Before music industry veteran Lennie Petze served as Senior Vice President of Epic/Portrait Records, before the executive famously signed Boston and worked with icons like Carly Simon, Michael Jackson, and Cyndi Lauper, he founded The Rhythm Rockers. The teenage Petze’s Boston-based band was active from 1956 to 1960, and Fervor Records has released a ten-song collection of the group’s early rock-and-roll near-classics. Had the band not morphed into The Rondels, it’s entirely possible The Rhythm Rockers could have been a household name in the 1960s, as their songs had the catchy, rhythm-and-blues-influenced early rock-and-roll sound popular in malt shops, pool halls, and high school gymnasiums across the United States. “Monkeys Rock” is nothing but sheer delight.
