Starting with a fun premise, You Heard it Here First gathers 26 classic songs that were made famous by other artists.  While The Beatles established the idea that groups or artists should be self-contained units, performing and writing their own material, many artists in Pop and Rock just didn’t have the chops to accomplish this. Even after the Beatles changed the status quo, many artists looked around for songs that may have not made the grade the first time. Many of them came up with winners. This CD holds 26 hits as they were first heard by the artists and producers who later took them to the top of the charts.

The CD opens with the full tilt horn-driven stomp  of Gloria Jones’ 1965 single of "Tainted Love." Her version is a powerful revelation for those who only know the Soft Cell version. Next up is "Suspicious Minds" by Mark James. You can  listen to James’ version, which is solid on it’s own, and easily hear why Elvis and his producers thought this one might go to the top. It needed Elvis!

 As the disc moves on, each song reveals something about the artists involved as well as what really makes a hit single. From a historical stand point, there are three stand-out tracks that are pivotal moments in music history. They need to be heard by every fan.

The first is "You Need Love" by Muddy Waters. The song would prove to be the foundation of "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin. In 2 minutes and 41 seconds you hear everything that Zeppelin would ever do as well as the birth of Heavy Metal as a genre. This is no small claim. It is all there, sung with a ton of emotion by a man who really needs his woman to get on board with his plan. 

"Rock Around the Clock"  as first performed by Sunny Dae and the Knights, is a basic boogie-woogie piano number with a crowded arrangement.  When Haley and his band got to the song a year later, they kept a few of the elements but the singer and the guitar player are on fire and the arrangement is simplified.  Today the song has lost all of it’s original fire. But play it back to back with this version and you understand why everyone went crazy for it in 1954.

Fans of James Brown need to hear Yvonne Fair’s "I Found You." Produced by James Brown, there is nothing wrong with what Fair does. However, Brown let the song sit in the back of his head for a few years and than added the missing ingredient that would make the song a hit, James Brown. Just like "Suspicious Minds," it needed the right artist to elevate it to the top.

The British import label Ace Records has been doing a fine job of collecting and collating the history of Rock n Roll. Their ability to find the obscure and the not so obscure is amazing. They have included a massive booklet with the set and the sound is as modern and clean as you could ever hope. Other songs found in this set include "Hanky Panky," "Tobacco Road," "Go Now," "I Fought the Law," "You Were On My Mind," "Ruby Don’t take Your Love to Town," "Little Bit O’ Soul,"  "Hey Joe" and many others.