"Alex Harvey and His Soul Band" by ALEX HARVEY – March 1964 GERMAN Debut Album on Polydor Records - Full Album Inside "The Last Of The Teenage Idols" (March 2016 GERMAN Universal 14CD Box Set with Paschal Byrne and Ben Wiseman Remasters)

 

"...Got My Mojo Working...And I'm Gonna Work It On You..."

 

First issued 31 March 2016 in Germany - "The Last Of The Teenage Idols" by ALEX HARVEY on Universal 536 212-0 (Barcode 00600753621202) came as a 217-Track 14CD 10" x 10" Box Set with 21 Tracks Previously Unreleased and 59 Songs Officially On CD for the first time. 

 

A wee beastie of a thing, it included newly-remastered editions of all Alex's early solo work plus every Sensational Alex Harvey Band album along with outtakes, non-album singles, live recordings and BBC performances. It has a 64-Page Hardback Book with previously unseen photos from the family archives and exclusive interviews with friends, musicians and collaborators.

 

Universal Germany then later truncated that original monster into a more manageable (and sellable) 4CD Book Set called "The Last Of The Teenage Idols – The Highlights" released 24 February 2017 on Universal 537 420-8 (Barcode 600753742082). This later variant comes in a Hardback Book Set with 78-Tracks and a reduced 42-page booklet attached inside. It's easily available on many sites (including Amazon) at somewhere between £25 and £40 depending on the seller.

 

I own both variants (don't ask) – but needless to say when you're seeking the rare German Debut Album from 1964 "Alex Harvey And His Soul Band" – the only place to nab its entirety in superb sound quality is the 10" x 10" Box Set variant.  But in March 2022, "The Last Of The Teenage Idols" on Universal 536 212-0 has become something of a rarity in itself. Still, let’s get to those beginnings when he was just another Scottish lad with Soul Music inveigling itself into every molecule of his being...

 

Disc 1 of 14 (63:47 minutes):

5. Framed [Side 1]

6. I Ain't Worrying Baby

7. Backwater Blues

8. Let The Good Times Roll

9. Going Home

10. I've Got My Mojo Working

11. Teensville USA

12. New Orleans [Side 2]

13. Bo Diddley Is A Gun Slinger

14. When I Grow Too Old To Rock

15. Evil Hearted Man

16. I Just Wanna Make Love To You

17. The Blind Man

18. Reeling And Rocking

Tracks 5 to 18 originally issued March 1964 in Germany as the debut LP "Alex Harvey and His Soul Band" on Polydor 46 424 (Mono) and Polydor 237 624 (Stereo). Vinyl LP reissued 1988 in Europe on Polydor 831 887-1 in Stereo only (I mention this here, because this catalogue number is incorrectly given as the original on this Box Set). 

 

The STEREO Mix is used on this CD and this box set represents the first official release of the whole album on the CD format.

 

The 10" x 10"-Sized Box Set has three inlays with the first two containing the 14 CDs spread across foldout wallets – No. 1 with Discs 1 to 6 covers the Sixties Soul Band years right through the Hair Pit Band, Rock Workshop and the beginnings of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band (aka SAHB). The fabulous hardback book documenting it all is crammed with fantastic black and white/colour photos from the family archive. We get early snaps of AH trying to be Scotland's answer to Tommy Steel as he features on Ma Logan's Rock & Roll show at the Metropole Theatre as far back as July 1957. Page 32 for instance has a display of four impossibly rare Deutsche Grammophon master tape boxes for the German 60ts releases when Harvey (like everyone else in the know) was immersed in American R&B and Soul. Page 63 shows the sixteen album sleeves covered by the Box (a huge haul of music) - while Pages 64 and 65 give a dizzying array of 7" single releases in colour (picture sleeves galore).

 

JOE BLACK arranged the compilation and tape research (aided by Brian McNeill, Joe Foster, Michael Ivarsson, Christer Lagergren and Jim Mclean) whilst the superb mastering is courtesy of a team I love and trust – PASCHAL BYRNE and BEN WISEMAN – two Audio Engineers who are no strangers to huge swathes of Rock, Blues and Soul CD reissues. Right from the tightly rehearsed Soul Band stuff in 1964 through the nine SAHB albums and beyond – the Audio is superb.

