Sandy Nelson - Be True To Your School (1964/2019)

Like so many of Sandy Nelson's thematic concept LPs, Be True to Your School suffocates within the narrow confines of its central conceit. All of its covers hail from the long list of high school-inspired rock & roll hits, which isn't a bad idea in and of itself. But when you're cutting an instrumental LP, why bother with this kind of novelty approach in the first place? Nelson's raw, muscular drumming fares best on up-tempo oldies staples like Chuck Berry's "School Days" and the Coasters' "Charlie Brown," although sappier material like "Moments to Remember" and "Graduation Day" suffers under his heavy-handed style.