Atomic Platters: Cold War Music from Golden Age

Perfect music for Halloween. Every selection on this set is a jaw-dropper. The music splits from '40s hillbilly kitsch about hiding out away from the bombed out cities, mixing in some end-of-the-world lowbrow Christian warnings, alternating with fringe rock 'n roll singles. Missing from the music selections are any hint of mainstream whitebread '50s pop songs; apparently pop stars (Como, Fisher, Page, etc...) and their labels avoided breaking the confectionery happy world of white suburbia, excepting for one Vic Damone song on Mercury (not included here) mentioning an "atomic kiss."I have only one minor quibble about the song selections here, but only because I'm a dedicated country and rock 'n roll record junkie: this set includes Wanda Jackson's Capitol Records' 1957-8 rocker version of "Fujiyama Mama," which is a common enough track, instead of the 1955 white pop version done by Eileen Barton (she of "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd Have Baked a Cake").Couple this hour-and-then-some album with 1950s'/1960s' nuclear war propaganda ("Duck and Cover...") and fallout shelter films and have an uncomfortable laugh.

Like all Behr Family collections, this one rocks, as it includes ads and PSAs from a time long gone, along with the tunes that made it all bearable. Get your copy, and get ready to Duck and Cover!

This CD could be better.At least two of the songs are inferior cover versions. The Atomic Cafe Soundtrack is better.

Saw this on the Retro Cocktail Hour FB page. Hesitant about getting it, but glad I did. The PSAs, by themselves, are almost a good reason to have this CD. The songs? Pretty cool - if singing about nuclear bombs can be considered cool (and they are).Lets face it - you will NEVER hear any of these songs on the radio (with maybe the exception of The Retro Cocktail Hour) - so go ahead and get it.

This is the perfect soundtrack when you are sitting at your mid century modern table playing cards with your neighbors. Absolutely the best of the atomic age music!

This is a fantastic collection for anyone interested in Cold War history. The songs are a very good look into the pop culture of the era, and are fun to listen to besides. The included booklet is a good starting point for information. This very condensed edition is good enough I'm considering saving for the big one!

I haven't bought a CD in years but this was well worth it. A fun romp through early cold war pop culture with quite a few truly unique songs. I have been playing it often since I purchased it. You won't be disappointed.

Great CD if you like this type ofmusic!

The descriptor ‘single warhead edition’ indicates that this compilation draws from a much larger and more expensive ‘MIRV’ – a multimedia box-set comprising 5 CDs, 1 DVD + 292-page hardback book released in 2005. Like radioactive fallout, a little of this sort of thing goes a long way, so this 1-CD version will be enough dosage for most of us, although Cold War completists who already own the box set may be less than pleased that this CD includes five bonus tracks not included in that set.The music tracks on the disc are interspersed with several short civil defense radio announcements recorded by such unlikely voices as Johnny Cash and Groucho Marx. These have a curiosity value, but purchasers will really be interested in the music – nearly 30 tracks, more than 70 minutes, in a range of genres. There are a few famous names amongst the artists, such as Bill Haley and His Comets, but many are almost complete unknowns, and the 77-page illustrated liner notes by producer Bill Geerhart about these obscure musicians are a work of scholarship in themselves. It has to be said that none of the songs are likely to find a place in any best of/greatest hits selection, but musical greatness is not the reason for this compilation. Often the title is the best thing about the song, and it’s good that the CD includes the supremely tasteless ‘Jesus hits like an atom bomb’ by Lowell Blanchard and the Valley Trio.More than 50 years after they were recorded, it’s difficult to know how these songs were meant to be heard at the time. The majority seem to have been written in a spirit of naïve confidence, and are more enjoyable than any recorded with tongue in cheek. Indeed the weakest track is the last, ‘Love that bomb’ by Dr Strangeglove and the Fallouts, issued to promote the 1964 film, the only overtly satirical track on the album.I doubt if many people will play this CD for musical enjoyment, but it’s an important reminder of a terrifying period of recent history, and Bear Family Productions deserves praise for rescuing this material from obscurity and presenting it in such a well-produced and thoroughly-documented package.

Brought as a present for a friend who likes fallout 4. Very good buy and you do get some strange looks screaming the lyrics to Uranium Fever at the traffic lights!

Fantastic CD. Some catchy songs. Brilliant for fans of the Fallout series.

I ordered this because I have been really enjoying the Fallout 4 Radio soundtrack, and decided to look for some more of the same genre. This one is more hokey, but still fun. Recordings are not of as good quality, but then they have not been remastered for a video game so I am not all that surprised. I get a kick out of the little radio warnings interspersed with the music.

I have the Atomic Platters box set, but this little sampler is well worth having on its own with some material not in the original multi-disc set.