 

The debut album "Alex Harvey and His Soul Band" shows his prowess even so early on – tight, cool and with that fantastic Scottish lilt in his singing. Of the many covers on the debut album, it’s worth noting that Leslie Harvey (his brother and an ace guitarist in his own right) would later bring the stunning Josh White, Jr. Blues ballad "The Blind Man" to Scotland’s finest Blues-Rock band Stone The Crows (which he formed with James Dewar and Maggie Bell). Leslie and Maggie would absolutely nail it with the most fantastic version on their 1970 Stone The Crows debut album. How cool is it to hear its first incarnation here – and finally legal too.

 

Despite claims that it was recorded in The Star Club in Hamburg, the book states it was recorded October 1963 in Polydor's studio in Harvesterhuder Weg, Hamburg. Supposed to be a 'live' album simulating all that R&B energy, the fake audience turns out to be the musicians hootin' and hollerin' in the studio bleachers. The band and Bassist was a stand-in, Bobby Thompson of Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes, but at least Alex's own Soul Band Saxophonist George 'Hoagy' Carmichael provided blistering horn solos and accompaniment throughout. 

 

Harvey introduces himself and his Soul Band to the supposed audience before going into his trademark speak-and-sing on the prison-song "Framed" – Lieber & Stoller's "Riot in Cell Block No 9" in other words, first done by The Robins way back in 1954. Not to be outdone by other people's classics, his own "I Ain't Worried Anymore" is a brilliant R&B groover. He does raucous versions of Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger", Robert Johnson's "Backwater Blues" while "Evil Hearted Man" is a Traditional Blues. There is an obscure Rockabilly cover version called "Teensville, U.S.A." originally done by Wayne Cogswell on Sun Records. And the LP ends with a joyous "Reeling And Rocking" - Chuck Berry being the influence for so many young bands and artists. 

 

Three months after the album came (end of May 1964), Polydor UK finally got in on the Alex Harvey And His Soul Men act again by issuing his cover version of the Muddy Waters Chess Records classic "Got My Mojo Working" as a 45-single. Polydor NH 52907 came with the brilliant "I Ain't Worried Baby" on the flipside. Unfortunately, the second Polydor 45 went nowhere and is a known rarity now. Speaking of rarities included here - his debut UK 7" single was "I Just Want To Make Love To You" (another Muddy Waters classic) b/w "Let The Good Times Roll" (a Louis Jordan cover) - issued January 1964 on Polydor NH 52264 - around the time the band made their debut live show at The 100 Club in London (6 February 1964). It is said that even The Beatles were aware of and impressed by the single and maybe even a few of them had his German album too.

 

Disc 1 finishes on a winning combo giving us the first three of 21 Previously Unreleased tracks. They have crystal audio and are sensational too – the Folk Traditional "Lord Randall" is Alex and acoustic guitar, while the great Scot gets real with the Brownie McGhee classic "Born With The Blues" – a poor soul trying to ditch the booze and the bottle but struggling to do so. Even a song I actually loath with a vengeance - "House Of The Rising Sun" (made famous of course by The Animals) gets a wickedly good AH going over.

 

For sure the 14CD Box Set will be for fans only (the truncated 4CD variant of 2017 offers only three tracks from his debut - "Framed", "Let The Good Times Roll" and "Reeling And Rocking") - but it is a thing of beauty and wonder and we remember Alex with affection for a reason. 

 

Give my compliments to the Soul Chefs of the Sixties, artists like this who paved the way and then morphed into something new and even more brill...

"The More Things Change: Film, TV & Studio Work 1968-1972" by JOHN BARRY - Including All But One-Track of the February 1970 LP "Ready When You Are, J.B. - John Barry Plays His Great Movie Hits" on CD for the first time Plus Eleven Other Rare 45 and LP Sides (March 2022 UK Ace Records CD Compilation of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B09SP2QQ79&asins=B09SP2QQ79&linkId=0ef3a614dd17542262aea2a11a32c228&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

This Review and 364 More Like It

Are Available In My E-Book 

 

GIMME SHELTER!

CLASSIC 1960s ROCK ON CD 

And Other Genres Thereabouts 

 

Your All-Genres Guide To 

Exceptional Reissues and Remasters 

All Reviews From The Discs 

No Need To be Nervous!

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B013TDUC2K&asins=B013TDUC2K&linkId=573f2e449223d6ca3608be4714bc08db&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

"...Ready When You Are..."

 

Be still my beating heart and calm down you nincompoop of yesteryear.

