THE GRAND PRIX (October 1963 US 45-single on Vault V-906, B-side of "Candy Apple Buggy")
9. '64 Ford – PHRANC (from the 1991 US album "Positively Phranc" on Island 848282)
10. Stolen Car – THE GREEN HORNETS (from the 1996 album "The Buzz" on Alopecia! 008)
11. 60 Lil' Camaro Go – RAMONES (from the 1987 US album "Halfway To Sanity" on Sire 25641)
12. Road Runner – BO DIDDLEY (January 1960 US 45-single on Checker 942, A-side)
13. Beep Beep – THE PLAYMATES (October 1958 US 45-single on Roulette R-4115, A-side)
14. Black & White Thunderbird – THE DELICATES (June 1959 US 45-single on Unart UR 2017, B-side of "Ronnie Is My Lover")
15. Pink Thunderbird – GENE VINCENT & HIS BLUE CAPS (from the March 1957 US LP "Gene Vincent And His Blue Caps" on Capitol T-811 in Mono)
16. '54 Corvette – THE CUSTOMS featuring Gary Usher (from the 1963 US LP "Hot Rod City" on Vault 104)
17. Sting Ray – THE ROUTERS (March 1963 US 45-single on Warner Brothers 5349, A-side)
18. Route 66 Theme – NELSON RIDDLE (April 1962 US 45-single on Capitol 4741, A-side)
19. Gas Money – JAN & ARNIE with Adam Ross (July 1958 US 45-single on Arwin MM-111-45, A-side)
20. Gasoline Alley – ROD STEWART (from the June 1970 US album "Gasoline Alley" on Mercury SR-61264) – includes added on Unannounced 60ts Advert for "Speedway Gas" attached to the end of the song

CD4 (50:06 minutes):

1. Mustang Sally - WILSON PICKETT

2. Hopped-Up Mustang - ARIEN SANDERS

3. Wild, Wild Mustang - DICK DALE & HIS DEL-TONES

4. 409 - THE QUADS

5. Automobiles - THE SPANIELS

6. V-8 Ford Blues - MOSE ALLISON

7. Pontiac Blues - SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON

8. G.T.O - RONNY & THE DAYTONA'S

9. Go Go G.T.O - CAROL & CHERYL

10. Bite Bite Barracuda - BUDDY RANDELL & THE KNICKERBOCKERS

11. Ford V-8 - HONEY BOY ALLEN

12. No Particular Place To Go - CHUCK BERRY

13. Four In The Floor - THE SHUTDOWNS

14. Big Green Car - JIMMY CARROLL

15. Spark Plug - FOUR TEENS

16. Buick 59 - THE MEDALLIONS

17. Freeway - THE FUGITIVES 

18. Two Lane Highway - PURE PRAIRIE LEAGUE

19. Six Days On The Road - DAVE DUDLEY

20. Wheels - THE FLYING BURRITO BROS.

The 66-page booklet is a major departure for Rhino in some ways in that it doesn't show a single 45-repro label nor LP nor musical act nor sheet music nor trade advert anywhere in its 66-pages – it is all vintage cars and dragsters. Not even the four Digipaks containing the CDs (front or rear) pay a nod towards the music contained with – again all of them with paintings or pictures of famous chrome-infested machines. While I appreciate going all out with the theme and the reproduction of famous articles on the subject matter - you can't help thinking that say the picture sleeve for The Cyrkle/Paul Revere split 45 especially commissioned in 1967 by Chevrolet for car dealers might have been an obvious inclusion – Beach Boys or Jan and Dean a-top Dune Buggies or a Little Deuce Coup – Bobby Blue Bland standing proudly by his Driving Wheel - Batman in his phantasmagorical Bat Mobile etc. 

