Saturday Morning Records: #2 — The Best of Little Anthony & The Imperials

A new series for paying subscribers — celebrating favourite albums for the weekend.

I woke up today and chose The Best of Little Anthony & The Imperials. There are many different versions of a “Greatest Hits”, but I’m speaking specifically of this compilation. Not that it’s the best Best Of — or the one you must have, or anything like that. It’s just the one I have. But it’s fitting that I have it, given it’s the 1989-released comp, because 1989 was the year of discovery for me for a whole lot of 60s music. And then from there the 50s and some 70s. It started with 60s because 1989 is the year we first got a CD player, and so my dad became focused on replacing his record collection. The Beatles, The Animals. The Searchers. Santana.

Mum started dipping back further though, she was a fan of the $10 compilations and would pick up jazz (Count Basie, Glenn Miller), rock ‘n’ roll (Buddy Holly, Bill Hailey, Elvis Presley) and some doo-wop, pop, and blues too.

But I can’t claim to having any eureka moment or epiphany or even specific unveiling of/for Little Anthony & The Imperials. They were likely a name I would learn later, hearing some of their music first.