Side A:
01. Walking With Mr. Lee - Lee Allen
02. Fountain Of Love - The Starlarks
03. Bing Bong - The Silhouettes
04. Hold Me Close - The Marktones
05. Get A Job - The Silhouettes
06. Pocahontas - The Camelots
07. Talk It Over - The Marktones
08. Miss Thing - The Silhouettes
09. I Am Lonely - The Silhouettes
10. Can't We Fall In Love - The Illusions
Side B:
01. Dear Diary - The Smooth-Tones
02. Send Me A Picture Baby - The Starlarks
03. Three Precious Words - The Edsels
04. Why Don't You Write Me - The Barries
05. Smoke From Your Cigarette - The Fabulons
06. Paradise Hill - The Embers
07. How High Is The Mountain - The Illusions
08. Voodoo Eyes - The Silhouettes
09. What Brought Us Together - The Edsels
10. Mary-Ann - The Barries
The sun beats down on a parched Glasgow in this memorable World Cup summer so naturally your dedicated blues 'n' rhythm correspondent goes vinyl hunting in the shops of this increasingly hip and trendy part of the city's South Side, and lo, what is this I see? A second hand copy of an LP from Relic's Golden Groups series, a series which I totally ignored back when you could find them in the browsers of hipper record shops. So as this is all I've got of the roughly fifty million compilations Relic released on just about any record company which ever issued doowop, it's pointless to ask me to post any more.
I've always had mixed feelings towards doo wop, but heck, it's summer and I'm in the mood for some not too heavy teen type sounds, so kick back and relax to the sound of Ember Records. There's lots of goodies here, ranging from the label's earliest days in 1953 to its last shots at glory in the early 1960s. The Silhouettes in particular demand the attention of the discerning musical palate, but The Five Satins who get mentioned in the sleeve notes are missing. Where'd they go?
I won't be going into the usual depth of background information over the next month or two so that I can concentrate on ripping more vinyl for Be Bop Wino's Summer of Rock 'n' Roll. Just dig the sounds, cats 'n' kittens!
01. Walking With Mr. Lee - Lee Allen And His Band - Ember E-1027, November 1957
02. Fountain Of Love - The Starlarks - Ember E-1013, February 1957
03. Bing Bong - The Silhouettes - Ember E-1037, August 1958
04. Hold Me Close - The Marktones - Ember E-1022, August 1957
05. Get A Job - The Silhouettes - Ember E-1029, December 1957
06. Pocahontas - The Camelots - Ember E-1108, August 1964
07. Talk It Over - The Marktones - Ember E-1022, August 1957
08. Miss Thing - The Silhouettes - Ember E-1032, March 1958
09. I Am Lonely - The Silhouettes - Ember E-1029, December 1957
10. Can't We Fall In Love - The Illusions - Ember E-1071, February 1961
11. Dear Diary - The Smooth-Tones - Ember E-1001, March 1956
12. Send Me A Picture Baby - The Starlarks - Ember E-1013, February 1957
13. Three Precious Words - The Edsels - Ember E-1078, August 1961
14. Why Don't You Write Me - The Barries - Vernon V102, July 1963
15. Smoke From Your Cigarette - The Fabulons - Ember E-1069, December (?) 1960
16. Paradise Hill - The Embers - Ember 101, February 1953
17. How High Is The Mountain - The Illusions - Ember E-1071, February 1961
18. Voodoo Eyes - The Silhouettes - Ember E-1037, August 1958
19. What Brought Us Together - The Edsels - Tammy 45-1010, (?) 1960
20. Mary-Ann - The Barries - Ember E-1101, February 1964
Notes
The Silhouettes - Get A Job / I Am Lonely originally released on Junior 45-593 in November 1957.
Marv Goldberg article on The Silhouettes
The Edsels - Three Precious Words / Let's Go also released on Tammy 45-1014 in September 1961.
Tammy was a label based in Youngstown, Ohio, and was run by Larry Greene, a vocalist with The Edsels. Tammy had a distibution deal with Ember.
The Barries - Why Don't You Write Me / Mary-Ann was released on Vernon Records in July 1963. Ember released Tonight-Tonight / Mary-Ann in February 1964.
The Embers - Paradise Hill / Sound Of Love was first released on Ember 101 in February 1953. The masters were sold to Herald and re-released on Herald 410 in May 1953.
2 comments:
Many thanks my good man, and good to see you safely back from your recent holiday. I believe ya all are having nice sunny weather in the UK, some friends of mine are currently on holiday in England and posting photos on Facebook of them getting about in shorts and Ts.
Anyway, good album, one I didn't have, I'll take a listen later, but I see it kicks off with the great Lee Allen. I met Lee in the mid-1970s and spent some time chatting with him, very nice friendly guy. Keep on rockin'...
Cheers, Bob. The sun here in Scotland has been mostly pretty relentless for two weeks. I can't get my house cooled down! Amsterdam was cloudy and cool though. Think I'll go back.
Nice story about Lee Allen. I will indeed keep on rockin' ...
BW
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