Just a few opinionated thoughts
and asides about the recorded legacy and history of the vocal groups
of the golden era of Rhythm & Blues
. . . . .Was there ever a
harder rocking uptempo side produced that could outdo "All Night
Long" by The DuMauriers ? The only ones I can think of are "What 'Cha
Gonna Do?" by Clyde & The Drifters (and by the way do you notice
how they speeded up the last chorus of that tune on the recent CD
reissues ? If you have the original 45 or 78, compare the two), "I'm
Gonna Ball" by The Wheels, "Fine Young Girl" by The Solitaires, and
perhaps "Ooh But She Did" by The El Capris. . . . How about some
great opening moments? I love the intros on "Don't Fall In Love" by
The Sequins, "Earth Angel" (the original Dootone version) by The
Penguins, almost anything by The Moonglows (particularly
"Starlight"), The Paragons "The Vows of Love", "Bye Bye Baby" by the
Channels, and "When We Get Married" by The Dreamlovers. . . . .and
some super closers (not fadeouts) a rarity-"If Teardrops Were Kisses"
by The Robins, The Cadillacs "Let Me Explain", "Love Is A Vow" sung
by The Mellowharps, "He's Gone" by The Chantels, again anything by
The Moonglows (all the 'oowah' finishes), and of course The Lovenotes
"United". . . .Some writer once said the difference between the music
of the 50s and the more progressive 60s was the honesty and
directness of the lyrics of the earlier decade. The greatest example
given was Buddy Holly's lines "If you knew Peggy Sue; then you'd know
why I feel blue; about Peggy". Fair enough, but how about these
winners - "Oh Gee Oh Gosh" by The Kodoks, or "Love Is True" by The
Chestnuts, The Keytones "Seven Wonders of the World", "My Dear" by
The Solitaires, and "My Faith" by The Fi-Tones . . . . . And we are
still searching for the CD of the Four Buddies on Savoy, The Swallows
unreleased sides and alternate takes, The Gentlemen on Apollo, and
the Acme label compilation . . . . . . .The search still goes on for
vintage Moondog and Doctor Jive airchecks from 54 - 55 and anything
on WNJR from those years particularly Ramon Bruce . . . . . .How
would you like to discover live recordings of the Alan Freed in
person shows from 1955-1957 ? What a treasure trove that would be.
Never give up hope. They said there were no airchecks of early Elvis
on Louisiana Hayride, and those were found one day ! . . . . .
.Always like to give a tip of the hat, so to speak, to those great
musicians that did backup session work behind the vocal groups back
in the 50s. There was Jesse Powell with the Cadillacs on Josie,
Howard Biggs with The Harptones, Big Al Sears on most of the Herald
and Baton sides, Al Browne on Hull, Jimmy Wright on Gee/Rama, Buddy
Lucas on Gone/End, Maxwell Davis and Joe Houston on Modern/RPM/Flair,
Arnett Cobb on a lot of the Chicago sides for Chess, and Sam Taylor,
Mickey Baker, Haywood Henry, and Van Walls on Atlantic. There were
certainly many others known and unknown, that added that extra
something to all those great sounds. . . . . . .How about the most
"hook" laden record ever? You know a hook is a repetitive musical
figure that sticks in your mind long after the song is ended, and
most of them are simple or nonsense syllables. How about my candidate
for this honor-"Pretty Little Girl" by The Monarchs. This entire
record is one hook after another from the "yep yep" bass intro, to
the simple one verse lyrics, to the singsong melody and copycat sax
break. But it works just perfectly because this silly little tune
will stay with you the entire day after a listen or two. And how
about that manic out of control piano during the fadeout??? . . . . .
Speaking of the piano, has anyone ever identified the piano player
(or the drummer for that matter) who play behind Danny & The
Juniors original "At The Hop"? What an incredible backup job by these
anonymous musicians. Maybe they are known to those with more insight
and info than I, but I would sure like to know their identities. . .
. . .Would sure like to see a definitive discography of both the
vocal groups of the 40s and 50s, and the independent R & B labels
of those years. It would certainly be a momentous undertaking but the
groundwork has been set by a number of people such as Ferde Gonzalez,
Pete Grendysa, Robert Pruter, Marv Goldberg, Jay Warner, Drs. Gribin
and Schiff, and so many others. To have a definitive encyclopedia of
this music would to me be the ultimate tribute.