Lopez, Trini - Trini Lopez At P.J.s (1963) 180g Vinyl - Limited Edition

(2014/Exhibit) 10 tracks. ‘TRINI AT PJ‘S STANDS THE TEST OF TIME...Wonderful songs, brilliantly performed.‘ With the release of this album in April 1963 Trini Lopez became one of the biggest singing stars of the Folk Revival. ‘Trini Lopez at PJ‘s‘ made it to #2 on the Billboard charts and stayed in the Top 40 for over a year. The album included the chart-topping ‘If I Had a Hammer‘ which reached number one in 36 countries and was a radio favorite for many years. The hit single sold more than 4 million copies and the album sold over a million and was awarded a gold record. This was the album that made Lopez an instant success and the live party-a-go-go atmosphere of the record did much to put Trini‘s likable energy over the top. What he did, at the head of a trio with Mickey Jones on drums and Dick Brant on bass, was to make folk-pop swing. Other songs include ‘This Land Is Your Land,‘ and ‘Gotta Travel On.‘ It could be surmised that by treating such material in this fashion, Lopez had a tiny influence upon the subsequent folk-rock movement...Though, Lopez was more the all-around entertainer with a Latin lilt than he was a pure folk singer, so you also get ‘America‘ (from West Side Story), ‘La Bamba,‘ Ray Charles‘ ‘What‘d I Say,‘ ‘Volare,‘ and ‘When the Saints Go Marching In.‘ He scored thirteen chart singles through 1968 and became one of the country‘s top nightclub performers of that era.