 

When I saw this compilation on the advance schedules of Ace Records, I knew I had to own it. I've been a lifetime fan of Mr. Prendergast and his fantastic Soundtrack/TV Music (John Barry to you) and this is the kind of CD and archival release that gets me weak in my already knackered knees.

 

And I am thrilled to say that "The More Things Change: Film, TV & Studio Work 1968-1972" by JOHN BARRY has kept up its side of the lustful digital bargain – great tracks, gorgeous sound and world-class annotation from BOB STANLEY – friend to the common man and recently contacted by The Vatican to fill in a Sainthood Application Form. To the sinful details...

 

UK released Friday 25 March 2022 - "The More Things Change: Film, TV & Studio Work 1968-1972" by JOHN BARRY on Ace Records CDTOP 1615 (Barcode 029667105323) is a 22-Track CD Compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows (65:56 minutes):

 

Side 1:

1. Midnight Cowboy [Side 1]

2. We Have All The Time in The World

3. Theme From 'Romance For Guitar And Orchestra' from "Deadfall"

4. Who Will Buy My Yesterdays

5. Fun City

6. The Lion In Winter – Part 1

7. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

8. Theme From "The Appointment"

9. Try

10. The More Things Change

11. Afternoon

NOTES on the LP:

Tracks 1 to 11 make up all but the last track of the February 1970 UK LP "Ready When You Are, J.B. - John Barry Plays His Great Movie Hits" on CBS Records 63592 (Columbia CS 1003 in the USA). The missing last song on Side 2 was his re-recording of "Born Free" from the 1967 CBS LP "John Barry Conducts His Greatest Movie Hits", but Ace have excluded it as the song is readily available elsewhere – overdone even. 

 

Tracks 3, 4, 8, 10 and 11 were exclusive to the "Ready When... " LP, the other cuts being previously issued 45-single sides. Details as follows:

Track 1 is an August 1969 UK 45-single on CBS Records 4468, A-side, Instrumental – see also Track 5 for the B-side

Track 2 is a November 1969 UK 45-single on CBS Records 4680, Instrumental B-side of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service") – see also Track 7 for the A-side

Track 5 is an August 1969 UK 45-single on CBS Records 4468, Instrumental B-side of "Midnight Cowboy") – for A-side see Track 1

Track 6 is January 1969 UK 45-single on CBS Records 3935, A-side

Track 7 a November 1969 UK 45-single on CBS Records 4680, Instrumental A-side  – see also Track 2 for the B-side

Track 9 is from the November 1969 Original Soundtrack Recording LP to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" on United Artists UAS 29020 in Stereo

 

BONUSES: 

12. A Little Old-Fashioned Nostalgia

13. Theme From "The Persuaders"

14. Petulia

15. Theme From "Walkabout"

16. Follow Follow

17. Diamonds Are Forever [1972 Instrumental Remake]

18. Highway 101

19. The Adventurer (Theme From The TV Series)

20. This Way Mary

21. The Children

22. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland Suite

NOTES

Tracks 12, 14 and 18 are from the 1968 US LP "Petulia – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" on Warner Brothers/Seven Arts Records WS 1755 in Stereo (no UK issue)

Track 13 is a September 1971 UK 45-single on CBS Records 7469, A-side – the B-side is "The Girl With The Sun In Her Hair" (1971 Version) and is not on this compilation

Tracks 15 and 21 recorded 1970, but the October 1971 film soundtrack to "Walkabout" was never released on vinyl anywhere. Original mastertapes found and reissued December 2016 in Australia onto CD by Roundtable Records on The Roundtable PM001CD

Tracks 19 and 16 are the A&B-sides of a September 1972 UK 45-single on Polydor 2058-275 (note, 19 is the A-side, 16 the B)

Tracks 20 and 17 are the A&B-sides of a May 1972 UK 45-single on Polydor 2058-216 (note, 20 is the A-side, 17 the B)

Track 22 is a Suite of 7:05 minutes exclusive to the 1972 UK LP "The Concert John Barry" on Polydor 2383 156

 

Ace has smartly centred this CD around the brilliant and completely forgotten February 1970 compilation LP "Ready When You Are, J.B. - John Barry Plays His Great Movie Hits" (pictured on the last page of the booklet). As explained above in the NOTES, it had 12 tracks and all except "Born Free" are here.

