"…I
Want To Have You Near...But You're So Far Away..."
Hot
on the heels of their definitive "Blowing The Fuse" and "Sweet
Soul Music" CD Series (15 volumes to each genre of R'n'B and Soul) comes
Bear Family’s Vocal Group attack - 15 discs spanning 1939 to 1963. Volumes 1 to
10 hit the shops in 2012 and the last five in the spring of 2013. And while
critics will argue that Vocal Group music has already been done to death by
Rhino (3 x 4CD Box Sets across the decades) and a mountain of other cheapo
labels taking advantage of the 50-year copyright law - this is the first time
someone reputable (other than Rhino) have had a go - and typically these
German-issued Bear Family CDs are gorgeous in all the right places -
presentation and audio. And like its Volume 9 predecessor – Volume 10 has a
huge 34 tracks and a format-busting playing time of 87:38 minutes! Let's march
(not walk) 'Down The Aisle Of Love'...and have a 'Rama Lama Ding Dong' (if you
know what I mean)...
Released
October 2012 in Germany - "Street Corner Symphonies Volume 10: 1958" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Bear Family BCD 17288 AR (Barcode 4000127172884) breaks down as follows
(I've provided American single catalogue numbers on all tracks - 87:38
minutes):
1.
16 Candles – THE CRESTS (Coed 506, A)
2.
Lama Rama Ding Dong (aka Rama Lama Ding Dong) – THE EDSELS (Dub 2843, A)
3.
For Your Precious Love – JERRY BUTLER and THE IMPRESSIONS (Vee-Jay 280/Falcon
1013/Abner 1013, A)
4.
I Wonder Why – DION & THE BELMONTS (Laurie 3013, A)
5.
Tears On My Pillow – LITTLE ANTHONY & THE IMPERIALS (End 1027, A)
6.
So Fine – THE FIESTAS (Old Town 1062, A)
7.
One Summer Night – THE DANLEERS (Amp 3 2115/Mercury 71322, A)
8.
Stormy Weather – THE SPANIELS (Vee-Jay 290, A)
9.
I Love You So – THE CHANTELS (End 1020, A)
10.
Trickle, Trickle – THE VIDEOS (Casino 102, A)
11.
This Is The Nite – THE VALIANTS (Keen 34044, A)
12.
Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart – THE COASTERS (Atco 6116, A)
13.
Drip Drop – THE DRIFTERS (Atlantic 1187, A)
14.
Ten Commandments Of Love – HARVEY and THE MOONGLOWS (chess 1705, A)
15.
Little Star – THE ELEGANTS (Apt 25005, A)
16.
Pretty Girls Everywhere – EUGENE CHURCH and THE FELLOWS (Class 235, A)
17.
You Cheated – THE SHIELDS (Tender 513/Dot 15805, A)
18.
Western Movies – THE OLYMPICS (Demon 1508, A)
19.
Try Me (I Need You) – JAMES BROWN and THE FAMOUS FLAMES (Federal 12337, A)
20.
There's A Moon Out Tonight – THE CAPRIS (Planet 1010/Old Town 1094, A)
21.
Lovers Never Say Goodbye – THE FLAMINGOS (End 1035, A)
22.
No, No, No – THE CHANTERS (DeLuxe 6177, A)
23.
So Far Away – THE PASTELS (Argo 5314, A)
24.
Heart's Desire – THE AVALONS (Unart 2007, A)
25.
Down The Aisle Of Love – THE QUIN-TONES (Red Top 108/Hunt 321, A)
26.
Since I Don't Have You – THE SKYLINERS (Calico 103, A)
27.
Try The Impossible – LEE ANDREWS and THE HEARTS with The Panco Villa Orchestra
(United Artists 123, A)
28.
I'm So Young – THE STUDENTS (Arranged and Conducted by Jimmy Coe) (Note 10012/Checker
902, A)
29.
Here I Stand – WADE FLEMONS and THE NEWCOMERS (Vee-Jay 295, A)
30.
Teardrops On Your Letter – HANK BALLARD and THE MIDNIGHTERS (King 5171, A)
31.
Zoom Zoom Zoom – THE COLLEGIANS (Winley 224, A)
32.
The Things I Love – THE FIDELITY’S (Baton 252, A)
33.
I Met Him On A Sunday (Ronde-Ronde) – THE SHIRELLES (Tiara 6112/Decca 30588, A)
34.
Oh Gee, Oh Gosh – THE KODOKS featuring Pearl McKinnon (Fury 1015, A)
The
82-page non-detachable booklet is a feast of indepth liner notes on each
release by Grammy-winning writer and lifelong fan BILL DAHL. Let's put it this
way - there's a 'Photo Captions' index on Page 81 that tells who's who in the
black and white publicity shots that accompany most (not all) of the photos. It
actually lists the singer's names - who
else but Bear would do this? There are a few cool trade adverts from 1958
peppering the text (The Collegians on Winley and The Students on Checker) and
three of those rare American 45 labels are pictured (Casino, Keen and Checker).
The CD repros the rare "One Summer Night" by The Danleers and the
spine makes up a single photograph of the series name when you line up all 15
volumes alongside each other on a shelf. Long-standing and trusted names like
Walter DeVenne, Nico Feuerbach, Victor Pearlin and Billy Vera have been
involved in the research while Audio Engineer MARCUS HEUMANN did the superb
mastering. The sources (as you can imagine) differ wildly but to my ears the
sound quality is improved on everything that I've heard before (including some
of the Rhino box sets). The audio and presentation are top-class here (a norm
for Bear Family)...
