Monday, July 28, 2008

Rock Goes Folk - The Topsiders


Here's another unusual mash-up of sorts. The Topsiders took what were popular songs at the time and reimagined them as traditional folk songs. Does it work? I don't know. It almost sounds like they knew a few chords and were bound and determined to make each song have only those chords in it, whether they really fit or not. It's an interesting experiment though.

Here's the track list:
  1. Let the Good Times Roll
  2. The Wayward Wind
  3. Come Go With Me
  4. Ain't That a Shame
  5. Tammy
  6. Diana
  7. Heartbreak Hotel
  8. Unchained Melody
  9. Bye Bye Love
  10. Venus
  11. Devil or Angel
  12. Dream Lover
NOTES: In the comments section, Guav found a nice little article about the band here. Also, I found out that this is now available on Amazon (with a couple of songs added) under the title "The Topsiders." You can get it by clicking on the link below:

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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousSunday, November 16, 2008 10:02:00 AM

    This looks fun. There's a British folk group, Led by comedian, Adrian Edmondson, who have recently embarked on a similar concept for more modern sounds. http://www.thebadshepherds.com/

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  2. Mark H. BesottedMonday, April 13, 2009 7:09:00 AM

    I actually really like this album. And I hate that style of early 60's Weavers stuff, for the most part.

    I ripped off the "Heartbreak Hotel" for a post on my own blog, with 11 versions of the song.
    http://shellgrowback.blogspot.com/2009/04/multiple-mondays-heartbreak-hotel.html

    Been reading this blog for some time, and it's always fun.

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  3. AnonymousSaturday, January 09, 2010 2:16:00 PM

    I'm glad to see people still like this kind ok music. This band TheTopSiders was my dads band and hes glad to hear that people still lisen to this record and enjoy folk music the way it was. Brian Oliver

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  4. GuavTuesday, February 15, 2011 8:30:00 AM

    Found a nice write-up of the band here: http://home.comcast.net/~twirlrecords/topsiders.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. GuavTuesday, February 15, 2011 8:31:00 AM

    Find a nice write up of the band here: http://home.comcast.net/~twirlrecords/topsiders.html

    ReplyDelete