 

When I reviewed the October 2016 Sony/Legacy budget-priced 3CD compilation "The Real…John Barry", I outlined in the review that it contains all of that album barring one song "We Have All The Time In The World" – which Ace has included here for the first time (a real highlight it is too, probably the best on the entire disc). Not so smartly in my opinion – they have left off the last song on Side 2 – the remake of "Born Free" which frustratingly is on "The Real…John Barry" 3CD set.

 

But back to the album - "Ready When You Are, J.B...." is a forgotten and lost nugget from the decade's first year that rarely ever gets mentioned outside of Soundtrack circles. But as a musical and evocative listen, it's practically flawless and along with its new 1969 re-recordings of film themes, it also offers other exclusive JB tracks like "The More Things Change" and "Afternoon" that aren't on anything else. "Fun City" and the organ-driven Part 1 of "Lion In Winter" will also thrill smoking-jacket lounge-music lizards as they shimmy across the lush pile to that air stewardess they met on the Rothmans advert shoot.

 

There was a US-Only CD release of the album in 1998 on Columbia Special Products/Peg Recordings PEG043 (Barcode 706404004322) but it's been deleted decades now and was at times attracting prices in excess of $150. So Ace Records of the UK has done well here in March 2022. Tracks like "Theme From Romance For Guitar And Orchestra" literally swoop and preen across your living room with all that John Barry soundscape gorgeousness - Remastered beautifully by Audio Engineer NICK ROBBINS - the chunes accompanied by truly superb liner notes (20-pages of them) from big-time fan BOB STANLEY. Loving those foreign picture sleeves too for "Midnight Cowboy" with Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman and "The Persuaders" TV show with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. Very cool.

 

Smart choices go to the inclusion of the A&B-sides of two rare 45s from 1972 on Polydor that are very hard-to-find and pricey JB rarities – the Mary Queen Of Scots based "This Way Mary" with the re-recorded synth-punching version of "Diamonds Are Forever" on the flipside. The other is the ITC TV show theme "The Adventurer" with its exclusive "Follow Follow" B-side. There are also three from the underrepresented "Petulia – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" and those two cuts from the uber-rare "Walkabout" Soundtrack will be new to anyone who didn’t invest in The Roundtable CD put out exclusively in Australia.

 

I love this CD and if ever an artist deserved a pronto Volumes 2 and 3, then John Barry Prendergast is that dapper chap. Fantastically good and one of my Reissues of the Year 2022 – in with a bullet from an Ipcress File...

"Come Fly With Me/I Feel Good, I Feel Fine/Sweet Vibrations/Try Me, I'm Real" by BOBBY BLAND – June 1978, September 1979, December 1980 and September 1981 US LPs on ABC and MCA Records (December 2021 UK Beat Goes On Compilation – 4LPs onto 2CDs – Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B09FY82N6D&asins=B09FY82N6D&linkId=cef3798572c5e7cafd74fd7f42383f03&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

"...Little Mama..."

 

I've loved Bobby Bland's Rhythm 'n' Blues of the Sixties and especially his stunning Seventies Funky Soul LP duo for Dunhill Records - "His California Album" in 1973 and "Dreamer" from 1974 - both of which Beat Goes On (BGO) put out on CD way back in their early 90ts reissue days (BGOCD64 and BGOCD63 respectively). In fact, both of those nuggets could do with a serious Audio upgrade - hissy lo-fi early attempts at digital transfer compared to the sophisticated productions on offer here.

 

Unfortunately, this latest BGO outing from December 2021 (delayed from November 2021 due to Covid-19) deals with 1978 through to 1981 - four albums on ABC and MCA Records where even the most generous of spirits would have to admit that the songs and music took a major nose dive as opposed to the quality of those early 70s LPs.

 

Still - BGOCD 1472 is beautifully presented, sounds awesome and with four albums on two discs (each CD wading in at over the 80-minutes barrier) – properly great value for money. Here are the sweet vibrations...

 

UK released December 2021 - "Come Fly With Me/I Feel Good, I Feel Fine/Sweet Vibrations/Try Me, I'm Real" by BOBBY BLAND on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1472 (Barcode 5017261214720) is a compilation offering 4LPs Remastered onto 2CDs.

 

Tracks 1 to 9 on Disc 1 (80:38 minutes) feature the album "Come Fly With Me" released June 1978 in the USA on ABC Records AA-1075 and ABC Records ABCL 5249 in the UK - whilst Tracks 10 to 17 are the album "I Feel Good, I Feel Fine" released September 1979 in the USA on MCA Records MCA-3157 (no UK Issue).

