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This is not a book but a 12-inch, 33-1/3 rpm "High Fidelity" (mono) vinyl record, Riviera 0047. Earlier, silver-on-black Riviera label. The Riviera label was a spinoff from the Bihari Brothers' "Modern" and "Crown" operations -- originated in 1945 when Jules Bihari had trouble finding the blues records with which his customers in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles wanted him to stock their jukeboxes. Famous for an excellent roster of R&B talent (including Hadda Brooks, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, Etta James, Lightnin' Hopkins, and B.B. King) and for generally miserable vinyl production values, Riviera operated about 1959-1963. There's some debate about whether this issue was in fact 1959 or 1960. The problem, of course, is that this disc advertises Paul Anka "and others," without specifying who the "others" are, or which cuts are whose. The Discogs Web site reports teen prodigy Anka here performs only "I Confess" and "Blau-Wile-deVeest Fontaine," while Marvin & Johnny deliver "Cherry Pie" and "Tick Tick," Shirley Gunter & the Queens offer "Oop Shoop." The Cliques sing "My Desire" and "Girl of My Dreams," Young Jessie (Obediah Donnell "Obie" Jessie, who'd sung harmony on the Coasters' "Searchin'" in 1957) performs his own composition "Mary Lou," and the LP winds up with "Please Love Me," performed by . . . B.B. King. Since there's nothing shabby about these "original artists" (as the TV announcers like to say), why not credit them? What can we say -- this operation wasn't exactly Smithsonian Folkways. The heavy vinyl here appears flawless and near mint -- a miracle from these producers -- and the cardboard jacket "very good" with clear tape to most edges. Born in Ottawa in 1941 to parents of Lebanese Christian descent, Anka was a child prodigy, writing his own songs and "borrowing" the family car at age 14 to drive to amateur contests in nearby Hull, Quebec. While on a 1957 trip to New York with a group of friends who sang as The Rover Boys, Anka gained an audition with ABC producer Don Costa, singing his own composition, "Diana" -- an ode to a former babysitter. Costa recorded the teen-ager and struck gold -- the single hit number one on both sides of the Atlantic, eventually selling a reported ten million copies. Anka wrote one of Buddy Holly's last hits, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore." In 1959 he charted with "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" and "Puppy Love" (written for old flame Annette Funicello.) By 1961, when the teen idol craze began to cool, Anka moved to RCA, bought the rights to his old masters, and made a fortune on reissues. He appeared in a number of movies including "The Longest Day" (1962), for which he provided the title song, wrote the theme to The Tonight Show (aired every weeknight for almost 30 years, can anyone spell "residuals"?), and rewrote the French lyrics to the song "Comme d'Habitude" to turn it into one of Frank Sinatra's biggest late-career hits, "My Way." Not exactly a one-hit wonder. This LP now reduced from $35.
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