Full title - Golden Age of American Rock 'N' Roll Volume 10. The tenth & final volume in Ace Records' longest-running & most prestigious series. 30 tracks, mastered from the finest sources available. Artists include the Rinky-Dinks feat. Bobby Darin, the Coasters, the Bobbettes, Ricky Nelson, the Chords, Roy Orbison & many more.

The 11th volume of this venerated series is split about half between out-and-out classics from rock & roll's first decade and considerably lesser-known (and usually much lower-charting) items from the same period. The benefit of this approach is that it makes available quite a few tracks that rarely get reissued, or at least rarely anthologized on all-purpose rock & roll oldies collections, while putting in enough familiar staples to avoid being tagged as a rarities collection. The drawback, of course, is that those relatively little-known singles -- all Top 100 Billboard hits to some degree or another, though seldom played on oldies stations today -- simply aren't nearly as good or memorable as the big hits with which they share space on this CD.

For many years, Original Sound's Oldies but Goodies series was acknowledged as the best source for catching up on the many great early rock & roll hits by artists who had only one (or two, or three, or even a few more) classics to offer. Ace's Golden Age of American Rock'n'Roll series, however, has surpassed Oldies but Goodies as the series of choice in the CD age. Even at an import price, they offer better value (with 30 songs each!); they use the best possible available source tapes for remastering; they also offer lengthy, intelligent liner notes and some photos, where Original Sound have historically offered none.