But what you do get with "Hot Rods & Custom Classics: Cruisin' Songs & Highway Hits" is amazing and great fun - the Sheet of Decal Stickers - The Key Chain with Moon Eyes and of course - the Furry Dice you would hang from your Cools-Mobile. Speaking of Moon Eyes - Dean Moon built his Moon Equipment Company in the USA provided equipment parts and everything else for cars. The 'Mooneyes Surf & Drag' Catalogue therefore has adverts for tee-shirts with 50ts and 60ts period designs - Bonneville Sports - Engine Parts - Custom Accessories like tail-lights - skulls for gear sticks - speed equipment - grill and chrome emblems and so on. And then there are all the period adverts repro'd on the side of the brick block box set when you lift off the lid - you could be hours with a magnifying glass just trying to get through them - a bygone age. It's enough to blind you to the excellent BOB FISHER Remasters that stretch decades of car-mentions. 

CD1 opens with 21-seconds of advert dialogue "You finally get your own car, the chances are your parents still don’t understand why you needed it, but the freedom – you treat it good – real good!" That is followed by the wild 1958 teenage Rock and Roll on the uber-rare "Action Packed" by Ronnie Dee – you can hear his youth and excitement. And then we get a truly great tune – arguably the first genuinely cool instrumental prior to "Green Onions" in July 1962 - "Stick Shift" by The Duals. This Rockabilly Beat nugget had arrived a full year earlier in June 1961 complete with engine roar start and cop-car siren ending – a classy inclusion. It's at this point (same on all 4 CDs) that the time frames start to jump forward and back again – but it works. Next up is a fantastic slice of Rockabilly brilliance in the 1980-recorded "Hot Rod Man" by the wonderfully named Tex Rubinowitz – itself not surprisingly followed by The Stray Cats also doing that untamed beast in 1983. We’re back to Gene Vincent and then rather oddly on to 1973/1974 and Golden Earring giving it friend-e-lee and coming on strong with their fabulous "Radar Love" (it is the 5:02 minute cut out of the USA). 

But then again, the compilation whomps you with a gem you have completely forgotten – David Lindley getting all slide-guitar mayhem with his "Mercury Blues". What a nugget and clever inclusion. Natural to see Chuck Berry and his influence start on CD1 (his tunes crop up on the other discs too) – his lyrically savvy tunes full of liberating automobiles and teenage knowing. From the start of summer 1955 on Chess Records, "Maybelline" and all that followed started a revolution in the States and its influence reached over to Blighty for a whole generation of English kids not least of all were The Beatles and Stones. Bit of film melodrama and fun with Robert Mitchum sing-talking his way through a song about bootleggers in joe-jammers - "The Ballad of Thunder Road" full of hard-boiled characters old Hate-and-Love hands Mitchum no doubt relished playing. America is the greatest land of all, Dinah Shore sings jauntily like Doris Day on uppers in the Chevie advert while The Beach Boys and a surprisingly cool Collins Kids get cute with the ladies – soon as they get a Hot Rod. Heavy Blues comes at you in full-on recorded-in-a-bucket mode when Howlin Wolf comes a roaring into your speakers perfectly countered by Hank country-fiddle singing about paying the cost for a life of sin on the Lost Highway (we know how you feel Mr. Williams – all too bitterly). And on it goes to Sheriffs with itchy fingers in their cherry-tops – Bill Monroe caught in heavy traffic with his banjo – Mr. Bear caught doing 105 MPH by that new-fangled Radar – and Denny Freeman getting all B.B. King geetar on his SRV-sounding Led Sled.

Hot Dog Lincolns and Souped-Up Fords shift and shuffle and race with devils both inside and outside come CD2 – streets forty-foot wide – Mercury speeding but taken by a hopped-up Model A. Echo-laden Rockabilly comes hammering out of your speakers as Curtis Gordon drags Main St. all night long. Cool Agent/Spy type vibes on the screaming tyres and guitar-picking instrumental "Dragster" – kids living dangerously while Johnny Fortune twangs his geetar. Manic vocals of The B-52s followed by the Slide Guitar Boogie of George Thorogood makes for a good pairing – and what can you say about the utter brilliance of "Low Rider" by War – like "Radar Love" on CD1, it will be a track you reach for again and again no matter how many movies have used both to death. Your lady can play with your keys and shift your gears according to Billy "The Kid" Emerson (rubber heels are a no-no). Genius lyrics come at you aplenty with the forgotten Man In Black hit "One Piece At A Time". Funny and savvy as always – Johnny Cash slays it as he describes assembling a GM Cadillac by sneaking out parts across two decades only to find that upgrades over the years have done for the usability of his unique $100,000 car.

