- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Prominent recording artists represented on Teen Dreams are Dion and the Belmonts, Dion as a solo artist, and the Chiffons; along with lesser-known artists.
Teen Dreams (Various Artists) (1981): This is a compilation of American rock and roll songs that came out on RCA Victor Records in the U.K.; also shown on the record label is a logo for Laurie Records, the label that released most of these singles originally. As a bonus, the back cover provides a detailed discography for each of these artists and shows that the singles were originally released between 1958 and 1964. Prominent recording artists represented on Teen Dreams are Dion and the Belmonts, Dion as a solo artist, and the Chiffons; along with lesser-known artists Randy and the Rainbows, Dean and Jean, the Jarmels, the Four Pennies, the Mystics, the Passions, and Kenny Chandler. I was delighted to find on Teen Dreams one of my favorite obscure platters (it just missed making the Top 40 in 1964), Bernadette Carroll’s “Party Girl”, a song that I absolutely loved as a child that I had not heard in ages. The songwriter is Ernie Maresca, who wrote or co-wrote several of Dion’s hit singles, including “Runaround Sue” and “The Wanderer”, as well as “Hey Jean, Hey Dean” by Dean and Jean – all three of these songs are also on Teen Dreams. Besides the two Dion songs, the hits on Teen Dreams that I remember well are the two songs by Dion and the Belmonts, “(Why Must I be) a Teenager in Love” and “I Wonder Why”; the two songs by the Chiffons, “He’s So Fine” and “One Fine Day”; plus “A Little Bit of Soap” by the Jarmels, “Denise” by Randy and the Rainbows (remade by Blondie in 1978 as “Denis”), and “Hushabye” by the Mystics. About half of these songs I did not recognize, but hearing new-to-me songs from my childhood actually enhances the enjoyment of this album for me.