 

Tracks 1 to 9 on Disc 2 (82:22 minutes) feature the album "Sweet Vibrations" released December 1980 in the USA on MCA Records 5142 – whilst Tracks 10 to 18 are the album "Try Me, I'm Real" released September 1981 on MCA Records 5233.

 

The outer card slipcase always adds these Beat Goes On compilations a classy look and the 24-page chunky booklet contained within has new in-depth liner notes from CHARLES WARING of Mojo Magazine fame and a regular for BGO. All the artwork is here and best of all, beautifully clear and muscular Remasters from ANDREW THOMPSON.

 

But you wish that all this reissue effort was in the stead of better songs - "Little Mama" and "Soon As The Weather Breaks" on Disc 1 offer rare moments of genuine Soul as opposed to the terribly twee forced nature of the rest. Things improve immeasurably over on CD2 when we reach the early 80ts with the you-turn-me-out yet you-turn-me-on cool of "Sweet Vibrator". Other goodies are the finger-clicking brass-punctured swagger of "Soul With A Flavour" and the hurting abuse-me George Benson-type smooch in "Special Kind Of Fool". 

 

Gorgeous production values too on "A Real Woman Is What It Takes" where he employs that gravel voice and gargle to great effect. The 1981 platter "Try Me, I'm Real" stuck close to the preceding year's style – slow and slick for "Just You, Just Me" followed by a shuffler like "Givin' Up The Streets For Love" – but cover versions like "What A Difference A Day Makes" and "I Cover The Waterfront" feel like filler Bland can pull off in his sleep rather than genuinely inspired choices.

 

The audio is great and the BGO presentation is once again up there with the very best – but you just have to taper those Soul expectations when it comes to the actual music, especially on that weaker CD1. 

 

Fans, however, should not hesitate for a moment and dive in...this is the best representation of his material from that period to date...

"Six Classic Albums (Digitally Remastered And Enhanced For Superior Quality)" By THE FLAMINGOS – 1959, 1960 and 1962 US Mono LPs (Two From Each Year, The Last With The Moonglows) on Checker, End and Vee Jay Records (February 2016 EU/UK Real Gone Music Company 4CD 76-Track Compilation of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

THE FLAMINGOS 1959 Debut Album "Flamingos" on Checker Records

Best Audio Available Inside This Real Gone Music 4CD Set from 2016

"Six Classic Albums"

 

"...A Kiss On Your Lips..." 

 

Real Gone Music Company of the USA are a wing of that other great American Reissue Company – Rhino Records. 

 

As of now (March 2022) - Real Gone Music have a shed-load of these 4-CD multiple-album compilations in the marketplace covering swathes of out-of-copyright material mainly from the Fifties and Sixties. Classy Artists that are history-famous - but just don't sell for dosh anymore. So RGM does it cheap, loaded and cheerful. 

 

The format for this series of foursomes is the same - a 4-way foldout card digipak holds four discs in clear trays while all labels look like old black vinyl grooves and are the same. Info is listed on the rear with a very functional reference to LPs or 45s beneath. None have booklets, discographies or appreciations of any kind (not even a mastering credit) - but what you do get is sheer volume and great Rhino-related Remastered Audio. And they are very cheap...but back to that audio...

 

Take their early 1959 debut album simply entitled "Flamingos" - a 12-track masterclass in smooth Vocal Group delivery. More Platters than Doo Wop - it sounds so damn clean here - like it was plucked off tapes that have looked after in buttermilk. Some of these tracks are just gorgeous. But as you can see from the photos provided, the huge let down is the naff looks. Each of the two inner-flaps has a collage of Flamingo-related photos and memorabilia – so I suppose that is something (not that you actually read or see any of it), but each of the see-through trays has the same 'A Word About High Fidelity' ye-old inner bag. Still – that sound! "A Kiss On Your Lips" is right. Here are the digital delights and swoonsome details...

 

UK/EU-released 12 February 2016 - "Six Classic Albums (Digitally Remastered And Enhanced For Superior Quality)" by THE FLAMINGOS on Real Gone Music RGMCD198 (Barcode 5036408178022) is a 4CD 76-Track compilation that plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (49:18 minutes):

1. Dream Of A Lifetime [Side 1]

2. Ko Ko Mo 

3. Whispering Stars 

4. On My Merry Way 

5. The Vow 

6. Would I Be Crying 

7. A Kiss From Your Lips [Side 2]

8. Shilly Dilly 

9. Stolen Love 

10. Chickie Um Bah 

11. Nobody's Love 

12. That's My Baby (Chika Boom)

Tracks 1 to 12 are their debut album "Flamingos" - released early 1959 in the USA on Checker Records LP-1433 in Mono. 

