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Acrobat has a long-established, popular and successful series called The British Hit Parade which, for the years 1953, 1954 and 1955 comprise a 3-CD set, a 4-CD set and then two 3-CD sets for the respective years featuring every record which appeared in the UK record sales chart during those years as it expanded from its original Top 12 format in late 1952 to a Top 30 by 1955. Those compilations feature around 325 chart entries across the three years. This great-value 40-track 2-CD set comprises a distillation of some of the biggest hits across those three years as the pop scene progressed from the comfortable and predictable middle-of- the road styles that characterised the early ‘50s towards the cataclysmic upheaval that rock ‘n’ roll would bring – Bill Haley’s 1955 UK hit with “Shake Rattle And Roll”, included here, was the first to herald the shape of things to come. Just about every record in this set was a No. 1 or No. 2 hits, so these are hits that many people who were growing up through those years will remember as key landmarks in a teenage rite of passage, with memorable classics from the biggest artists of the era. It makes for evocative and hugely entertaining listening.
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