• Track Listing

Originally a childhood prodigy violinist, Philadelphia-born FRANK VIRTUE took up guitar and double bass as a teenager, in the mid-1940s. His musical roots were based on the sound and style of the immediate pre-WWII Big Bands, and his earliest line-ups of THE VIRTUES, who were formed initially as THE VIRTUOSO TRIO, reflected these influences. But by the mid-1950s they'd expanded to a quintet and were playing Big Beat and embryonic R&R, vying for popularity with local heroes Bill Haley & The Comets. In 1959 they registered a hit with "Guitar Boogie Shuffle", a revival of Arthur 'Guitar Boogie' Smith's 1940s hit, which made the U. S. Top 10 and sold a couple of million copies. This compilation is built upon the subsequent Guitar Boogie Shuffle LP, also issued in 1959, plus assorted 45rpms issued between 1955-62, credited variously to The Virtues, Frank Virtuoso, Frank Virtuoso & His Men Of Virtue, and Jimmy Vespe (i. e. The band's lead guitarist).