During Rock’s Early Years, Ace Was the Place for Hits

The sounds of a boat’s bell and a foghorn signal the start of one of the most popular novelty hits of the ‘50s: Frankie Ford’s “Sea Cruise.”

Sample of the carefree lyrics:

So be my guest

You’ve got nothing to loose

Won’t you let me take you

On a sea cruise.

The single is one of 14 selections on Vol. 1 of a salute to Ace Records, one of the many small Southern labels that contributed to the vitality of pop music during the first rock decade.

Among the musical highlights on “The Best of Ace Records: The Pop Hits” collection:

* Joe Tex’s “Charlie Brown Got Expelled.” Six years before Tex broke into the R&B; Top 10 in 1965 with “Hold What You’ve Got” on Dial Records, he recorded this novelty that was greatly influenced by such Coasters hits as “Yakety Yak” and “Charlie Brown.”

* Huey (Piano) Smith & the Clowns’ “Pop Eye.” Smith and his band are best remembered for two other Ace recordings, 1957’s “Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” and 1958’s “Don’t You Just Know It,” but both apparently have been held back for another volume in this series, which is released by Rock N’ Roll Records/Scotti Brothers. This 1962 track attempted to generate a dance craze a la “The Twist” and “The Stroll.”

* Jimmy Clanton’s “Just a Dream.” A huge pop and R&B; hit in 1958 by a singer who got a surprisingly big promotional push despite possessing little charisma or, as time demonstrated, vocal authority. He returned to the pop Top 10 in 1960 with “Go, Jimmy, Go” and in 1962 with “Venus in Blue Jeans.”

In the album’s liner notes, R&B; singer and historian Billy Vera outlines the label’s brief, lively history--starting with the company name.

“If you were going into a business where people were rumored to be a little slow to pay, it might behoove you to pick a name as early in the alphabet as possible, so you’d be right on the top of the list if and when those people got around to paying their bills,” Vera writes.

“That’s why in 1955 Johnny Vincent picked the name Ace for his now legendary record label. It also says a lot about the man himself, a colorful character even in a business known for the colorful.”

Vincent--a Mississippi native whose real name is Vincent Imbragulio--was a blues fan who owned a string of jukeboxes and produced numerous records before opening Ace Records in 1955 in Jackson, Miss., where he competed valiantly against the larger labels of the day.

In 1962, Vincent merged Ace with Vee-Jay Records, but the partnership was short-lived. Vincent still lives in Jackson, where he oversees the re-release of Ace recordings and, Vera says, remains on the “lookout for the next big thing.”