1958
continued on from 1957 in being a pivotal year in Vocal Group history - hitting
something of a pinnacle – beautiful ballads and cracking dancers combining to
make this CD a wonderful overall listen (and all of it in top audio quality).
In fact if I was pushed – and in terms of sheer vocal beauty/fun - I would say
that both Volume 9 for 1957 and this Volume 10 set for 1958 are the compilation
jewels in the crown for the entire "Street Corner Symphonies" run of
15 titles.
We
open with blushing teenage romance - the gorgeous "16 Candles" by The
Crests where Lead Singer Johnny Maestro croons his way into millions of
American hearts (real name John Mastrangelo). The first bopper "Lama Rama
Ding Dong" by The Edsels has great audio – very clean. We then enter the
realms of musical magnificence and genre history – the Soulful vocals of Jerry
Butler and The Impressions doing the immortal "For Your Precious Love"
where the song blurs the lines between Vocal Group Music and early Soul – what
a tune and its still moving to. Another reviewer is claiming that this is a
wrong version to the May 1958 take on Vee-Jay - but I can't hear a difference
between this and the Rhino box set inclusion (which is the 1958 Mono original).
Maybe the initial mistake has been spotted and its been replaced? Back to fun
with the brilliant "I Wonder Why" by Dion & The Belmonts – a
fabulous slice of New York Street Corner bopping magic. Smooch-city returns
with everyone's favourite balladeer – Little Anthony – telling us that
"...love is not a gadget...love is not a toy..." in the American
Graffiti atmospheric "Tears On My Pillow". There is a tender
sweetness to "So Fine" by The Fiestas – an Old Town classic that
sounds gorgeous here. Romance returns with "One Summer Night" by The
Danleers – the kind of tune where you can just see the cars cruising the strip
as the boys look out longingly at the girls they can’t reach.
While
the Chantels is good - genuine magic hits your lugs with the impossibly rare
"Trickle, Trickle" by The Videos who contained future members of Shep
& The Limelites. It’s more bopping R 'n' B than Vocal Group but what a
winner it is (the rare Casino 102 American 45 is reproduced on Page 26 of the
booklet – the song was covered and charted by Manhattan Transfer in 1980).
Genius inclusion and wicked unknown vocalists ahoy with "This Is The
Nite" by The Valiants - where Lead Singer Billy Jones (aka Billy Spicer) does
his best Clyde McPhatter impression and more than pulls it off (fabulous
stuff). The audio leaps forward with "Zing Went The Strings Of My
Heart" by The Coasters – it features two superb Leads – the deep as an
ocean Bass of Will 'Dub' Jones (formerly with The Cadets and The Jacks) and
Lean Tenor Cornel Gunter (ex The Flairs). It's craftily followed by a tune
every Drifters fan adores – "Drip Drop" - bopping R 'n' B sung by
Bobby Kendricks – a dead ringer for Clyde McPhatter's vocal style.
Romance
returns in different paces – the sombre talking lurch of "Ten Commandments
Of Love" by Harvey and The Moonglows and the very Dion & The Belmont
sounding "Little Star" by The Elegants. After all that pleading it's
time for fun as Eugene Church tells us that no matter where he looks (roads,
beaches or parks) there's "Pretty Girls Everywhere" (I feel for the
poor guy). Beautiful and rare – "You Cheated" by The Shields features
Frankie Ervin on Lead Vocals and is a gem on this CD collectors will love having.
The witty and catchy "Western Movies" by The Olympics sung by Walter
Ward and resplendent with gunshots and Wild West references sounds like a
Lieber/Stoller classic but was written by two lesser-known talents - Fred Smith
and Cliff Goldsmith. It was a smash in June 1958 and has turned up on
compilations ever since. We don't normally associate James Brown with the genre
but his "Try Me" pleading vocal and the song's roots in Vocal Group
classics warrants a tasty inclusion here. A duo of classics follow – "There's
A Moon Out Tonight" by The Capris and the truly beautiful Flamingos End
label gem "Lovers Never Say Goodbye" - dripping with atmosphere and
romance, both are beloved by collectors.
Time
to pick up the pace with a bopper "No, No, No" - where a very young
sounding sets of lads The Chanters don’t want to be "kissed anymore"
by girls but then say "yes, yes, yes" immediately after their denial
(the poor dears are confused). Genius inclusion comes with the gobsmacking
beauty of "So Far Away" by The Pastels where Lead Vocalist Di Fosco
Ervin, Jr. combines his pleading with a wonderful almost operatic set of female
backing vocalists. The result is this October 1958 masterpiece on Argo 5314 –
the kind of massively evocative song that would stop you in your tracks if it
sailed out of a radio. More smoochers are provided by Hank Ballard, The
Fidelity’s and the lesser-known Wade Flemons - with the whole shebang ending on
a bopper – the innocent sounding "Oh Gee, Oh Gosh" where cute Pearl
McKinnon sounds not unlike Frankie Lymon backed by a rocking Teenagers. To sum
up – I have to say playing this compilation has been a joy. Evocative, moving
and damn it – fun.
Niggles
- they're too expensive as singles discs and perhaps they should have been
doubles because real collectors will have more than a few titles on offer here.
Bear Family will argue 'but not in this sound quality or presentation' - and
they'd have a point.
Presented
to us with love and affection by a company that cares about forgotten voices
that shouldn’t be forgotten. What a sweetheart of a compilation and another
gold standard from Bear...