Speaking of period wit – two decades back we get slip the blood to me bud Nervous Norvus – talking through witty lyrics amidst car-crash sounds. No picture sleeve unfortunately repro'd for the Jan & Dean Liberty 45 from February 1964 – "Dead Man's Curve" – and I cannot get enough of Dave Edmunds who gets the first of two appearances on this Box Set with his fab "Crawling From The Wreckage" (driving like a nut in the rain – taking out his revenge on the revolution counter). The final track is a 2-minute interview with James Dean about cars and car-racing – his supposedly sincere comments about safety are so damn ominous with what happened to him. But stick around also for an unannounced "Signal Gas" advert attached afterwards (Track 25) where nice chaps tell you that you no longer have to just use Regular or Premium Gas, because now at a third pump you can get Mid Ethyl Gasoline and go farther!

CD3 opens with an uber-rare 1958 R&B Vocal Group 45 by The Collegians asking all suckers to "Let's Go For A Ride". That is followed by the familiar whining vocals of Bob Hite in his Canned Heat doing the ever-popular "On The Road Again" – a huge hit for the Blues Rockers in 1968. Stunning inclusions ahoy with a clever switch up to John Hiatt asking his baby to "Drive South" (on his 1988 "Slow Turning" album) – telling her that will not need too many clothes because it gets hot where they’re going. A slew of clever lyrics follow starting with R&B man Big Boy Groves bemoaning his wallet because "I Gotta A New Car" (Soup and Tooth Picks not a good meal), while Chuck Berry lists his requirements in fabulous period detail for his new car with "No Money Down". But best of all is another gotta-get-rid-of the crappy old Ford song by Chuck Berry but this time done by Dave Edmunds – his fantastic bopping "Dear Dad" done in 1982 – a son writing to Pops to plead his motor needs. 

Another obscure flipside comes in the shape of Leon Smith with The Ponsonby Sisters – his 1959 Epic 45 informing the populace on his "Little Forty Ford". Gotta love the girly longing in "64 Ford" – Phranc with that early crush glint in her eye. Punky garage comes in the shape of Taratino-cool Green Hornets getting organ-and-sax grungy as they channel their inner X-Ray Specs on their "Stolen Car". The Ramones and their Soul Brother Bo Diddley give us a Camaro 60 followed with a Road Runner. Lyrically similar, a little Nash Rambler determined to scorn a Cadillac in The Playmates witty "Beep Beep" turns out to be a Mojo in bother rather than competition. Cool instrumentals return with two in a row – The Routers giving us "Sting Ray" while Nelson Riddle decides to go all Secret Agent Lounge Lizard with his stringed-up piano-plinking finger-clicker "Route 66 Theme". 

Jan & Arnie may argue in the bedroom, but itchy Jan knows what he needs - "Gas Money" – come up with the dough baby. And CD3 ends with a nugget – and even if it feels stylistically slightly out of place – there is no denying the slide-guitar Ron Wood and Rod Stewart melody in the fab and still-touching "Gasoline Alley". Stay tuned to Track 20 as it plays for Rhino has sneaked in a hidden unannounced "Speedway Gas" sung commercial attached to the tail-light of the Rod Stewart song – an advert sung by good old boys about ethanol propylene or some such 60ts gizmo.

Feelin' the need for speed - the only way is the Freeway - want your Spark Plugs ignited, your Buick bounced, your Rubber Rims burnt or your Chevvie chassis  discombobulated (oh dear, sounds painful) - then look no further my grease monkeys of yesteryear - because Rhino's 1999 Box Set "Hot Rods & Custom Classics: Cruisin' Songs & Highway Hits" is the old-school gearbox you need...Go Daddy Go!