 

13. Love Walked In [Side 1]

14. Music Maestro Please

15. Begin The Beguine 

16. The Breeze And I 

17. Time Was 

18. Goodnight Sweetheart 

Tracks 13 to 18 are Side 1 of their second LP "Flamingo Serenade" - released April 1959 in the USA on End Records LP-304 in Mono

 

CD2 (52:09 minutes): 

1. I Only Have Eyes For You [Side 2]

2. I'm in The Mood For You 

3. As Time Goes By 

4. Where Or When 

5. Yours 

6. But Not For Me 

Tracks 1 to 6 are Side 2 of their second LP "Flamingo Serenade" - released April 1959 in the USA on End Records LP-304 in Mono 

 

7. In The Still Of The Night [Side 1]

8. Beside You 

9. Never In This World 

10. When I Fall In Love 

11. You, Me And The Sea 

12. Everybody's Got A Home (But Me) 

13. Nobody Loves Me Like You [Side 2]

Tracks 7 to 18 are their fourth studio album "Requestfully Yours" - released late 1960 in the USA on End Records LP 308 in Mono 

 

CD3 (54:09 minutes): 

1. Besame Mucho

2. Dream Girl 

3. Crazy, Crazy, Crazy 

4. That's Why I Love You 

5. Heavenly Angel

6. Mio Amore (My Love) 

7. Maria Elena [Side 2]

8. Sweet And Lovely

9. Tell Me How Long 

10. My Foolish Heart 

11. You Belong To My Heart 

12. Bridge Of Tears

Tracks 1 to 12 are their third studio album "Flamingo Favorites" - released early 1960 in the USA on End Records LP 307 in Mono

 

13. Too Soon To Know [Side 1]

14. Flame Of Love

15. The Sinner (El Pecador)

16. I'm Coming Home

17. (When You're Young And) Only Seventeen 

18. Ol' Man River

Tracks 13 to 18 are Side 1 of their fifth studio album "The Sound Of The Flamingos" - released 1962 in the USA on End Records LP 316 in Mono-only

 

CD4 (63:06 minutes): 

1. You're Mine [Side 1]

2. My Lovely One 

3. I Know Better 

4. Moonlight In Vermont 

5. Without His Love 

6. Danny Boy

Tracks 13 to 18 are Side 2 of their fifth studio album "The Sound Of The Flamingos" - released 1962 in the USA on End Records LP 316 in Mono-only

 

7. Vooit Vooit [Side 1]

8. Oh Rockin' Daddy

9. September Song

10. Secret Love 

11. Someday, Someway

12. Real Gone Mama

13. Golden Teardrops 

14. I Was Wrong

15. Carried Away [Side 2]

16. Whistle My Love 

17. That's My Desire

18. 219 Train

19. Cross Over The Bridge

20. My Gal

21. If I Can't Have You

22. Baby Please

Tracks 7 to 22 are the shared album "The Flamingos Meet The Moonglows On The Dusty Road Of Hits" - released late 1962 in the USA on Vee Jay Records LP 1052 in Mono. Tracks 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 21 by THE FLAMINGOS with Tracks 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 by THE MOONGLOWS.

 

Hailing from Chicago, The Flamingos have long been considered by collectors as 'the' class act of Harmony Vocals and Doo Wop. Their slow atmosphere-drenched ballads practically defined dancefloor smooching in the Fifties. And they had a dizzying array of great Lead vocalists throughout - Sollie McElroy, Johnny Carter, Tommy Hunt, Paul Wilson and Nate Wilson. 

 

Their cherished End label albums have been on CD in the States for years, and I had a few on Sequel in the 90ts when Castle Music was reissuing them, but this compilation outdoes them all. A few moments of Nate Nelson leading the vocal smooch on "I Only Have Eyes For You" and I’m a goner.

 

So - lots of tracks, very good sound and at less than six quid - its dirt-cheap too. Until Bear Family does a more comprehensive box set one day covering their entire output - this is a rather lovely release to be getting on with...